Veganism: The Facts and Science

Humans are Biologically Unfit to Eat Animals:

Beyond Carnism and toward Rational, Authentic Food Choices | Melanie Joy | TED:

Key Points About Veganism… (with tons of links)

Veganism is the fastest-growing social justice movement today.

You eat three times a day. Going vegan is the easiest thing you can do to effect the most real, positive change in the world. Compared to 2007, because of less demand, 400 million less animals were killed in 2015. Choosing vegan food literally saves innocent lives.

The Vegan diet is richly diverse. When done right, it can provide optimal fuel for a healthy body. It’s also a compassionate and life-affirming choice. The meat and dairy industries are notoriously cruel and most people look the other way about it. This silence is immoral.

Several communities have flourished on a vegan diet; the Vilcabamba of Ecuador, the Hunza, of Pakistan, the Abkhasia of the Soviet Union, and the Okinawans of Japan. Over centuries, these peoples happen to have enjoyed the longest and healthiest lives on the planet.

The meat industry is responsible for 70% of freshwater consumption, 38% of land use, deforestation, of 19% greenhouse gas emissions. The methane from livestock is 23 times more powerful that carbon dioxide as a global warming gas. A massive shift to veganism could save the planet.

Additionally, if we stopped feeding our grains to cattle, we would have more than enough to feed the world’s hungry. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes.

Animal protein is directly linked to cancer, kidney stones, inflammation, arthritis, obesity, osteoporosis, and heart disease (the #1 killer in America right now.) Numerous scientific studies show that eating a plant-based diet can actually REVERSE these effects.

Animal foods contain stress hormones that cause reproductive and bodily dysfunction in humans who eat them.

In this day and age, it’s also quite easy to be Vegan, even at restaurants and holidays. It’s a joy to do so, and I hope you’ll check out some more research on it, below.

I would encourage anyone sketical of veganism to try it for a week. When I did, I could breathe better, had a ton of energy, and never went back!

Vegan Facts From Doctors, Scientists, and Scholars:

John Robbin’s seminal Diet for a New America reveals the cruelty of the dairy industry, science of veganism and the very high cancer and early death rates associated with an animal-based diet. Healthy at 100, reviews the world’s longest living peoples, who happen to be Vegan.

The Okinawa Program: How the World’s Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health, by Bradley Willcox, MD, Dr. Craig Willcox, PhD, and Markoto Suzuki, MD, PhD

Forks Over Knives with Dr. T. Colin Campbell PhD, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn MD, Neal Barnard, M.D., Junshi Chen, Ph.D., David Klurfeld, Ph.D., Doug Lisle, Ph.D., Terry Mason, M.D., and John McDougall, M.D.

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health, T. Colin Campbell PhD

Mayo Clinic on Veganism: “With a little planning, however, you can be sure that your diet includes everything your body needs.”

Eat More, Weigh Less: Dr. Dean Ornish’s Life Choice Program for Losing Weight Safely While Eating Abundantly by Dean Ornish, MD

WebMD on how to be a healthy Vegan

The Last Heart Attack Sanjay Gupta, MD, CNN chief medical correspondent

Humans are Biological Herbivores | and or Frugivores: some handy charts.

Federal Report: Vegan diet best for planet, The Hill

UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-free Diet, The Guardian