Why Vegan?

Today is World Vegan Day! I thought this would be a great time to do a post on why I believe that everyone should be vegan. The reasons are many and varied:

There are others who can explain each reason better than I can, though, so I am sharing some of my favorite YouTube videos. I’ll start with the one that made me decide to go vegan! I knew animals were killed for meat but thought it was done humanely (more on that later). I thought dairy was completely fine, though, since the cows weren’t being harmed. I was wrong! This five-minute video changed my life:

After seeing that dairy products were far more cruel than I had thought possible, I wondered about eggs. Eggs had to be alright since the chickens lay eggs anyway. Again, I was wrong!

Ok, so factory farming is bad, but what about the eggs, dairy, and meat that are labeled cage-free, humanely-raised, and organic. Aren’t they ok?

But, wait, you say! I have a friend who really does treat the animals he raises really well and they are killed humanely! Is there such a thing as humane slaughter?

The truth is that 99% of the animals in the animal agriculture industry are subjected to standard farming practices. This is what legally happens to them every day:

So, the animals raised for eggs, dairy, and meat are harmed and exploited, but don’t we need to eat animal products to be healthy? Wrong again! Humans are not meant to eat other animals:

Animal products cause cancer,

heart disease,

Alzheimer’s,

and diabetes:

In fact, eating animal products contributes to or causes most of our leading causes of death!

But what about protein, B12, and iron?

And, what about fish? Don’t we need the DHA and EPA from fish?

Ok, I could give up eggs and meat, you say, but not cheese! This should help:

So, eating animal products is bad for the animals and bad for us. What about the environmental impact?

And, what about the social cost?

So, animal agriculture is terrible for the animals, people, and the planet. If you are now thinking you want to stop contributing to animal cruelty, rising health care costs, environmental damage, and world hunger, you might want to know more about veganism:

If you have now decided to give being vegan a try, you might be wondering how to get started:

Of course, all the recipes here on my blog are vegan and should help. Let me know if you have a recipe I have not posted that you would like to see! Also, there are tons more great videos out there, so let me know if you have any questions that the ones above did not answer!