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

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  1. Veganism continues exploding on its trajectory towards being considered mainstream.
  2. You are what your bacteria eat and vegans tend to have more health-promoting, disease-fighting microbiota profiles in our guts.
  3. 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!
  4. An entire English soccer team recently went vegan!
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. There is now an exquisite online professional plant-based culinary school that continues to sell out its certification programs due to its growing popularity.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.”
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
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  13. 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.
  14. 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!
  15. Here are just five of the key studies showing an association between the consumption of meat and cancer.
  16. Dating vegans can be beneficial for many reasons, such as these.
  17. The longest lived societies around the world (those with the most centenarians) – known as the Blue Zones – eat a plant-based diet.
    plant-based diets
  18. 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…
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.”
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. Fiber is so fabulous and one of the most important nutrient categories for optimal health. Fiber is found exclusively in plants.
  25. 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.
  26. A vegan diet is a recipe for ending world hunger.
  27. 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.
    vegan benefits
  28. A plant-based diet is the only affordable and effective solution to the healthcare crisis.
  29. The Vegiterranean Diet is even healthier than the Mediterranean diet, considered the “gold standard” in the research.
  30. 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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