You may be thinking why am I reading this, why does veganism matter anyway, maybe you already know, or simply you found this by accident and is rolling with it. In any case, let me share with you the basics I have accumulated over a long time. There are three main points I'd like to share, each of these points have much more outreach than I am intending to explain in one get go, but I believe the importance of veganism is in ethics(which can also include religion and racial issues), the environment, and the science.
There are plenty different reasons why people adopt the vegan philosophy in life, but I think ethics may be a huge portion of it. I think something just hits a person different when they make a connection of empathy in their heart that what they're eating, has required for that life, that once was, to be treated with cruelty up until death. Like "shit, this burger came off a cute lil' cow who was killed for me/us to be eating." What ever that internal connection is for us, I believe it sparks a much deeper realization, and it's why I think practices of not eating meat in religions are meant to be honored. Life is sacred, and so all of it in its many forms are meant to be appreciated (all animals and humans alike). The suffering imposed on animals and the humans involved in those environments is already much to bear (factory farms and those who work in them, if you ever read something let it be Jungle, by Upton Sinclair). There is no rational need to perpetuate these gruesome ideologies that keep meat, hate, social and racial injustices on our plates or in our lives.
Not only is the act in itself inhumane and normalized, but the impact it has on our environments is honestly astonishing. You know, we always hear about how we can make a difference towards global warming by, using reusable straws instead if plastic straws, change to energy efficient lightbulbs, switch to biking or a smart car, but really those changes make very little impact in our current state of global warming. I remember a couple years ago when I came across an article explaining the top 5 ways to reduce your carbon foot print (the measure of impact your activities have on levels of CO2 emissions) in the environment, and the top two were:
1) Go vegan or vegetarian
2) Have less kids
That really stunned me to be honest, but it made more since after watching documentaries like:
~Cowspiracy 1 and 2
~Forks Over Knives
~Earthlings (!a real tear jerker and very graphic!)
Long story short, global warming is continuing to rise at ridiculous levels (we can get deeper into the statistics in another blog), and this is the best time to reconsider the things we are used to, and why.
Here is were we discuss the scientific evidence, or said recollection of studies about veganism. In terms of our health, veganism can really help with aliments we experience through genetic disposition or adaptation of rough diets over the years. This lifestyle can improve cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, promote sustainable fat loss, manage and even reverse diabetes, lower risk for cancer, balance hormones, ease arthritis, and also improve gut, liver, and bowl functions. There are so many misconceptions about adopting the lifestyle and a reiteration I hear the most, and have since I started my journey is, where do you get your protein, do you get enough of it, and is this really even healthy? Firstly, I think a good documentary that can shed light on this is Game Changers. Secondly we can really craft a wholesome diet getting all of the nourishment from the nutrients our body needs eating plants instead of what we are used to, unless you're a junk food vegan (a vegan who consumes a bunch of [processed] plant based foods)(not shaming because it's all honestly so delicious and fun to try!). We totally can get enough protein, and it's actually rare to be protein deficient in industrialized countries, but glossed over to be fiber deficient. Any who we can go into greater depths about nutrition in a later blog.
Essentially veganism is a philosophy that hangs on the understandings of potential solutions to the environment, the science, and the ethical challenges we all face, and I hope that we can all come to care about if not already. I am not saying everyone should do this, or that people need to, but just to rethink why we are used to some of the philosophies we have accepted to be our own without thought, and into other areas of life in which have done that as well. Thanks for reading, and feel free to post questions!
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