In this day and age, the word “vegan” is nearly a swear word. In fact, just a year ago, I thought of vegans as snobby, uppity hipsters who saw themselves as better than everyone else because they ate their body weight in kale every day. Growing up on a greasy plate of maple bacon for breakfast, a triple-stacked ham sandwich for lunch, and grilled cheeseburger for dinner, it was difficult for me to understand why anyone would venture away from the highly-touted all-American status quo. That is—until I learned more about what I was really eating.
Once I went to college, I was slapped in the face with a big, bloody cow carcass of knowledge (sorry for the vulgarity, that’s what came to mind first). I took a sociology course during my first semester and my professor taught us a lesson about the rights of animals.
We watched clips from "Cowspiracy" and "Forks Over Knives" and I was exposed to the brutal, torturous nature of the meat and dairy industries. I watched live cows being raised into truck beds by nooses strung around their necks, pigs hung upside down and left to writhe in pain for hours after having their throats slit, baby chicks thrown into meat grinders or put into trash bags and beaten continuously against the hard cement floor.
I watched chickens go mentally insane (really, this happens) from being locked in cages that prevent them from ever fully expanding their wings. It’s okay to treat “farm” animals like this, but if it was a dog or cat, then these actions would be illegal. Why is this rational? Is there such a discernible difference between dogs and pigs that one should be cherished and the other boiled alive?
Aside from the torture in the meat industry, there also exists the health aspect. There are hundreds of clinical studies that link meat consumption to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other illnesses. Yet, the United States Department of Agriculture spends 550 million dollars on the marketing of animal products every year, leading the average American to consume 200 pounds of meat per year. This is significantly higher than the averages for the rest of the world. This would be less concerning if America didn’t have twice the obesity rate, twice the diabetes rate, and nearly three times the cancer rate of the rest of the world. Of course, meat isn’t the only cause for these statistics, but it is certainly a contributor.
As for dairy, I’m a firm believer that milk is for baby cows. No other species continues to drink milk after infancy, let alone the milk of an entirely different species. The natural hormones in a cow’s milk are much stronger than those in a human’s, not to mention that dairy cows are pumped full of steroids and other hormones to increase their milk production. This does not benefit us in any way, it only upsets a human’s delicate hormonal balance. Additionally, the harsh pasteurization process destroys any vitamins, proteins, and enzymes that were originally present in the dairy. Removing these things not only removes its nutritional value, but also makes it harder for humans to digest. This can upset our body’s enzyme and digestive systems.
There are hundreds if not thousands of other reasons to go vegan and this explanation hardly scratches the surface. There are many environmental reasons why the meat and dairy industries are harmful as well. Hopefully, this serves as an explanation for the most basic of reasons as to why veganism is the right choice for both the animals and for your health.
