Two kinds of heart disease The Case For Spiritual Vegetarianism By Satyaraja Dasa

Based on the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founder-Acharya of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness

In the United States of America one person out of every two will die of heart or related blood vessel disease. An extraordinary statistic, to be sure. While this short article is certainly not intended to be morbid, it is meant to present the attentive reader with several facts on the subject of heart disease and its prevention. Dr. Harriet P. Dustan, President of the American Heart Association and director of cardiovascular research at the University of Alabama Medical Center, has disclosed that weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath and swelling of legs may be signs of advanced heart

disease. She also explains the type of pain one experiences during a heart attack as a crushing, oppressive kind of pain. Usually its in the middle of the chest or maybe in the neck or even the inside or the arm. It can be associated with sweating, breathlessness and general weakness. Sometimes its in the pit of the stomach. Heart disease may develop gradually, but is fatal for those who will not take preventive measures. While heart disease is a serious subject, it is truly uncanny that the general mass of people remain in a state of total unawareness as to the actual causes and means of diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of this No. 1 killer. Says Dr. Dustan, the most important advances in reducing heart disease will come in the area of prevention. This requires people to take responsibility for maintaining their own health. Until recently, people werent used to this concept. Neither were doctors. The Senate Select Committee on Nutrition recommended an overall decrease in calories for Americans. This includes a decrease in saturated or animal fats, since the amount of fat in the diet is believed to effect blood cholesterol level. This can lead to heart disease. It has long been said that the way to a mans heart is through his stomach This way-worn clich has taken on a double meaning as a result of the extensive research in the field of heart disease. It has become a well-known fact that heart disease and general blood vessels disorders are strongly related to the types of food we eat. Surprisingly, world health statistics consistently show that the nations which consume the most animal products (meat, fish, and eggs) have the highest incidence of disease (heart, cancer, etc.) and groups of vegetarians in different countries have the lowest incidence of disease. In fact, vegetarians in England have to pay much less for life insurance than meat-eaters because they are less likely to get heart disease; they are considered less of a risk by the insurance companies. Further, The Journal of the American Medical Association reported in 1961 that a vegetarian diet can prevent 90-97 % of various kinds of heart disease (thrombo-embolic disease and coronary occlusions). Such facts are augmented by the statements of such stalwart authorities on the subject from the late nutritionist Dr. Paavo Airola, who openly taught that a lactovegetarian diet (a non-meat diet which includes dairy products) is the most suitable diet for modern man, to E.F. Schumacher, the noted economist who espoused vegetarianism as a most practical diet for living in harmony with nature in an extremely pragmatic and simple way. Thus we find an unbelievably compelling argument for a non-meat diet: undeniable and welldocumented evidence that there is correlation between meat eating and heart disease. What is it that makes meat eating so harmful to the circulatory system? The fats of animal flesh, such as cholesterol, do not break down well in the human body. These fats begin to line the walls of the meat-eaters blood vessels. With the process of continual accumulation, the opening inside the vessel gets progressively smaller as the years go by, allowing less and less blood to flow through. This dangerous condition is called arteriosclerosis; it places a tremendous burden on the heart, which has to pump blood to an unnaturally hard degree through clogged and constricted vessels. As a result high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attacks occur. Recently, a group of scientists at Harvard found that the average blood pressure of vegetarians studied was significantly lower than that of a comparable group of non-vegetarians.

It is now recognized that the nations number one killer, heart disease, has reached epidemic proportions. More and more physicians (and the American Heart Association) are deeply concerned about the amount of meat that the American people are consuming and are trying to sharply restrict it. Many scientists now recognize that the roughage and fibre of the average vegetarian diet lowers the level of cholesterol. Dr. U.D. Register, Chairman of the department of Nutrition at Loma University in California, describes experiments in which a diet rich in beans, grains, etc., actually reduced cholesterol, even while the subjects were eating large amounts of diary products. Despite the good reasons for a meatless diet, there are those who will protest: Vegetarian diets are boring; who can live on big, green salads? But just compare. There are basically five different kinds of meat and poultry, but 40-50 different kinds of commonly eaten vegetables, 24 kinds of beans, peas and lentils, 20 different fruits, 12 different nuts, and 9 grains. There are hundreds of thousands of different recipes one can make using vegetarian food with spices and dairy products. Most important, by adopting the vegetarian diet, one will definitely be lessening ones chances of getting any kind of heart disease. If one were to taste the sumptuous vegetarian dishes which can easily be prepared with healthy ingredients and economical practicality, one could immediately shrug off the eating of meat, with its risk of heart disease and corollary disadvantages. There are not only health reasons for the omitting of meat from the diet, but also ecological, economical, biological, ethical, and spiritual reasons. Anyone can freely research the subject and find overwhelming evidences in favour of the vegetarian way of life. Despite the well-documented research done in regard to vegetarianism and proper health, however, relatively few are turning to a vegetarian diet, and heart disease runs amok. Further, the heart disease that is primarily caused by the eating of meat seems to be indicative of another type of heart disease: the lack of God consciousness prevalent in the world today. Interestingly, the root cause of both forms of heart disease can be cured by the same thing: experiencing a higher taste. When someone is very young a child one naturally tends to play with childish toys. When one gets somewhat older, he just as naturally forsakes his toys and becomes involved in frivolous sports, the opposite sex, and perhaps even a good education depending on his foresight. However his youthful toy has become distasteful to him because he has experienced something higher. He has experienced both, and has decided to pursue that which gives him more pleasure. It becomes entirely natural for a young man to shrug off the very thing he once thought was unsurpassable in his younger days. Similarly, when one relishes the nectar which naturally comes from a life of spiritual activity, the inherent superiority of such life becomes evident. Because spirituality awards such a natural and pristine happiness, the unnatural and temporal nature of this material sphere becomes apparent. Five thousand years ago, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, said in His Bhagavad-gita:

One may artificially repress the desire of the senses, although the tastes for sensual enjoyment remains; but by ceasing such enjoyment, experiencing a higher taste, one is fixed in consciousness. (B.G. 2.59) So it is this higher taste that is needed to change ones diet as well as ones consciousness. One may argue that interest in God and spiritual matters is not necessarily higher than materialistic life only different. However, if we carefully analyze the nature of man, we can see clearly that spiritual life and inquiry into the nature of God should be the focal point of human existence. For example, why is man given superior intelligence over the vast numbers of lower species? He is obviously given higher intelligence for a higher purpose. Since eating, sleeping, mating, and defending make up the entire gamut of animalistic activities, human life, used for those same ends, simply qualifies as a sort of polished animal life. Mans intelligence is thus logically intended for a higher purpose. Why is a highly posted government officer given better facilities for a comfortable life than an ordinary office clerk? The reason is because he has to discharge duties of a more responsible nature. If man simply uses his higher intelligence for a sophisticated form of bestial activity, where is the real difference between man and animal? A dog may sleep in the street very comfortably, and a man may have a nightmare on his luxurious Posturepedic mattress. What is the real difference between animal life and human life? It is the higher taste for that which is peculiar to the human form. It is the taste for God.