BeamaLife Blog

It’s a new year, and that’s the time when many people make resolutions to change their lives for the better in the coming months.  Many of the changes you might be considering can also be ways to save money on your life insurance.  Of course, there are the usual ways that most people would think of, like quitting smoking, or cutting back on drinking alcohol, or losing a few pounds.

But here’s one you may not have considered: going vegetarian. With all the talk about what’s happened to the American diet over the years, it isn’t a surprise to anyone that there are many health benefits to being a vegetarian.  But here are a few facts:

• Vegetarians are half as likely to develop heart disease as meat eaters
• Vegetarians have just 40% of the cancer rate of meat eaters
• Meat eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegetarians

When an insurance company evaluates your risk, which most of them do through a medical examination, there are a number of ways in which being a vegetarian will result in your being a lower risk, and therefore having lower life insurance rate and premiums. 

• Your cholesterol levels will be lower
• Your blood pressure will be lower
• Your risk for diabetes will be lower
• Your risk for heart disease will be lower

At this time there’s no “official” life insurance premium discount offered to vegetarians, like there is for people who don’t smoke.  But the health benefits are so clear that your acceptance is guaranteed to have fewer problems than you’d have as a meat eater.

Life insurance companies believe that it would be hard to verify that someone really was a vegetarian, or if they were just trying to get a discount they didn’t deserve.  Well, unless someone lights up a cigarette in the middle of a medical exam, it’s hard to prove that they’re a smoker, too.  So I think this is something that will change in the years ahead.

But even without an official discount, the benefits of being a vegetarian will lead you to a healthier life, and that means more time to enjoy all of the things that make your life worth living.  Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2010 from all of us at BeamaLife! Please call (866) 972-3262 to speak with life insurance specialist or complete life insurance quote request form for term insurance quote or whole life quote.