Essay Example: Why Go Vegan?

Veganism seems to be the latest lifestyle change for many people. There was a time when people did not understand what it meant to be a vegan. The idea of not eating meat and dairy for most individuals was difficult to conceptualize. Over time, people started to realize the many benefits of living life as a vegan. There are many reasons why people may choose to be vegan; it could be for health benefits, morals, environment, social justice, the love for animals, or all of the above. However, being vegan does not come cheaply and can be costly if choosing an all plant-based organic diet. Overall, being vegan has many benefits from a health perspective if the change is well balanced and the proper nutrients are incorporated into the diet.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Vegans are vegetarians who depend strictly on crop products. They do not consume any meat or animal products and do not use their by-products. In essence, apart from not eating foods extracted from animals such as eggs, honey, meat, or milk, vegans do not also use products made from animal materials such as leather, cosmetics, silk, and wool (Hadisentosak 219). Various reasons motivate people to become vegans. Some of the reasons are nutritional, conservation or ethical based.

Living a vegan lifestyle is nutritionally beneficial as it frees them from a large intake of foods containing excessive cholesterol. In most cases, animal products and manufactured foods often have the highest amounts of cholesterol and fats (I Love Vegan. 2016). On the other hand, plant based diets are free from cholesterol and contain small amounts of saturated fats. Therefore, a relish for these plant extracts for food makes it easy for people to adhere to medical recommendations to avoid the risk of the large chronic infections (Capps, 2014). High amounts of saturated fats in the body compounded with large intake of cholesterol-rich funds and inactivity account for the greatest cause of chronic infections such as cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and limited cases of diabetes.

Variety is key to a nutritionally quality vegan diet. A healthy and varied vegan diet consists of fruits, vegs, leafy greens, whole grains, nuts, seed, and legumes which provide different bodily needs. Despite that a purely vegan lifestyle requires supplements and consultations from health professionals, the vegans have different plant-based food choices from which to draw both primary and secondary nutrients needed for activity of the body (Straight Health, 2016). The different crops and plants can provide virtually all the nutrients without reliance on animal products (Capps, 2014). For instance, the foods that form part of the mainstay vegan diet including whole grains, vegetables, legumes, and fruits in different varieties are rich in fiber, magnesium, vitamins C and E, folate and potassium (Winston, 2016). These food extracts are critical in ensuring healthy body functions and efficient operations of the body organs. Based on the high nutritional value of vegetarian diets, the American Dietetic Association provides that vegans often record lower body mass indexes (BMIs), reduced blood pressure, and lower cholesterol levels than non-vegetarians (The Huffington Post, 2016). Vegetarians also have low incidences of type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and colon cancer.

There are multiple ways that a vegan diet contributes to conservation, particularly in the environment. For instance, animal husbandry for human consumption requires necessarily large amounts of water. These large quantities of water could be used to sustain highly productive irrigated agriculture. In addition, veganism protects the environment from pollution that is common with cattle kept to a great scale. For instance, plants and crops cultivated under large tracts of land purify the air and keep equilibrium oxygen-carbon dioxide balance (Resnik 127). On the other hand, cattle kept under ranches produce large amounts of methane which is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gasses contribute primarily to adverse environmental change such as global warming (Resnik 128). A vegetarian diet increases crop cover and tree cover which is important in environmental conservation. It reduces cases of deforestation familiar with raising cattle for large scale consumption.

From an ethical standpoint, a vegetarian diet denounces a culture in which animal rights to live as other sentient beings are relegated. Apart from perennial crops, annuals such as citrus fruits can be extracted over long periods without necessarily having to cut the whole stump (Hadisentosak 220). On the other hand, a non-vegetarian culture promotes a situation in which once animals become too old to be productive; they are sold out or killed to extract needed products. In this sense, many vegetarians chose to strictly eat plant foods to promote a friendly and caring lifestyle that shows respect for life (Hadisentosak 219). In essence, vegans do not want to eat foods extracted from an animal that had to die. They do not want to embrace exploitation of animals for just human nourishment. They perceive that eating animal products or wearing products extracted from them amounts to enslavement.

A vegan lifestyle is motivated by the need to ensure a secure food society. In most cases large tracts of land cultivated with animal feeds. In a vegetarian society, the land is directly used to grow food crops and fruits trees to sustain the human diet (Resnik 130). Essentially, the vegan society advocates that a significant amount of grains grown to feed cattle be used to grow crops to feed the starving populations could be used to feed starving nations (Straight Health, 2016). In addition, some several plant extracts can be eaten raw hence conservation of the nutritional value of foods that is often lost due to the overcooking or industrial processing of foods.

Despite the various advantages drawn from living a vegetarian lifestyle, it has some demerits. Veganism has nutritional limitations as it does not provide all the needs (Veganwolf.Com, 2016). One of these nutrient deficiencies attributable to living a vegetarian lifestyle is the lack of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is naturally present only in animal food extracts. Therefore, vegetarians have to depend on Vitamin B12 supplements to ultimately meet their dietary needs (Winston, 2016). This type of vitamin is essential in keeping the bodys nerve and blood cells healthy. It also performs a critical part in the synthesis of DNA which is important in heredity. Its deficiencies in the body result in general body weakness, tiredness, loss of appetite, weight loss, nervous strains, and depression.

There are various environmental changes such as global warming, unpredictable weather patterns, and soil degradation which hurt crop production (One World, Many 2016). As opposed to the animal feeds such as grass that commonly have broad ecological elasticity, vegetables, fruits and other forms of crop production require the particular condition of soil nutrient balance, moisture, and other edaphic factors (Resnik 127). In the cases where environmental conditions do not meet crop production, vegetarians only have limited vegetables from which to draw their daily food needs.

Eating a diet of vegetables only reduces the medication costs significantly. As compared to a meat-rich diet, a diet that comprises predominantly of vegetables reduces the medical costs associated with the treatment of various diseases caused by animal-based foods (Polis, 2015). For instance, only a few conditions are related to eating plant extracts while most of them including cardiovascular infections, obesity, and diabetes. These heart infections and complications arising from depending on a meat diet causes significant household and national expenditures on health care (Veganwolf.Com, 2016). A vegan diet helps people to avoid the indirect costs from inactivity at work and lost workdays.

A vegetarian diet reduces the social cost of global warming by cutting in the methane emissions from large-scale animal productions such as ranches. Though methane is not a common cause of greenhouse gas effect, its greenhouse effect exceeds that of carbon dioxide. The social cost of an additional ton of carbon dioxide and methane is high. For instance, increased cases of food insecurity, melting of ice caps and flooding. A report by the American Federal Department of Agriculture estimates that switching to a vegetarian diet within the accepted guidelines has the potential of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and its associated effects by a third by the year 2050 (The Vegan Society, 2016).

Due to the drastic shift towards a green environment and green diet, foods that are perceived as green and healthy have progressively become expensive. The cost of organic foods has in the recent decades increased at a comparatively faster rate than industrially processed ones thus implying additional dietary costs for the vegans (Gibson, 2016). However, the relatively high cost is only over the short term since a health projection for individuals living a vegetarian lifestyle indicates low incidences of cardiovascular infections and reduced rate of aging.

Various misconceptions abound on the best way to maintain a healthy vegan lifestyle. Nonetheless, it is important to note that embracing a vegetarian diet do not only involve a change in ones eating habits but a wholesome change of lifestyle (Vegan options are more expensive than their non-vegetarian counterparts, 2016). Maintaining a vegetarian diet and lifestyle requires consistent encouragement and support from the society. When one finally enters the mainstream way of life, he experiences the excitement and healthy living that comes with eating plant products alone.

The first approach in maintaining a healthy vegetarian diet is to consistently learn the types of food that are important to be eaten regularly. This enlightenment on the important foods that one needs to it should move beyond the common perceptions that vegan foods only include vegetables and fruits. A typical vegan achieves a balanced nutrition by incorporating whole grains, lentils, legumes, and meat substitutes. In essence, a healthy vegan diet moves beyond just eating lettuce and oranges. It involves an overhaul of the complicated plant and animal extracts to an embrace of the new diet.

Apart from awareness on the important types of food, another requirement for maintaining a vegan lifestyle is obtaining professional advice from licensed physicians or health practitioner. The essence of getting professional advice from doctors, dieticians, or alternative health officer is the need to evaluate current nutritional levels from the plant-based diet and make appropriate recommendations on any necessary supplements (The Huffington Post, 2016). Maintaining a regular national evaluation helps to identify nutritional deficiencies that may arise from eating a vegan diet.

Despite the fact that humanity has control over a variety of foods, embracing a healthy vegan lifestyle has many advantages than a mixed or animal-based diets. One key benefit is the low cholesterol and fat content of plant extracts thus reduced exposure to cardiovascular infections and obesity (Norris and Virginiam 139). Therefore, a vegan food and lifestyle uphold both the need to treat animals ethically and dynamic health goals that ensure slow aging and improved resistance of the body to pathogenic infections. Nonetheless, it is important that a person who subscribes to a vegan lifestyle integrate with the vegetarian community inspiration and education on how to live healthy with a vegan diet.

Works Cited

Benefits of a Vegan Lifestyle I Love Vegan. 2016. www.ilovevegan.com/resources/benefits-of-a-vegan-lifestyle/. Accessed 30 October 2016.

Capps, Ashley. 12 Important Reasons to...