Lean Mean Vegan Machine

It has long been believed that animal products are an important element in a healthy diet, but recent discussions have become more common on whether they positively or negatively affect an individual's health. Many have argued that animal products are essential to a healthy life, and make them the staple of their diet. But being Vegan vastly increases your health, decreases your negative impact on the planet, and saves countless innocent animals from a meaningless death.

Meat is part of a balanced diet. If humans stopped breeding animals for meat, then we would have to hunt all the wild animals for food. The wild animals will be hunted into extinction because of gluttonous meat-eaters. Because of factory farming, meat is now available at all time at the super market. This makes meat convenient to obtain and eat nutritionally. Meat contains all the essential amino acids that we need every day to remain as healthy individuals. Minerals and vitamins that are also beneficial to the growth and development of the human body are found in meat too. Eating specific types of meat such as fish provides healthy natural oils that cannot be found anywhere else. Abandoning meat as a source of nutrition means we will need to compensate with another source of sustenance.

According to vegansociety.com, “ Veganism represents a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, other animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, other animals and the environment.“ People that follow this way of living are called vegans. The vegan diet is more a lifestyle choice and a philosophy than just a diet. The vegan life is the best way to live because it’s healthier, helps the environment, and is kinder to animals.

The first documented person to encourage a boycott of all animal products was Donald Watson in November of 1944 (“Vegan History” n.d.). He declared himself a vegan and originally defined veganism as, “The principle of the emancipation of animals from exploitation by man.” Later on, Watson clarified this definition, “To seek an end to the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection, and by all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man” (“Vegan History” n.d.). Although he may have been the first individual to denounce animal products, this ideology began to catch on as time progressed. By the year 2005, there were two million self-identified vegans residing in the United States (Suddath 2008). On average, one person on a vegan diet requires 600 less gallons of water than a person on a standard American diet (“Water Conservation Tips” n.d.). Overall, if the demand for animal products is reduced, less of these products will be manufactured, and eventually this curtails the environmental effects of factory

If a person looked around and consumed the right amount of what they were eating, there would be absolutely no problems while on this diet. Also, there can be more variety achieved in this diet by consuming new and different types of fruits, and vegetables. There are even meat substitutes by a brand called MorningStar. In addition to getting all the correct supplements the human body needs, while on the vegan diet a person would not eat red meat or drink milk. By not consuming red meat, this allows for the digestive pathway to work more efficiently because it takes about three days to fully digest any red meat. Not consuming red meat also lowers your cholesterol, preventing gallstones, plaque buildup in arteries, and heart attacks. As for not consuming milk, the top three countries on the International Milk Genomics Consortium milk consuming list (Finland, Netherlands, and Sweden) are also the top three countries with the weakest bone structure. This appears quite deceiving given that children drink milk so they can develop a strong bone structure. It is also proven that almond milk has 50% more calcium than regular cow 's milk. Given this information, milk does not determine the strength of a person 's bones. Not consuming red meat will also lead a person to a better future with less bills to pay and no health risk. Overall, by switching over to the vegan diet

Even though meat may provide protein, the animals people consume are treated wrongfully. When animals are not killed, the life they are subjected into is harmful to their growth and development. According to Elizabeth Kolbert in "Should You

Donald Watson, on 1944 had a meeting with non-dairy vegetarian, Elsie Shrigley, to talk about the lifestyle and diet of non-dairy vegetarian diets. These pioneers were the first people to discover a new movement – although resistant. They felt that they needed a new name, something more brief than “non-dairy vegetarians”. “vitan”, “dairyban”, and “benevore” were some of the rejected words. They settled on “vegan”, because it had the first 3 and the last 2 letters of “vegetarian”. In Donald Watson’s words, it marked “the beginning and end of vegetarian”.

“You are what you eat”, a famous saying says. If this were truly the case, then the majority of Americans would be unhealthy, chemically processed, commercially grown slabs of animal meat. And although this is not a particularly pleasing thought, it is the epitome of a standard American diet that consists of Big Macs and Taco Bell. There are a select few who stray from this typical diet, and have altered it to where they can substitute meat with other nutrients. This type of diet is called vegetarianism, and is considered the way to live without poisoning oneself with the harmful and hazardous treatment that animals go through before becoming the next meal on your plates. While vegetarianism was once thought to be a movement without much action,

If someone had told me one year ago that in just a few months, I’d be a vegan, that I didn’t eat anymore meat or dairy, I’d laugh in their face. For me, just like it might be for you, it had been hard for me to imagine a life without the foods I ate on a daily basis. Today, I no longer eat those foods I once loved so much, and thought I couldn’t live without. I became a vegan due to ethical reasons, influenced by my mutual love and respect for animals as well as our beautiful planet, Earth.

Not so long ago, vegetarians were viewed as eccentrics, and most people didn't even know what (-- removed HTML --) a vegan (-- removed HTML --) was. Now, thank goodness, eating a plant-based diet is becoming far more mainstream, and restaurants and supermarkets provide easy access to more meat-free options than ever before. However, (-- removed HTML --) being a vegan isn't just about what you eat (-- removed HTML --) . It's about the desire to create a compassionate and healthy world that is safe for ALL living things, and making conscious decisions that reflect that desire. Living responsibly is becoming infinitely easier with the ever-increasing availability of all manner of organic, cruelty-free, and sustainably-sourced

It is important to remember that one billion people on the planet are starving right now and that number is only increasing as the standard population is increasing as well. Seven billion humans on the planet drink 5.2 billion gallons of water and eats 21 billion pounds of food a day, but just 1.5 billion cows alone drink 45 billion gallons of water and eat 135 pounds of food a day (Keegan 1:11). It’s ridiculous that one billion humans are starving and almost fifty percent of the food we grow goes to animals so that we can feed less humans. But this is true, these are the facts, these are the issues. On average you can produce 15 times more protein than we have today if we used plant based proteins (Keegan, 1:15). This is important because we adore our new protein addicted age where people eat plentifully. There’s no way to support eating 9 ounces of meat a person a day (Which is what Americans are eating now) once the population reaches 9 billion it would be better for the world to live as vegetarians (Keegan, 1:18). I would go further to say that even dairy is unnecessary and actually creates problems for us. Cow’s milk for example has thinks such as growth hormones that are supposed to help a baby cow grow. Also cow dairy milk, frozen forms such as ice creams and separated forms such as cheeses causes a hormone imbalance that leads to man boobs and breast lumps along with other issues relating to hormone and thyroid imbalances. We don’t have enough land to generate food to give to animals so we can have that much meat, we don’t even have enough land to sustain these meat and dairy industries incline (Keegan, 1:21). That’s part of the reason we have issues such as desertification, loss of amazon, dust bowl and many other issues. This is not an environmental paper so I won’t get into that. To feed one full grown vegan it takes about 1/6th of an acre versus feeding a full grown meat eater

Veganism is a food lifestyle based on diet of vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts and fruits. People are being vegetarian because they think it is healthier to only eat vegetables without eating meet or chicken, and they think that they will get a perfect body shape, free of diseases. As in vegetarian, where they feed on foods that do not fit into animal flesh, whether from wild or marine animals. They also don’t eat food that comes directly from the animal, such as: egg that’s comes from the hen, milk that comes from cows, goats and honey that comes from bees. In India, Ethiopia and Jamaica there are a lot of vegetarian people, because they don’t have enough food to feed themselves, so they decided to eat vegetable. This paper argues that veganism is a harmful lifestyle for three major reasons.

As different crazes and fads are appearing each day, we have come to expect them to simply fade away as the hype passes. However, veganism has stood the test of time in our fad society and is still increasing in popularity. Originally only thought to be a religious lifestyle, many people from different walks of life are becoming vegans. However, this poses many questions and sparks heated debates, mainly from omnivorous people who believe that veganism is against life’s natural order. Vegans, then, argue against an omnivorous lifestyle by bringing up facts about humans’ biological makeup and how humans are, contrary to popular belief, herbivorous by nature, not omnivorous. While both sides present good arguments to some, the veganism lifestyle contains more benefits and less harmful cons than an omnivorous lifestyle.

Studies have shown that veganism can be a healthy diet if the person is receiving all the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals as well as having a balance between what they are eating. Vegans also commonly have have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, which heavily reduces the risk of them getting a heart disease. They also have a lower risk of being obese, getting some cancers and diabetes, in particular type

Some would not be able to live without eating any animal products in their diets, such as, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, and honey. For vegans, however, this is a normal way of life. Vegans are frequently misunderstood as either people who have eating disorders, or an unnatural passion for animal rights. It is time for people to realize that veganism, a challenging yet rewarding lifestyle, goes way beyond being skinny or caring for animals. In reality, veganism can be extremely advantageous to anyone who adapts it as a way of life and has many different benefits that come along with it.