Veganism - Another Perspective - Why should I care?
In this post I will explain you why a Vegan Lifestyle might be VERY RELEVANT to YOU. (+2 Videos)
ATTENTION! I'm not telling you what to do, I'm only sharing information and what you do with the information is up to you.
Now, you might be thinking omg.. another radical vegan trying to convince me of his view.
But just wait a second, maybe these "annoying" people have a reason behind preaching veganism all the time. Stay tuned because I'm going to explain in depth why you shouldn't consume some products and what better alternatives you can opt for.
I will also point you to humane compromises, on how you can still consume some animal products while staying healthy & environment-friendly.
I hope you've seen the movie matrix. In it, the main character, Neo has the choice between taking a blue and a red pill.
The red pill symbolizes the truth and the blue pill the distorted, unreal & "beautiful" reality. It's what we want to hear, It's the lies we tell ourselves.
And in this post I'm going to give you the red pill.
My intent is to help you, the animals & the environment by sharing with you my view about what we should be eating.
The reason why you might not be vegan is that you believe it isn't a fit for you.
You might be thinking that "We need meat, eggs, fish, dairy" to survive and eat a healthy diet.
It's the common paradigm that 99% of human beings share, because our environment, our culture has thought us so.
The deal is, we don't need anything mentioned above to survive, or live a healthy lifestyle. Becoming vegan has a powerful impact on your health, on the environment (less polution through meat industry) and on our fellow earthlings, animals.
I highly recommend you watch the film/documentary Earthlings, after reading this post. It's about humankind supressing minorities & other species, just because they have the power to do so.
We can spare them plenty of pain & stress and at the same time help our planet Earth and ourselves by leaving meat dairy & eggs off the plate.
Let's take one food at a time. Meat. Do we need to consume meat to survive?
Absolutely no. Why do people think we need meat to survive? "Because it has protein"
or "Where am I going to bet my B12 from? I don't want to take a supplement, it's not natural." While it's true that it might not be natural to take a supplement, it's still better on your health than consuming meat. There are other natural alternatives to B12 fortified foods or supplements but your safest bet is to buy a cheap B12 Supplement.
Now that we got meat out of our way, we need to talk about eggs. Wether eggs contribute to heart attacks, strokes or other illnesses through the high cholesterol from the yolk is still a debate. But why I personally don't eat eggs, is because of the cruel practices of the egg industry.
Every Male chick that is born is useless for the industry, and will be thrown in a meat grinder, alive, or just thrown in the garbage, since they don't produce eggs. So if you buy eggs, you might be at risk of heart disease and support this awful practice. (see more here https://goo.gl/mKfxJJ)
Fish. This is something lots of people consider healthy. It might be healthy. But the regular fish you buy from the supermarket, that was fished from the ocean will with a high probability contain trace metals like Mercury, Cadmium Lead and others.
If there's written on fish cans not suitable for pregnant women, then I don't know if it's suitable for a healthy individual either.
The second problem with fish is overfishing.(Article on overfishing: https://goo.gl/uz2oNQ ) We are depleting our Waters of fish, and it's causing environmental damage(destroying coral reef). We don't need fish to survive, it's rather a commodity people nowadays crave. We can get our Omega 3's from Linseeds, also in perfect proportion to Omega 6's unlike meat & fish.
Next comes dairy. Dairy is nature’s perfect food — but only if you’re a calf.
If that sounds shocking to you, it’s because very few people are willing to tell the truth about dairy. In fact, criticizing milk in America is like taking on motherhood, apple pie, or baseball. But that’s just what I’m about to do.
Not everyone can stomach dairy. Approximately 65 percent of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy.(Lactose Intolerance)
Me and many other people deal with Acne, that is entirely diet-caused. You will believe me when you go vegan, your Acne disappears forever.
Not to mention that if the dairy products you're consuming are not organic, bio grass fed, you're likely taking in tons of antibiotics in form of milk.
That's because without antibiotics, animals would die from disease in such a stressful environment (See video below)
Cheese Protein, more exactly Casein contains Casomorphine, an opioid peptide (protein fragment) derived from the digestion of milk protein casein. Now we know why cheese is addictive. This may or may not be a downside, but it's still good to know. Milk has been made to be addictive in order to keep the calf on drinking, to grow big.
Dairy causes unnecessary inflammation in the gut . If you want to see what effects dairy has on your body, just exclude dairy completely for 30 days from your diet then eat dairy again and see how you feel like.
My mother told me when I was little: "You need to drink milk to have healthy, strong bones."
Paradoxically, milk actually drains your bones of calcium through it's acidity. Calcium is taken from the bones to neutralize the acidic PH of milk. While milk has some calcium, when we drink milk we lose more calcium than we get from it. Plant based sources of calcium, like Broccoli, carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, kale, collards,soymilk, tofu and many more don't have these disadvantages.
According to the Nurses’ Health Study dairy may increase risk of fractures by 50 percent!
Less dairy, better bones. Countries with lowest rates of dairy and calcium consumption (like those in Africa and Asia) have the lowest rates of osteoporosis.
• Dairy may be unhealthy. Advocating dairy consumption may have negative effects on health.
• There’s no evidence that dairy is good for your bones or prevents osteoporosis — in fact, the animal protein it contains may help cause bone loss!
• Dairy is linked to prostate cancer.
• It’s full of saturated fat and is linked to heart disease
• Dairy causes digestive problems for the 75 percent of people with lactose intolerance.
• Dairy aggravates irritable bowel
Due to these concerns, many have begun to consider raw milk an alternative. But that isn’t really a healthy form of dairy either …
Yes, raw, whole, organic milk eliminates concerns like pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and the effects of homogenization and pasteurization — but to me, these benefits don’t outweigh dairy’s potential risks.
Our bodies just weren’t made to digest milk on a regular basis. Instead, most scientists agree that it’s better for us to get calcium, potassium, protein, and fats from other food sources, like whole plant foods — vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and seaweed.
In my personal case I enjoy the taste of rice milk much more than I used to like cow's milk.
Last thing that vegans don't consume is honey. Now this is a bit tricky. My grandpa has hives with bees that he takes care of, feeds etc. He makes like 100-200 Kilograms honey a year, and he sends us some too.
Vegans usually don't consume honey because they say the honey industry is inhumane, which is true. Most honey sold in supermarkets nowadays is mixed with sugar & who knows what to make more honey.
The only safe way to consume honey is if you know where it was produced, if you, like me know someone who has it's own bees and takes care of them.
And still, honey should be consumed with moderation, because honey contains between 60-90% sugar (natural sugar, made by bees).
But if you want to be called an "official vegan", which people do mostly to feed their egos, you can eat dattles & other sweet sugary stuff instead of honey. But if you're like me, stuck with 20 kilos of honey in your kitchen, you can't say it's non-ethical.
So, a couple compromises you can make, if you want to remain healthy but not become vegan:
1.Grow your own chicken & eat their eggs/ Buy eggs from farmers/ people who you know treat their chicken well.
2.Opt for grass-fed/organic/bio when making food choices.
3.Buy honey from local beekeeper.
4.Fish yourself, once in a while from local river where you know the water is clean/pure.
Coming back to the subject,
The following video might be disturbing, but that's how meat ends on our plates.
But why should you care? What's the deal with veganism?
Being vegan cures Acne, rebalances your hormones and helps your body heal and maintain it's peak health.
I don't know if you're aware of this, but the #1 cause of death in the US is heart attack. Eating meat, eggs, dairy & lots of sugar, combined with a stressful environment & emotional stress will, sooner or later, without doubt cause disease.300 animals are killed every second for us in order to eat. And they aren't killed easily, they must 1st suffer terrible conditions until they are killed. Being vegan will result in less people buying meat, leaving less profit to the meat industry, resulting in lowering the production of meat, which means less suffering & pain of cute animals.
The meat & dairy industries use 40% of the planet's surface and 1/3rd of fresh water to produce meat & dairy for us to consume. It also polluted the planet greatly through production of green house gases like methane.
There may be no other single human activity that has a bigger impact on the planet than the raising of livestock.
To come to an end, if you take your health seriously, please, please watch this detailed video on 101 reasons to go vegan. This video converted me, my father and my stepmother to veganism!!!
Before this video I knew a lot of still about vegan, at least so I thought but this covers simply everything, every reason why you should become vegan.
Remember, if you still don't want to go vegan, at least reduce meat eggs & dairy consumptions as much as possible, for your own benefit!
All in all, the world isn't black or white. Being vegan has health benefits, benefits on the environment & for the animals, but restricting honey if it's from a known ethical source is pushing it a bit too far. IMHO some people make a cult out of veganism and often use this to boost their ego, to feel superior to others.
Eating honey from known ethical sources is ok, eating eggs from self-raised chicken won't kill you and eating some self-caught fish from time to time neither. But if you don't have the guts to kill the fish yourself, better not do it. Killing an animal can be heart-breaking, but Jesus has also eaten fish in the Bible. Milk and Honey are also mentioned in the Bible, but at first God has given man plants to eat.
"I give you all plants that bear seed everywhere on Earth, and every tree bearing fruit which yields seed: they shall be yours for food. All green plants I give for food to the wild animals, to all the birds of heaven, and to all reptiles on Earth, every living creature, it shall be theirs for food." (Genesis 1:29-31)
You need to still enjoy life, focus on eating healthy but think also of the planet when making your food choices. Everyone decides for himself wether he becomes vegan or not, but doing so will have a positive impact on humanity.
You have the information now, you can decide for yourself. Thanks for your time. Have a blessed day.
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PS: Check out my other content https://steemit.com/@johnnydabaus, I'm a Personal Development Freak, Bob Proctor Fan (his Seminar here: https://goo.gl/McMkcT), Jerry Banfield Fan (Become a Partner here: https://jerrybanfield.com/partners/) Nofap & (Intermittent/Long Water/Dry)Fasting Adept.
Every day I see statistics, comments and news related to this topic, I am not vegan nor vegetarian but I would like to include this diet in my routine. They will wonder why I do not? I tell you that I do not apply this way of eating to my days simply because I live in a country that does not allow it. I am Venezuelan, I live in Venezuela and as you know my country is going through a very bad economic and social situation. Here nothing is economic neither fruits nor vegetables and much less seeds that without saying that you get very little variety of everything related to food. Here we can eat only what we have, or as far as pocket allows. Anyway, I just want to show you how little it is for the one who has the opportunity to have a healthier life to apply it. They knew that a huge amount of crops and water is needed to raise the animals on the farms. You need up to 13 pounds of cereal to produce 1 pound of animal flesh. Instead, it would be much more effective if all those plant foods were destined to feed all people directly.
Eating meat not only harms animals, it also harms people. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans are less likely to develop heart disease, diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure than people who eat meat. Vegans get all the nutrients they need to be healthy without the need to eat meat of animal origin. There is a variety of savory and sweet dishes that can be prepared and even divine. If we know how to use fruits, seeds and vegetables well, we can have all the nutrients we need in our bodies.
A vegan saves 100 animals a year. I am not against the food chain but I am against animal abuse.
Excellent post👍
You are totally right with the need of more water to produce meat than crops.![_gWgy51IkUoKDIKsINZvkbC5wCoqtX23n1AUwzJPFQE.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQAvHxmYwTuF1zSJotzevt6igLjtqc7x1Y6cY33KNK9Hi/_gWgy51IkUoKDIKsINZvkbC5wCoqtX23n1AUwzJPFQE.jpg)
However you say that Venezuela doesn't allow you to be egetarian/vegan? I see it like this, there are so many foods you can eat every day, also in Venezuela, that aren't meat. I really hope this doesn't offend you, it's just how I understood what you said. I think you have a false belief that you can't be vegetarian at least if you're from Venezuela. All it takes to be vegetarian is to not eat meat& fish. I would argue that it is that hard to find anything else to eat other than meat & fish, there are literally thousands of possibilities on food choices, even in Venezuela. But the current society has conditioned us to eat meat, dairy & eggs everyday, in enormous quantities. It has almost become the only thing we eat, meat fish eggs dairy everyday, but it musntl't be like this. I understand your concern of low food diversity, however I suspect you overanalyze the whole situation because being vegetarian is fairly easy regardless of country. You just have to eat anything but meat, to help yourself, the animals and environment.
I really hope my comment didn't offend you, my only intention was to showcase my different opinion. :)
I am not offended by your comment, on the contrary, thank you for responding. Maybe for someone who does not live in this country it is difficult to understand what I say. You will think that I am taking it as an excuse, here I do not choose if eating meat, fish, vegetables or fruits only eat what you can buy with the little salary you earn working. I'm a civil engineer and a kilo of onion is half my salary. A kilo of meat costs twice my salary. You should live this to understand it.
I live vegan, but I also understand their situation.
They look at it all right
The thing I thought of is that even if they don't have money I think meat is more expensive than all other foods.
That is also my view, especially the production and the consequences.
Wow ... Sigh ... Such a sad reality ...
Just 4 weeks into my vegan journey @johnnydabaus although I've been vegetarian for over a year now, and you know what? It's easy, I don't miss meat at all, ok chocolate is another story, but it's not difficult, and the health benefits for my wife and I have been amazing. We're doing it for our 2 yr old daughter and the next generation, it's about time we take some personal responsibility for those that follow us on planet earth...we're already leaving behind a very messed up legacy, resteemed because I care! Be happy & smile often my friend thanks! :)
I've tried to quit eating meat so many times, I just can't do it. Maybe someday!
great post thank you
Great article. Love that you made it chill and didn't impose your views. Just put facts the way they are and let people make a decision.
That's why I think most people get turned off by vegans because they just try to shove it into your "throat."
Either way, thanks for leaving links to documentaries. Today free day so I know what I am going to watch <3
What about the thousands of animals killed to till a field of grain or vegetables?
Granted, this is done in part for animal feed, however in terms of humane practices I would argue that eating a pasture raised animal is more humane and killed less life than a veggie burger or loaf of bread.
I completely understand the reasons for going vegan, though when it comes to the environment, health, and humane practices it depends on the type of meat you are eating.
Rotational grazed animals are a benefit to the soil.
Unless you grow all of your food on a small scale, you cannot avoid killing animals in the process of agriculture. Massa scale agriculture is the bigger problem that effects all areas of farming.
I have been Vegan for 22 days now and I have never felt better in my life. It is something everyone should try - it's worth a shot! Either you love it and stay with or...you simply need meat. I look forward to more vegan posts from you!
Have you seen Okja? If not, you should, very well done. An emotional plea for animal rights done like a Disney movie:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/28/okja-netflix-movies-jake-gyllenhaal-tilda-swinton
Lol you know i watched this movie the other day and i thought to myself that i was the only one who would actually watch and like a movie like this? ... The ending was sad though .. All those mutated pigs going in for the slaughter .. Sad
Yes, sad. My family visited and my cousin put this on. Didn't mean to watch it. Next thing, I'm hooked. Great movie!
Thanks for the info! I keep trying to stop eating meat, I know I should. It's just hard. I love BBQ ribs. Starting today I will try again.
The sad reality ... And the worst part of this that i dont like .. Is the fact that they have meat eating in th curriculum as necessary and brainwashed us from kids that we HAVE to eat meat to get certain vitamins and protein .. And this is one of the biggest lies ever told ... We dont need meat .. Because every single nutrients that th body needs are way more potent directly from th source which is vegetables and nuts ... Until we take these teachings out of th schools or start teaching our kids the truth .. This cycle of brainwash and torture will continue
I agree with you @rodonlegend when you say: '...Is the fact that they have meat eating in the curriculum as necessary and brainwashed us from kids that we HAVE to eat meat to get certain vitamins and protein .. And this is one of the biggest lies ever told ...'
I do not eat meat for 12 years. I eat maybe one fish a year (I have realized I don''t need fish also)I eat eggs very rare-- only from my neighbor's chickens... I even cut the grains to the minimum. So 90% of my food is just fruits and vegetables and I've never been healthier!!! :)
This doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Meat provides much more nutrition per oz than plants. I would argue that the greatest lie ever told is that grains are fit for human consumption. Heart disease and diabetes didn't skyrocket until processed grains and chemically extracted vegetable oils where dumped on us by a bought and paid for government agency.
And this i disagree with strongly .. Yes you are correct that processed foods is just as dangerous to the human body as meat consumption .. But what i speak of is organic foods .. Not processed crap ... And u need to do ur research on which produces more nutrients..
Lets use common sense here
A goat will need to eat a ol acre of veges to produce half the nutrients that we would get if we ate that ol acre ourselves ... Simple math ..
The goat itself needs the nutrients to live
So when it eats .. Its body consumes half of that nutrients and only store half ...
How is that goat meat going to be able to provide YOU with more nutrients than if YOU eat from the source of this nutrients??
The goat has the digestive system to fully utilize those nutrients. We do not have the digestive system equal to that of herbivores and our bodies are primed to process dietary fat for energy and we more readily benefit from the complete proteins found in meat. If your above "common sense" theory proved true, then our hunter gatherer ancestors that survived mainly on saturated fat, meat protein, and what little tubers and vegetables they could gather would have gone extinct before ever reaching civilization. If meat and saturated fat were truly toxic, then why did heart disease and diabetes skyrocket only when people switched to a grain based diet? Why was I able to lower my LDL cholesterol, reverse type 2 diabetes, lose weight, and improve my blood test results by switching to a ketogenic meat based diet? Using vegan logic, that should have been suicide.
"How is that goat meat going to be able to provide YOU with more nutrients than if YOU eat from the source of this nutrients??" Since you are using all caps to refer to ME, allow me to respond in kind:
MY digestive system is designed to absorb the nutrients from meat and the goat's is not. I have the necessary enzymes and the goat does not. Comparing an omnivore with an herbivore is not using common sense.
Here's a bit of advice, when talking down to someone who disagrees with you, perhaps you could at least take the time to spell out the word "you" and "your". "U" and "UR" are pretty ineffective when you are challenging someone's intellect.