The "why vegan" question is an easy one for me to answer. For my health, for the animals, for the environment and for world hunger.
People often ask me why I am vegan and I am happy to explain my reasons to them. I am passionate about being a vegan and switching over to a vegan lifestyle is one of the best decisions I've ever made.
I do think it's important not to ram my opinions down people's throats about why I am vegan but I also think it's important for people to know about the benefits of going vegan and how they can help animals, the environment and themselves by cutting out meat, eggs and dairy.
What Is A Vegan?
A vegan is someone who excludes - as far as is possible and practical - the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.
It is almost impossible to be 100% vegan as animal products are ubiquitous in many everyday household items.
The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral conviction that animals shouldn't be used as commodities.
Health vegans may choose to only exclude animal products from their diet but may still wear animal products as clothing.
1) Raising animals as food items involves giving them drugs such as antibiotics and tranquillisers. You are eating these drugs when you ingest their flesh.
2) Cancers, diabetes, gout, gallstones, obesity, piles, strokes and other diseases are far more common amongst meat eaters.
3) Animal agriculture contributes massively to water pollution.
4) Half the worlds rainforests have been destroyed to clear ground to graze animals for human consumption. Burning forests contributes to 20% of all greenhouse gasses and approximately 1,000 species a year become extinct due to this destruction.
5) Millions of people every year die from starvation. These lives could be saved if the starving people could eat some of the grain that is used to feed animals for food. If we ate the plants that are grown instead of feeding them to animals, the worlds food shortage would virtually disappear.
6) Animals are intelligent creatures who feel pain just like we do. Animals which are around a year old are far more rational and capable of logical thought than six week old babies. Pigs and sheep are more intelligent than small children and the mentally retarded.
7) Millions of fluffy yellow male chicks are killed every day because they cannot lay eggs. They are minced alive, crushed and suffocated to death.
8) Most milk and dairy products contain pesticides, blood, pus, faeces, bacteria and viruses. One cubic centimeter of commercial cows milk is allowed to have up to 750,000 somatic cells (pus) and 20,000 live bacteria before it is kept off the market. Sausages and other meat products may contain ground up intestines, anuses and brains.
9) There are millions of cases of food poisoning recorded every year. The vast majority of all those cases are caused by eating meat and dairy products.
10) Giving up meat and dairy products is one of the best ways to cut down on your saturated fat consumption. Vegans are healthier than people who eat a typical western diet.
11) Eggs are loaded with artery clogging cholesterol and saturated fat with 70% of the calories from one egg being from pure fat.
12) Dairy products are the leading cause of food allergy, often revealed by constipation, diarrhea, and fatigue. Many cases of asthma and sinus infections are reported to be relieved and even eliminated by cutting out dairy.
The "why vegan" question is an easy one for me to answer. For my health, for the animals, for the environment and for world hunger.
