WHY GO VEGAN?
People choose to go vegan for health, environmental, and or ethical reasons. An increased awareness of animal treatment, a long list of health benefits, and the toll commercial farming takes on the environment, are all reasons that people choose to adopt and live a cruelty-free vegan lifestyle. Studies estimate that being vegan can save about 200 animals a year, 1.3 million gallons of water, and 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Veganism is defined as a way of living, which seeks to exclude as much as possible and practical, all forms of exportation of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose while also promoting animal free alternatives. Vegans strive to minimize harm to all animals, which requires abstention from the consumption and the use of animal products, such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey, gelatin, lanolin, wool, fur, silk, suede, and leather.
FOR THE ANIMALS
Going vegan for the animals is the primary reason most people make the change to live a compassionate lifestyle. We kill and eat a lot of animals each year, in just the US alone, eight billion land animals, mostly chickens, and 100 billion marine animals, mostly fish, are killed for food. On today’s factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds, and stuffed into wire cages, metal crates, and other torturous devices.
It is estimated that 98% of our harm to animals comes from our food choices. Yet science has demonstrated that humans do not need meat, dairy, or eggs to thrive. Veganism isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle choice. Our society is built on animal exploitation from clothing, to cosmetics, to household cleaners. The decision to live a vegan life is an effort to avoid using animals in all areas of life.
FOR THE PLANET
Animal agriculture has an undeniable effect on the environment and planet. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 51% or more of global greenhouse emissions are caused by animal agriculture. A vegan diet can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 tons per year. Chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows, are collectively the largest producers of methane in the United States.
Raising animals for food uses 30% of the Earth’s landmass. In the United States alone, 56 million acres of land are used to grow feed for animals, while only four million acres are used to produce plants for humans to eat. Each day, a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 44 pounds of grain, 30 square foot of forest, 20 pounds of CO2 equivalent and the life of one animal
FOR YOUR HEALTH
Switching to a vegan diet has numerous health benefits from boosting nutrition, strengthening disease prevention, and a multitude of physical benefits. Well-planned vegan diets provide us with all the nutrients that we need, minus all the saturated fat, cholesterol, and contaminants found in animal flesh, eggs, and dairy products. Scientists have also found that vegans have stronger immune systems than their meat-eating counterparts. Vegetarians and vegans live on average six to 10 years longer than meat eaters.
Several population studies show that a diet without meat leads to lower BMI’s. Usually an indicator of a healthy weight and lack of fat on the body. Nuts and vitamins A and E from vegetables play a role in healthy skin. When switching to a vegan diet, many women report PMs symptoms becoming less intense or disappearing altogether. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states that vegetarians and vegans enjoy a lower risk of death from heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, lower rates of hypertension and lower occurrences of type two diabetes. A vegan diet has been shown to slow macular degeneration, prevent cataracts, lower body mass indexes, as well as lower overall cancer rates.
GET INSPIRED
FAST FOOD VEGAN chronicles my first thirty 30 days of veganism. In this fast paced world we live, is it possible to eat vegan on the go? Follow my vegan journey as I navigate eating out and cooking delicious plant based food at home.
Quick and thoughtful look at vegan living. This documentary was awesome! Short and to the point with thoughtful facts. And I love the focus on eating out, showing that it’s easier than you think. If you want a quick and easy intro to vegan living this is an excellent resource.
Awesome Doc!!! Watching the journey of someone who just went vegan was interesting. Loved the focus on managing the conversion from average meat eater to empowered vegan.
