If you ask people who eat a plant-based diet in order to promote and support their health and their lives whether eating meat is detrimental to human health, they would all agree, without hesitation, that meat negatively affects health, fitness, and well-being.

If you ask experts in the field of health, diet, and nutrition, such as John McDougall, M.D., Neal Barnard, M.D., Joel Fuhrman, M.D., John Robbins, T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and many others, who understand the principles of health and how a diet rich in plant foods is ideal for human health, they would all agree that eating meat jeopardizes mobility, function, fitness, and overall health.

But what if you ask our government whether eating meat is hazardous to human health? What would it say?

Interestingly enough, in 2000, the U.S. Public Health Service, reported that 54% of all deaths in the United States could be directly attributed to eating animal products. Isn’t that shocking? The very government that supports and loudly touts the beef, poultry, and dairy industries tells us that these very same sources of foods actually kill us.

And because this is a government statistic, we can deduce that this is a very conservative number. Our government wouldn’t want to step too hard on too many delicate toes.

The U.S. Public Health Service told us that:

633,500 deaths caused from heart disease can be directly attributed to eating animal products
Cerebrovascular Disease: 166,000 deaths attributed to eating animal products
Vascular Diseases: 58,200 deaths attributed to eating animal products
Cancer: 258,800 deaths attributed to eating animal products
Diabetes: 68,700 deaths attributed to eating animal products
Kidney and gallbladder deaths: 40,500 deaths attributed to eating animal products

In spite of the numbers of deaths that are directly caused by eating meat of any kind, how many national cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other disease organizations really stress cutting out, not just cutting back, all animal products from people’s daily diet,?

When is the last time your health care professional discussed with you the hazards of eating meat, any kind of meat?

“But isn’t it okay to eat just a little bit?” you may be thinking. Let’s face it. Most Americans have no clue what a little bit means.

Secondly, consider this analogy for a moment. What would you tell a cigarette smoker if he asked if it was okay to just smoke a little bit? Would you tell him that a few cigarettes a day was just fine? Or maybe one cigarette a day wouldn’t affect his health?

So when you ask if eating a little bit of food that is high in fat, cholesterol, and animal protein is okay, the answer is clear.

If you want to be your healthiest, then, no, it is not okay to even eat a little bit of animal foods.

Dr. Leslie Van Romer is a health motivational speaker, writer, and life style coach. Visit http://www.DrLeslieVanRomer.com for more inspiration.