With the veganism trend seemingly on the rise, it's interesting to see all of the different reasons why people are choosing to go plant based. Veganism is a lifestyle that prohibits the eating, wearing and utilizing of animal products. For most Americans, it may be a shock that there are people who choose to willingly adopt this philosophy. People are quick to believe that establishing this sort of diet is unhealthy due to its "absence of protein and calcium" amongst other reasons that are really just excuses. There are many intricate, surprising benefits that come along with being a vegan, so here are five main arguments for why veganism actually can be for everybody.
1. "If you wouldn't eat a puppy you shouldn't eat a piggy."
If you've heard this one before, it's because it's true. Animal cruelty is the main reason most vegans choose their way of life, whether it's because they were traumatized by a documentary or they simply just can't fathom the idea of innocent farm animals being raised for slaughter. The moral justifications could go on forever, but it's hard to go back to eating meat once you've seen the horrors that go on in the animal agriculture industry. Another common misconception about the meat industry is that it is worse or more violent than the dairy industry. Dairy cows are treated with the same disregard as meat cows, being aggressively hurdled and handled, and then slaughtered once they are no longer of use to the farmers. So being a vegetarian is cool, but not feeding into the dairy industry (literally) is even cooler.
2. Humans aren't actually meant to consume dairy products.
As crazy as it sounds, milk and dairy products are actually alarmingly dangerous to the human body. Think about it this way: infants cannot drink milk from anything other than their mother for the first few months of their lives. We have to be eased into the hormones and added preservatives by being introduced to them in small amounts. We are actually all born lactose intolerant. A baby cow would not survive drinking a human's milk, so why should it work the opposite way? Better explained in the Netflix documentary, "Cowspiracy," cow's milk is made to make a baby calf grow from 65 pounds to 700 pounds in just a few short weeks. That is so above and beyond the amount of nutrients humans require, and in conjunction with added hormones becomes the reason that females are hitting puberty earlier in life, which may come with extreme hormonal consequences.
3. Eating a plant-based diet is the most energy-efifcient thing a single human can do.
From an environmental standpoint, one of the most underrated evils of animal agriculture is the wastefulness of the Earth's resources that is associated with these commonly used practices. Did you know that animal agriculture is the number-one cause of global warming? Last year, more than 18 percent of the planet's fossil fuel emissions were traced back to farming. Methane, a gas excreted from cows and livestock, is entering our atmosphere at exponential rates, along with the CO2 emissions from farm machinery. Animal agriculture also takes away from the environment almost as much as it adds to it, accounting for over 8 percent of the planet's water usage each year.
4. The answer to the protein question is that it shouldn't even be a question.
The top concern of those who are hesitant to adopt a vegan lifestyle is that their diets will be devoid of proteins necessary for growth, most commonly obtained from meat, fish or eggs. A lesser-known truth is that there are actually more options for getting protein through plant-based foods than there are for getting it through animal products. Foods like beans and nuts, as well as vegetables like avocado, are all just as protein-packed as a steak would be, and for a fraction of the calories.
5. Once you make the switch, there is nowhere to go but up.
The first initial giving up of animal products is no doubt the hardest part, but once you quit cold turkey (or cold tofu?) you're opening the floodgates to an onslaught of health benefits. Veganism will adjust your body to the weight that it feels like it needs to be in order to function as healthily as possible. If you are underweight, you will gain a few pounds, and if you're overweight, you will lose a lot of pounds. Your skin will clear up and your hair will grow in faster and healthier, and you'll have your new lifestyle to thank. Even after you think the short-term gifts have stopped giving, you will be permanently at less of a risk for hearth disease, high cholesterol and diabetes as well.
