Why you should NOT #govegan
It is a fact that the demand for meat and dairy products has been decreasing considerably in the past years, as the vegetarian and vegan movement gain more strength all around the world. Now, every time you walk in a supermarket there’s a bunch of Tofu and Soy Beans just lying around the shelves. And where did all of this Oat milk coming from, am I right?
We have seen political figures, famous performers, athletes and activists pledging this new lifestyle, 100% plant-based, taking over the media and talking about the benefits of a vegan diet, animal rights, and environmental footprint.
Well, here are some reasons why going Vegan should be the last option in the menu for you.
Because you think a vegan diet is not healthy
or you like the idea of having heart disease!
Oreos and French fries are vegan options. And yes, if you do consume 2500 calories worth of Oreos every day you’re probably not the healthiest person there is. But at the same time, you can be a non-vegan and eat all of that so that’s not really the point.
I should also punctuate that Veganism, is not a diet. It is a so-called lifestyle, so Vegans are not only looking at the movement as part of their everyday meals but as a way to have a positive impact in the world.
If you’re a vegan you can definitely have a terrible diet, just as any non-vegan could. But you could also have a healthy one. The plant-based diet is actually considered to be higher in fiber and lower in cholesterol than an omnivorous diet is.
Anyway, the famous plant-based diet is well known for its benefits for your health overall and you shouldn’t trust my word on that, because I’m not a dietician. But you should know what the credentialed practitioners of the largest organization of food and nutrition in the United States have to say on the topic;
“It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes.”
In fact, researches showed in a study that lasted 18 years that people in a vegan diet had lower rates of ischaemic heart disease than meat-eaters did. So, you can definitely be a healthy vegan.
Being a vegan sounds really expensive
As for any product, if you decide to buy the most expensive vegan options in any store you will definitely spend a lot of money. On the other hand, if you’re a meat-eater you probably do buy a lot of vegan products you never even thought about.
Bread, beans, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. These are all vegan that can provide you a balanced diet and you will most likely have them in your kitchen right now.
A vegan diet doesn’t require industrialized vegan burgers and sausages, even though they are great for beginner vegans who miss the taste and texture of meat or simply like the practicality of cooking them.
One thing to keep in mind is that even though industrialized vegan options require much less water, energy, and labor than the ones containing meat, the demand for them is still small.
“I have canines!”
So it would make sense to use them to tear the flesh, right? Except it doesn’t.
Having canines is a biological attribute in our species since most mammals have them. But try to keep in mind that not all mammals are carnivores or omnivores and interestingly, the largest canine teeth of any land mammal belong to an animal that doesn’t eat meat, the Hippopotamus. So having teeth seems like a poor excuse to eat animals.
Other examples of herbivores with incredible dental arches are Baboons, who mostly use their canine teeth to impress females. Camels, whose teeth can grow up to three inches long, and of course Elephants, victims of the barbaric hunting practices for their ivory teeth.
Having canines or any other specific trait does not justify a behavior if you are not biologically compelled to do so. Just because you have a certain DNA type, genitalia, or skin pigmentation, it doesn’t mean you can discriminate, exploit, or harm innocent beings.
You don’t really care about “the world’s most urgent problem”
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has addressed the word meat as “the world’s most urgent problem” in 2018. Also stating that “our use of animals as a food-production technology has brought us to the verge of catastrophe.”, so if that doesn’t bother you at all, why should you go vegan?
The most comprehensive study of farming’s impact on the planet led by Oxford’s researchers, published in 2018 found that the most effective way to reduce our environmental footprint is by reducing our consumption of meat and dairy products.
It showed that moving from a regular diet to one that excludes animal products has a great potential for change, reducing food’s land use by 76% (3.1 billion hectares, which is almost ¼ of all of Earth’s entire productive land and water areas), greenhouse gas emissions by almost 50%, as well as acidification and eutrophication of the land, and a 19% reduction of freshwater withdrawals.
From the globe’s total farmland, 83% is used for meat and dairy products and it is responsible for 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the researchers also pointed out that the lowest impact of meat and dairy products still provide a worse outcome than the least sustainable plant-based products.
One person cannot make enough of a difference
It is hard to believe that in a world where we produce around 330 million tons of meat annually, it seems hard to believe that one single individual can make a difference.
Well, it is proven that by going vegan for just one month you can reduce your dietary GHG emissions in half, save up 913 square feet (approximately 278,3 meters) of forest, about 33,481 gallons of water and at least 30 lives.
And not to worry about being alone in a plant-based life, Veganism has been recorded to be the fastest rising movement in 2016 by the Vegan Society and the population of vegans worldwide is only increasing.
You only eat animals that have been treated humanely
“To prevent the risk of recovery, animals must be bled as soon as possible after stunning, ideally whilst still in the tonic (rigid) phase. Bleeding involves severing the carotid arteries and jugular veins, or the blood vessels from which they arise. The animal then dies from loss of blood… In the interest of good hygiene, two knives should be used, the first to open the skin and the second to sever the blood vessels. This procedure is often referred to as ‘sticking’. In the field or emergency situation, the most practical method of bleeding is to make a deep transverse cut across the animal’s throat at the angle of the jaw. Cut deeply, severing the blood vessels, trachea and esophagus, until the blade of the knife touches the spine… The heart may continue to pump until the carcass is exsanguinated. To carry out this task effectively, the operator needs a sharp knife with a blade at least 120mm long.”
The extract above has been taken from the UK’s Humane Slaughter Association website.
Is there a humane way to kill an innocent being?
You don’t want to make the effort
Imagine being raped whilst you’re still a child. Forced to go on with the pregnancy. Giving birth. Have your baby taken away from you within 24 hours after labor, without getting a say in that decision. Being chained up and having just enough room so you can stand. Having your natural fluids extracted from your body by machines all day long for 10 months or until you get completely drained up. No pauses, no time to go to the toilet.
And then, repeat.
You get stuck in that horrific cycle of torture until you’re too tired to do it again. So you’ve taken away to what seems like a better option. You’re hanged upside down by one of your legs. A man walks in. He’s covered in blood. He stuns you in the head with an electricity bolt for about 20–85 seconds. He slits your throat and all of your blood falls in the ground. Your corpse is taken somewhere else. Your skin is peeled off, your body mutilated and your interiors processed. Then all of your body parts get wrapped up and sold to someone. And they eat you.
That’s the reality of a dairy cow’s existence. And the life of other animals of the meat, eggs and dairy industry is not any better. Maybe think about that the next time you have to choose what to eat.
Going Vegan is not only a lifestyle. It’s a political statement. It’s a fight against oppression, exploitation, torture, and unnecessary violence. It’s a gateway to a better future. It’s the key to the only future.
There are no justifications. The hate people feel towards veganism is groundless, irresponsible, and outdated. Speciesism must come to an end.
If you taught every child on this planet to ensure all animals the right to live without human oppression or exploitation, what would our world look like?
References
Clarys P, Deliens T, Huybrechts I, et al. Comparison of nutritional quality of the vegan, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and omnivorous diet. Nutrients. 2014;6(3):1318–1332. Published 2014 Mar 24. doi:10.3390/nu6031318
Vesanto Melina,Winston Craig,Susan Levin. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, December 2016
Tong Tammy Y N, Appleby Paul N, Bradbury Kathryn E, Perez-Cornago Aurora, Travis Ruth C, Clarke Robert et al. Risks of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in meat eaters, fish eaters, and vegetarians over 18 years of follow-up: results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study BMJ 2019
Roger Harrabin, Plant-based diet can fight climate change — UN, BBC News, 8 August 2019
J. Poore and T. Nemecek, Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers, Science Journal, June 2018
Caroline Lowbridge, Veganism: How a maligned movement went mainstream, December 2017, BBC News
FAO. 2018 Food Outlook — Biannual Report on Global Food Markets — November 2018. Rome. 104 pp. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. “Early separation of cow and calf has long-term effects on social behavior.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 April 2015.
Audsley E, Brander M, Chatterton J, Murphy-Bokern D, Webster C, Williams A (2009) How low can we go? an assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from the UK food system and the scope to reduce them by 2050. Food Climate Research Network & WWF, London, UK
