Why go vegan? Some of the many reasons, explained
The vegan movement has grown significantly in the last few years. Veganism is on the rise. Data from Google Trends showed vegan-related searches at an all-time high in 2020. Research by The Vegan Society in 2018 suggested there were around 600,000 vegans in the UK, up from 150,000 in 2006. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of vegans jumped from just 2% of the population to 3%, a whopping increase for just one year.
The availability of products has also increased. In 2019, The Vegan Society registered an impressive 14,262 products with The Vegan Trademark, up 49% from 2018. So what’s making people shift to a plant-based diet? And should you do the same? We’re looking at the reasons that people are going vegan.
Why are so many people going vegan?
What’s so appealing about veganism? Well, it’s simple: following a vegan lifestyle is a great way to live in accordance with your principles if you believe in animal welfare and protecting the environment. Adopting a vegan diet also comes with the nice little bonus of improved health, which itself leads many people to make the change.
Going vegan for the animals
Many people who eliminate not just food items derived from animals, but also other products like leather or down, go vegan for the animals. They recognise that these products cause vast animal suffering, and don’t want to contribute.
It’s important to note that veganism is about giving up animal products as much as is feasible. What’s possible for a member of the upper class who has access to specialty grocery stores or fresh produce is different from the options of people who live in a food desert.
Born to suffer
There are many reasons to go vegan if you care about avoiding animal suffering.
Chickens raised for meat go from birth to slaughter in just a few short weeks. They never have the protection of their mother as they face the overwhelming noises and smells of the huge barns they’re raised in.
Meanwhile, in the egg industry, day-old male chicks are treated as a waste product. They’re dumped on a conveyor belt that takes them to be killed, as they’ll never lay eggs and don’t grow fast enough to be worth the cost of their feed to the meat industry.
On dairy farms, it’s standard practice to separate calves within hours of their birth. They’re never able to drink the milk from their mothers. Instead, their fate is often to be sold into the veal industry.
These are just a few of the many horrific ways animals are used for food.
Raised to fit the system
Animals were not meant to be used in the way they are today. That’s why the industry routinely forces them to ‘fit’ the systems they are raised in.
Chicken’s sensitive beaks are lasered off, lambs’ tails are clipped, and in some places, little piglets are castrated without pain management.
And that’s not all.
Farmed animals today are almost unrecognisable from their wild ancestors - or even those raised for food in the 1950s. Chickens now grow so much breast muscle, so fast, that their legs often don’t support them. Hens produce so many eggs that calcium deficiency causes brittle bones. Cows produce double the amount of milk they did 40 years ago.
Animals raised for food are literally bred to suffer.
Killed for your plate
While the slaughterhouse has its own set of horrors, the journey there is little better. Animals are often packed so tightly into trucks that some don’t even reach their destination alive; they are trampled or suffocated by the crush of bodies.
Land animals are not alone in their suffering. The lack of clarity in the law means that fishes are not protected at the time of killing - they do not have to be unconscious when they are killed. While science has proved time and time again that fishes feel pain, billions are killed each year in horrific ways.
Is eating vegan good for your health?
For years, the meat and dairy industries have told us that we need meat for iron and milk for calcium.
But now, thousands of people, including athletes, are proving that eating a plant-based diet is not only healthy but can be healthier than a diet including meat.
Lowers risk of heart disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the UK. The buildup of plaque in our arteries is caused by ‘bad cholesterol’ - which is largely caused by cholesterol and trans fat in the foods we eat. Plants don’t contain cholesterol and have only small amounts of trans fat.
Eliminating meat can not only prevent heart disease from getting worse, but researchers have also found that it’s correlated with an improvement in the disease.
Decreases risk of cancer
One in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer in our lifetime. It’s a terrifying thought. A survey in 2010 by Cancer Research UK found that cancer is the UK’s biggest fear - and yet over a third of people believed it was down to fate whether you got cancer or not.
Actually, around one in three cases of cancer is preventable. Poor diet, smoking, alcohol, and lack of exercise can increase the risk of getting cancer.
Cancer cells can suppress the genes that stop tumours, and some chemotherapy drugs can help restore those natural defences. Incredibly, there are some plant-based foods, like berries and beans, that have been shown to have the same effect.
One study showed that three hours after eating broccoli sprouts, the enzyme that cancer cells use to attack the body’s defences was suppressed to an equal or greater level when compared to some chemotherapy drugs.
Slows ageing
Your cells are constantly dividing. Each time this happens, you lose a little of the telomere, the cap that protects your DNA from unravelling. When telomeres disappear, your cells die.
Smoking can triple the rate of loss of telomeres. But the consumption of antioxidant-rich foods, such as fruit and vegetables, can slow the process down and even grow telomeres, effectively reversing cellular ageing.
Decreases risk of lung disease
Lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma are the three forms of lung disease that kill the most people.
We know that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. Tobacco smoke weakens the body’s immune system and simultaneously damages cell DNA, increasing the chance of cancer cells forming and growing.
If you’re an ex-smoker, a plant-based diet could help prevent further damage. Studies have shown that vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower can help DNA resist mutation. We’ve known for a while that a high intake of fruits and vegetables contributes to good lung function. Meanwhile, removing eggs and dairy from a child’s diet has been shown to improve lung function in as little as 8 weeks.
Combats risk of zoonotic diseases
Three out of four new infectious diseases are transmitted by animals, including swine flu, salmonella, bird flu, and, of course, COVID-19. The conditions that animals are raised in - filthy, hot, and crowded - are a perfect breeding ground for disease.
In fact, between July 2016 and June 2019, more than 39 million chickens were rejected at slaughter due to disease.
The risk of global pandemics is only growing. A vegan diet actively boycotts contributing to the risk of zoonotic diseases.
Is eating vegan better for the planet?
You may have already heard that animal agriculture, especially cattle ranching and dairy farms, significantly raises greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to climate change.
But that’s not all.
Raising animals for food is detrimental to the environment in numerous ways. It is also a driver of water pollution, deforestation, and land and water use. The sheer amount of damage caused by animal agriculture is harming the environment so severely that it’s significantly hurting people.
Fights climate change
Conservative estimates show that animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions - more than planes, trains, and motor vehicles combined.
Counteracts air pollution
Factory farms confine tens of thousands of animals in a small space, generating huge amounts of manure. This faecal waste releases dozens of noxious gases, including nitrous oxide, ammonia, and hydrogen sulphide.
One of the most heavily emitted gases is methane, which warms the atmosphere at 80 times the rate of carbon dioxide. Methane is behind about a quarter of human-caused global warming.
Saves water
Despite water scarcity impacting millions of people around the world, up to 40% of the world’s water is used to produce meat and dairy.
Combats water pollution
The meat industry produces vast quantities of phosphorus and nitrogen-rich waste, which can seep into nearby streams and lakes. Besides the potential for polluting our drinking water, factory farm waste runoff has killed billions of fishes.
Prevents land use and deforestation
Nearly one-third of all the landmass on earth is used for raising animals for our consumption - both for grazing and to grow feed crops. In fact, animal agriculture is the leading cause of wildlife habitat destruction in the world.
The Amazon rainforest houses at least 10% of the biodiversity on earth, with countless species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The vast majority of the deforestation in the Amazon is due to cattle ranching.
Protects the oceans
Industrial animal agriculture is also disastrous for the oceans and the many species that call the water home.
One of the industries with the closest link to the ocean is fish farming. What do the fish on these farms eat? Mostly other, smaller fish. Catching these fish not only jeopardises their populations, but also strains the food security of the local communities that have for generations relied upon them as a central source of nutrients.
Fish farms also introduce new diseases and parasites that wild fish are not equipped to handle. Further, when escapes happen, the farmed fish can out-compete wild populations.
Helps people
While the environmental impact of animal agriculture hurts all of us, some people are harmed more than others.
Perhaps no one is as harmed as the people who work on factory farms and at slaughterhouses. They endure not just the dangerous working conditions, and increased risk of lung and zoonotic disease, but also face the mental toll of working in such a place. People who live near industrial farms also suffer from more environmental pollution of their air and water.
How many animals will I save by going vegan?
By ditching meat, dairy, and other animal products and adopting a vegan diet you could save an animal every single day from a life within a factory farm.
10 reasons for you to go vegan
While there are many more than 10 reasons to go vegan, here are some of the most compelling.
1. For the animals
For so many reasons, going vegan means less animal suffering.
2. Reduce your environmental impact
Animal agriculture is a leading driver of the climate crisis; cutting out meat cuts down on the role humans are playing.
3. Improve your health
Choosing to eat vegan – and especially a whole-food, plant-based diet – can reduce your risk of everything from heart disease to cancer.
4. Try out new foods
Most of us only eat a small percentage of the amazing array of edible plants out there. Adopting a vegan diet is a great way to expand your palate.
5. Enjoy a better immune system
Eating more fruits and veggies is good for your immune system. Eating vegan will help you do just that.
6. Live longer
Eating a plant-based diet, such as a vegan one, is associated with a lower mortality rate.
7. Save money
Contrary to popular belief, eating vegan is actually cheaper than the average animal-product-inclusive diet.
8. Eat delicious food
Vegan food is absolutely delicious. Not only can you eat all your favourites – just slightly amended – but you can try out new dishes to add.
9. Help vulnerable people
Animal agriculture hurts people around the world. Deforestation in the Amazon pushes Indigenous communities away from the land they’ve stewarded for generations, and fish farming jeopardises the food security of communities across many different countries.
10. Live a more ethical and sustainable life
At the end of the day, the major draw of veganism is that it’s a way to live in alignment with our ethics. We don’t want to cause harm to people, the environment, and animals, but eating meat and other animal-derived foods does just that.
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