30 (more) Reasons to Try Veganism
Vegan Lifestyle Articles From All-Creatures.org
Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans,
animals, and the environment.
FROM
Julieanna Hever,
The Plant-Based
Dietitian
October 2016
Please visit
Julieanna's site for more GREAT images!
- Veganism continues exploding on its trajectory towards being
considered mainstream.
- You are what your bacteria eat and vegans tend to have more
health-promoting, disease-fighting microbiota profiles in our guts.
- Athletes and bodybuilders continue to take it to the next level by
eating plants. Just this past year, Mr. Universe went vegan to optimize
his recovery and train harder, vegan ultramarathoner, Scott Jurek, broke
the Appalachian trail thru-hike record, and NFL defensive lineman, David
Carter, went vegan to feel better and ended up getting leaner, stronger,
and faster!
- An entire English soccer team recently went vegan!
- Vegan options are being offered at more and more quick serve
restaurants to meet consumer demand. Recently, for example, White Castle
introduced a vegan slider, Taco Bell’s new vegetarian-certified menu
contains 26 vegan ingredient items, and Wendy’s rolled out a black bean
burger.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) made an official declaration
that processed meat (and likely red meat) promote cancer. This
substantiates many years of research and the American Institute for
Cancer Research’s stance that no amount of processed meat is safe.
- Healthcare practitioners are recognizing the vast health benefits of
a vegan diet. The Plantrician Project‘s International Plant-Based
Nutrition Conference has doubled in size each year of its first three
years. This past year, 600 physicians, dietitians, and nurses attended
from all over the world, each integrating plant-based nutrition into
their practices.
- There is now an exquisite online professional plant-based culinary
school that continues to sell out its certification programs due to its
growing popularity.
- A trade group of plant-based food companies is being formed,
spearheaded by food lawyer Michele R. Simon, in order to solidify a
representative voice like the meat, dairy, and egg industries have for
decades.
- The current president of the American College of Cardiology – Dr.
Kim Williams – is himself a vegan! Since 2003! He stated recently in his
talk at the Plantrician conference that “we need to think about
prevention and not just treatment with respect to cardiovascular
disease.”
- The vegan food marketplace is on fire! Shelf space is expanding with
vegan alternatives. Plant-based milks sales rose to $2 billion in 2013,
up a whopping 30% since 2011! Thirty-six percent of U.S. consumers
prefer plant-based options.
- An unintended consequence of line speed (keeping up with production
speed in slaughterhouses) is the risk for horrific illnesses across the
supply chain from workers to the plate.
Dan Piraro's
BizarroComics.com
- The iron found in plants (non-heme) offers a healthy dose of iron
without stimulating free radical formation and promoting chronic
disease, as in animal-based (heme) iron.
- The documentary film Cowspiracy documents the fact that
livestock production is the number one cause of climate change and the
most resource intensive, polluting industry on our planet…currently
forcing us towards a possible sixth – and first human-induced – mass
extinction!
- Here are just five of the key studies showing an association between
the consumption of meat and cancer.
- Dating vegans can be beneficial for many reasons, such as these.
- The longest lived societies around the world (those with the most
centenarians) – known as the Blue Zones – eat a plant-based diet.
- A plant-based diet buffed up with plant sterols, viscous fibers, soy
foods, and nuts (the “Portfolio Diet”) has been shown to lower
cholesterol AS WELL AS statins do and lower blood pressure as well as
medications do! This indicates the billions of dollars that can be saved
in healthcare costs by simply swapping out pharmaceuticals for plant
foods…
- A side effect of people eating less red meat is an increase in
consumption of white meat. Eating birds does not provide a health
advantage since they also contain similar doses of saturated fat,
dietary cholesterol, hormones, steroids, contaminants including feces,
toxic chemicals, superbugs, and carcinogens, and is associated with
weight gain. Additionally, eating chickens is “a leading cause of death”
and suffering worldwide.
- There are now a plethora of plant milks and other delicious dairy
and meat substitutes, and now even eerily realistic vegan eggs so that
any recipe, craving, and palate can be easily satisfied. And there is
still an abundance of creative whole food culinary substitutes that can
be used.
- An extensive two year-long scientific literature review led the 2015
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to state that: “A dietary pattern
that is higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole
grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and lower in animal-based foods is more
health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than
is the current average U.S. diet.”
- You can get all of your nutrients from plants (except for vitamin
B12)…but packaged better with health-promoting, disease-fighting
phytochemicals and fiber. Here is my video series answering nutrient
questions.
- At least 70 billion (!) land animals are slaughtered every year for
their flesh and byproducts. They suffer horrific, torturous existences
and deaths because of the large, unsustainable consumer demand.
- Fiber is so fabulous and one of the most important nutrient
categories for optimal health. Fiber is found exclusively in plants.
- Eating on a budget is effortless on a vegan diet. A recent study
showed skipping meat doesn’t just add years to your life, it keeps
(hundreds of) dollars in your wallet.
- A vegan diet is a recipe for ending world hunger.
- Animal protein induces a profound workload on the kidneys, unlike
plant protein, which is crucial since at least one in ten American
adults suffer from chronic kidney disease.
- A plant-based diet is the only affordable and effective solution to
the healthcare crisis.
- The Vegiterranean Diet is even healthier than the Mediterranean
diet, considered the “gold standard” in the research.
- There are now thousands (or perhaps even millions) of delicious
vegan recipes that are easily accessible in cookbooks, on Pinterest,
blogs, classes, and even delivered to your door that range from simple
and quick to gourmet and intricate.
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