In the praise for the new book Vegan Voices: Essays by Inspiring Changemakers, edited by Dr. Joanne Kong, Bruce Friedrich says, “There are as many reasons to be vegan as there are vegans, as this lovely anthology makes clear.”
On Amazon there is a t-shirt that says, “Don’t ask me why I’m vegan. Ask yourself why you’re not vegan.”
If you are not yet vegan, perhaps you haven’t found your reason. Can I help you find your vegan why?
The three most common reasons to go vegan are for the animals, for the environment, and for human health. As the title of this blog makes clear, I am vegan for the animals, and then as side effects I feel good about doing the right thing for the planet and for my body.
Many, many people experience profound health improvements from shifting to the vegan diet because animal protein causes heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and many other illnesses. The human body is not meant to process the flesh (meat and fish) and fluids (dairy and eggs) of other animals. Please read more about the connection between veganism and optimal health here: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
I cannot personally say that my health has improved from going vegan, so it is good that I went vegan for the animals. Having said that, I do firmly believe that my chronic health issues would be substantially worse if I ate animal products. (I deal with Fibromyalgia caused by an Anxiety Disorder, but all of my lab values are normal in terms of cholesterol, glucose, and so on.)
Although an astounding number of people feel much better on the vegan diet, not everyone gets that benefit, which is why I focus more on inspiring people to care about the animals and about the environment.
Animal agriculture is contributing significantly to climate change. Please read more here: the Plant Based Treaty.
Even if animal protein did not cause human diseases (which it does), and even if animal agriculture did not wreck havoc on the environment (which it does), I would still be vegan for the animals, who are sentient beings. They feel pain and pleasure. They have families, friends, personalities, and spirits. Please read more about the animals here: Learn the Animals.
After some years of avoiding it, I recently watched this 12-minute video: “Meet Your Meat.” If you are not yet vegan, I recommend watching it. However, it does come with a trigger warning for the tender-hearted. The horrific cruelty inflicted on innocent, defenseless animals is beyond shocking. After viewing, I promised my sweet highly sensitive self that I do not ever have to watch that again!
So, for the vegan-interested people who are reading this post, I hope that now you have found your vegan why.
Hen: 9883074 on Pixabay.
