Health benefits of a vegetarian / vegan diet

The Huffington Post recently wrote an article Why do vegetarians live longer, in response to a recent study that showed  on average veggie lovers lived approximately 8 years longer.It points out that vegetarians are less likely to die from heart disease or have high cholesterol. Additionally the incidence of all cancers combined is lower and vegetarians are less susceptible to other killers like strokes, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

I love vegetables and at times have suspended eating meat for a few weeks to quickly drop 5-10 pounds.  When I tell people this I feel like many think I’m exaggerating but according to this article on average, vegans are 30 pounds lighter and 5 units lighter on the BMI scale.

Would you consider eliminating meat from your diet or going vegan if it meant you’d drop a waist size or two?