Vegan
article
Many people become vegan for a wide variety
of reasons. These consist of helping the environment, fighting for the freedom
and rights of animals and for the huge health benefits that come with being
vegan.
Vegans are strongly in favor of animal
equality. Being vegan is about living a lifestyle that does not cause
suffering, harm or death to animals. Other animals are sentient beings like us,
with their own needs and freedom to life. Over 56 billion farmed animals are killed every year by humans, more than 3,000 die every
second in slaughterhouses around the world. To ensure they show their support
towards stopping the killings of these innocent animals they wont purchase
anything that has been created from animals and tested upon animals. This
involves foods, clothes, perfumes, household products and home furnishings.
Vegans avoid the use of wearing clothes that have been made with the skin,
hair, or feathers of an animal. As a substitute vegans can wear plant based
fabrics such as cotton, linen, hemp, handmade materials such as polyester,
acrylic and nylon. The vegan society’s trademark sunflower symbol can be found
upon a wide range of products, guaranteeing that these products do not contain
animal products, nor have been tested on animals. This isn’t the only way
vegans show their respect to animals. Avoiding environments where animals are
kept for entertainment is a must. This consists of circuses with the use of
animals, zoos, hunting, safari parks, aquariums, horseraces and all other places
animals are kept for human profit.
Cutting out foods that have come from
animal isn’t only supporting animal’s rights but is hugely benefiting the
environment. Animals are mass-produced all around the world and this places a
huge burden on the environment. A large amount of crops and water are being
used for the production of these animals only for them to be sent to the
slaughterhouse. (1 Lb. beef = 200 square meters of rainforest destroyed).
Eating a steak for a family of four is the equivalent, energy-wise, of driving
around in an SUV for three hours while leaving the light on at home. Not only
this but a large amount of emissions are generated throughout the use of
clearing land for animals to be stored, keeping the animals alive, slaughtering
them and then the transportation involved in the process. The major sources of
pollution are from animal wastes, antibiotics, and chemicals from tanneries,
fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops. All these sources pollute over
eight percent of global human water use. Whereas a vegan diet requires a third
of the water and a third of the land to produce a vegan based diet than it
would to produce an animal based diet.
Many people will become vegan for the large
health benefits that come with cutting out foods that come from animals. The
plant-based sources of these nutrients tend to be low in saturated fats, high
in fibre and packed with antioxidants, helping mitigate some of the modern
worlds biggest health issues like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
If you follow a vegan diet you can still look after your heart by eating at
least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. A recent
study indicated that the average vegan diet is higher in vitamin C and fibre
than one containing meat, leading to vegans having a lower BMI than meat
eaters. Switching to a plant-based diet can still provide you with the
essential nutrients, proteins, omega 3 fatty acids, iron and calcium as someone
who eats meat and dairy products; the only thing you lose is the essential
vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is usually accessed through meats, and a vitamin B12
deficiency can be caused from a lack of the vitamin. The deficiency can lead to
side effects such as anemia, nerve damage, heart disease and more, so it’s very
important to still get this vitamin even on a vegan diet. Vegans can gain these
supplements of B12 through foods such as plant milks, yeast extracts, whole
grain bread and more.
