Should I become a vegan?!
Should I become a vegan?
What are the Pro's and Con's?
Additional Details1 month ago
Yes, I already only eat turkey and chicken because it is better for you.
Answers:
1 month ago
Yes, I already only eat turkey and chicken because it is better for you.
Pros: You'll be contributing to a better environment, better health for yourself, and reducing cruelty to animals.
Cons: Lame people on Yahoo will make fun of you and criticize you for your choices. Lame people in real life will do this, too.
Check out these sites for good info and advice:
Source(s):
http://www.goveg.com
http://www.pcrm.org/
http://www.americanvegan.org
http://www.peta2.com
http://www.vegweb.com
http://www.happycow.net
http://www.veganessentials.com
http://www.veganstore.com
Well.
Vegans eat
NO DAIRY
NO MEAT
NO FISH
NO POULTRY
but vegetarains can eat dairy
if you become vegan, you'd have to get your protein from beans, fruit, veggies, soy, etc.
Being vegan is a lot better for your health and for animal wealfare, but you have to constantly be making sure you aren't eating any non-vegan foods.
TOFU is a great vegan food.
good luck!!
pro cheap
pros: eating more veggies , fruits and grains. less likely to die of clogged artiers.
cons: most vegan diets lack all the nutriants and rely on supplements.
I personally dont eat certain "meats" just cause of the way they are raised or kept.
But fish, cows and such are on this earth not just to look at , we have molars for a reason. I am not saying go nutty on the red meat.Moderation is key to any food intact and there is organicaly feed grown cows ,chickens etc that are "better" for you.
I personally do not think you should, but as several VEGANS have point out, it is your choice!
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Becoming a vegetarian is not a big choice, we have such a variety of foods available that it is easy to be healthy and be vegetarian.
Vegans use no animal products, so it is much harder to stay healthy. You will need to watch what you eat very carefully to stay healthy. But it is possible. Being a vegan is more a moral choice than a health choice.
Morally I prefer to eat vegetables because eating meat is very inneficient. Being a vegetarian is good for the environment. I don't have any problem with killing animals for food. (If a bird eats fruit from a tree and carries the seeds to a new location, we say the tree is using the bird, but if humans clear the land, bring in water and food for sheep or cows, fix their health problems, pull them out of creeks when they are trapped, and transport them to new locations around the world....we say we are using the animals).
Vegans believe the use of animals for our benefit is wrong. But Veganism over vegetarianism doesn't have any great impact on the environment.
Personally I don't see why anyone has to go to extremese. You reduce your use of animal products without giving up their use all together.
If you care about your health, other living things, the environment, and the future of your offspring (born yet or not) then YES, join the club!
It's a great choice to make. You should ease yourself into it though...you're already part of the way there. Just cut out one thing at a time.
whoever said being a vegan is cheap--that is a total lie.
You are going to have to shop at places like Whole Foods and Wild Oats to buy all kinds of vegan substitutes. That adds up!
VERY EXPENSIVE
Environment
1.Half of all the water consumed in the US is used by animal agriculture
2.For every 1 acre of land cleared for urban development,7 are cleared to grow feed for livestock or grazing land for livestock
3.The livestock population in the US create 140 times the excrement as the human population of the US
4.Food for a vegan for 1 year can be produced on only 1/6 of an acre of land, while it takes 3 1/4 acres of land to produce food for a meat-eater for one year.
Health
1.“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”
“Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.“
World Hunger
1.Out of the 40 poorest countries,we buy grain from 38 of them to feed to animals so we can have meat
2.We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow.
3.The world's cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people―more than the entire human population on Earth.
4.For every 16 pounds of food you put into livestock,you only get one pound back of edible flesh
Worker's Rights
1.The rate of repetitive stress injury for slaughterhouse employees is 35 times higher than it is for those with other manufacturing jobs.
2.The farmed-animal industry has also been condemned for exploiting children―kids in their early teens have even died while working in animal-processing plants, and Multinational Monitor magazine called Tyson Foods one of the world’s “Ten Worst Corporations” because it hires people in the U.S. who are too young to work legally.
3.Kids have even been killed while working in slaughterhouses in the United States―a 15-year-old died, and a 14-year-old was seriously hurt in separate incidents at Tyson’s animal-processing plants. “One teenager died and another suffered serious injuries because this company ignored the law,” the U.S. Labor Department noted. “It was illegal for either one of them to be employed in the kind of work Tyson’s hired them to do.”
4.Immigrant workers are easy prey for the meat industry. After they are brought to the U.S., they’re often so desperate to make money to send to their families back home that they’ll take any job without complaint. If they’re being treated unfairly, they don’t have any choice but to continue working for the farmed-animal industry, and if they become injured and can no longer work, they are often stuck in the U.S. with no job and no money to buy a bus ticket home.
US meat isn't Safe
1.France, which has only a fraction of the U.S. cattle population, tests more cattle in a single week then the U.S. has tested in a decade
2.According to Europe's latest annual report, Europe is testing cattle at a rate of almost two thousand times that of the United States
3.Almost all fattening beef cattle, all dairy calves and all adult dairy cows raised conventionally are fed meat and bone meal in the United States
4.Under the 1997 feed regulations, the FDA specifically allowed the feeding of chicken litter to cattle to continue, even if the chickens had just been fed meat and bone meal made from cattle remains
5.The U.S. also is presently testing only 1 out of every 18,000 cows slaughtered
6.In fact, the USDA, which now tests only 1 percent of all slaughtered cows
Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghxknys7r...
Source(s):
See the issues involved with eating meat
http://goveg.com/theissues.asp
Just from experience, I wouldn't recommend starting at vegan. For one thing, if you do it wrong, you can get really sick. And secondly, it's really hard to get used to. You can't eat meat or any dairy products. That means no butter, eggs, milk, cream, yogurt, bread. NOTHING! Which sucks. If your new to it, try vegetarianism first. However, if you want the pros and cons to it.
Pros:
1.) Healthier
2.) Risk of Cancer reduced (Big Time)
3.) Healthy Cholesterol Levels
4.) Good Food - When cooked right
Cons:
1.) Can be more expensive.
2.) Can't eat at as many restaurants.
3.) Can get sick if not done right.
4.) People will give you crap about it.
Even though, it can be hard. It all adds up in the end. Would you rather give up meat, or get colon cancer?
An interesting source of info on the vegan diet is http://www.radicalhealth.com run by David and Jemiah Favor. They have a thought-provoking approach to the subject, including comments like these:
-- .." I'd soak all my nuts and seeds and limit my intake of these as they're way too high in protein to eat often and a primary contributer of Subclinical Inflammation, next the unholy Soy/Rice/Grain trio. "
-- "Soy is one of the most extreme accelerated aging substances on the planet, as cooked soy contains estrogen (hormone like) substances which instruct the body to "speed up", age faster. Products like lecithin, tofu, tempe and soy milk are the worst, Miso and whole Edaname beans are okay, in moderation."..
(darn, I love my soy milk! )
Pros:
- better health
- learning to think more critically about the quality of our food choices
Cons:
- ridicule from ill-informed non-vegans who think your choice is a judgement on their lifestyle
- getting pressure to take synthetic supplements (e.g. synthetic B12 instead of getting it from a natural source like bee pollen)