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Being vegetarian does not mean that you are automatically free from the diseases that plague humanity, just as eating meat does not necessarily condemn you to a lifetime of debility and degeneration. However, being vegetarian myself, I believe I can legitimately argue against this generalisation that vegetarians are unhealthy. My mother became vegetarian for health reasons and chose to raise me in the same way. As I grew up, she gave me the freedom to try eating fish and meat, so that I could choose for myself whether being vegetarian was the option for me. However, being unused to fish and meat, I didn't find them particularly enjoyable and I ultimately decided that I was happy to remain vegetarian. For as long as I can remember, I have had to defend this decision. This idea that vegetarians are unhealthy was especially ubiquitous among my high school friends, who were all avid meat eaters. They had a conception of vegetarians as being physically and mentally weak people, who couldn't eat anything except garden salad. As they got to know me, they admitted that they didn't believe that I could be stereotyped so easily.

Physically, I consider myself to be very healthy. When I was young, I rarely got sick. The only time that I can remember being sick is when I came down with a case of the chicken pox in fourth grade. As a university student today, I am still blessed with the gift of good health. The last time that I had to visit the doctor was when I sprained my ankle in high school. Perhaps God has blessed me with a good immune system and that's why I seldom get sick. But my medical records can certainly testify that even though I am a vegetarian, I am not unhealthy. In high school, I played all kinds of sports, including soccer, softball and volleyball. Today, I am not the sports enthusiast that I was then, but I still enjoy sports as recreational pastimes. I recently played tennis with some friends for the first time and we stayed on the court for a few hours. I've also tried rock climbing and snorkeling.

Mentally, I actually enjoy studying and research and never have to spend a lot of time on it. I love reading and writing so much, that I'm constantly on the lookout for opportunities to do it in my spare time, such as blogging and writing articles for Helium. I've even found time to research the benefits of vegetarianism. I have plenty of material which suggests that in terms of health, vegetarianism is a far superior diet. However, I will not share this information here. Another wrong impression that people have of vegetarians is that they are eager to urge others to follow their dietary habits. Whilst I am willing to talk about the benefits of vegetarianism if I am asked, I don't believe in forcing my beliefs on to others. I am perfectly willing to respect people's dietary decisions and find it such an irony that there are people who believe it is perfectly appropriate to attack mine.

And as for the idea that vegetarians can't eat anything except for garden salad? I wish that everyone who is skeptical about vegetarianism based upon this idea could try some of my mum's culinary creations. She makes vegetarian food that is not only palatable, but delicious and filling. She makes use of tofu and other substitutes for meat to create all sorts of tasty meals, including laksa, pasta, curry, spring rolls and stir fries. It is mainly due to my mum's wonderful cooking that I have never found a vegetarian diet to be deficient and that my dad eventually converted to vegetarianism. Take it from someone who knows first hand, vegetarians are NOT unhealthy. =)

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