Benefits Of A Vegan & Plant-Based Lifestyle

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Benefits Of A Vegan & Plant-Based Lifestyle

As a vegan, you are not the only one that gets the awesome benefits that comes with the lifestyle. Regardless of your reasoning on becoming vegan, there are 3 categories that each inherit their own set of benefits when you become vegan: animals, you, and the environment.

Although the terms “vegan diet” and “plant-based diet” are often interchanged, veganism is a lifestyle, not a diet. A person who eats a plant-based diet may not have the same beliefs on animal rights as a vegan does.

 

 

Veganism helps end animal suffering and exploitation

The main goal of factory farming is to produce the most amount of resources as rapidly and inexpensively as possible. Therefore, animals are pumped full of growth horomones to grow as quickly as possibly, so they can then be killed and prepared for human consumption. Consequently, they are injected with antibiotics to help reduce the disease and illness they become susceptible to as a result of growing at an abnormal pace.

In addtition to the vast amount of drugs they are injected with, animals are kept in small cages where they are barely able to move at all. They are often kept here their entire life, up until they are shipped off to a slaughter house.

As an example, chicken eggs that are hatched are immediately sexed to determine if the newborn chick is male or female. If the chick is a female, it is just reintegrated back in the production of eggs for a lifetime of suffering. However, if the chick is a male, it is ground up alive in a process called “maceration.” Often times the chick is less than a couple hours old.

By being vegan, you are helping to end animal suffering by not contributing to the murder and exploitation of animals.

Lower our ecological footprint

All across the globe, huge sections of land are cleared to provide more farm land to produce more livestock and grow the crops needed to feed them. Most of the crops grown in the US are used to feed livestock, rather than humans. Further, as more livestock is raised, there is an increase in water consumption for both animals and land.

In addition to the rapid deforestation, air and water pollution are significant consequences of factory farming. Many contaminates, such as airborne chemicals and bacteria from animal waste, is released into the air. Wind can carry these pollutants for many miles, and contaminate nearby water systems and the air in residential areas. Another way water systems become polluted is by manure used as fertilizer running off into nearby waterways. Depending on the location and size of the farm and waterway, this pollution of manure and other chemicals can be carried by the water system for hundreds of miles.

The more people who become vegan, the lower the impact on the environment will be.

Healthier living

A well-planned plant-based diet has numerous health benefits:

  1. Reduce risk of heat disease by lowering cholesterol levels
  2. Reduce chances of developing certain cancers, such as colon cancer
  3. Weight loss, which can improve overall physical and mental health
  4. Manage diabetes and lower blood sugar levels and improve kidney function

It is important to plan a well-balanced plant-based diet to ensure you are getting the nutrients you need. Just eating a plant-based diet alone does not mean you are eating healthy. There are still junky vegan foods, which are not the healthiest choices for a plant-based diet.

A plant-based diet can lead to an overall healthier life.


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