This blog post also is available in German.
The next year is just around the corner, so are the new resolutions. Which is why I`m want to motivate all of you to do a little challenge. A challenge of going vegan during the month of January. Actually this isn‘t a new thing invented by me, but it‘s rather a movement called „Veganuary“. And I want to invite you to be part of this challenge. Are you in? I`ll be posting lot`s of vegan recipes, as well as useful information about the vegan diet on my instagram feed. So make sure to follow my instagram account to stay up to date. You will also find informative posts – like this one – on my blog during the period the “Veganuary” challenge is taking place. Not only will I give you the hard facts why you should become a vegan, but also do I want to help you transitioning into vegansim in case you are struggeling, showing you how to substitute animal products or how you can live a balanced healthy vegan diet. Be it just during the period of one month or maybe even for a lifetime.
Ok, I can still see the questionmarks on your face. You are still asking yourself why you should go vegan right? No worries all of that is covered in that very blog post, which reflects on 10 different positive effects why becoming vegan is a choice for you as well. Ready to take a look into the matter?
1. Be Healthy
That one makes a really good point, especially around the new year, where everybody is planning to start more healthier into the next year. But why is a vegan diet healthier? In one sentence, you don`t consume any animal products, who are known to contain cholesterol that clogs your arteries, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. It`s as simple as that. Not only are vegans more likely to have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and better blood sugar levels, but also do they have a lower risk of suffering from colon cancer as they don`t consume any red meat. And vegans are less overweight than people who eat animal products. Isn`t that a valuable reason to make you go vegan? There`s also a great documentary talking about the health benefits of going on a vegan diet, it`s called “What the Health”.
Not to mention that meat often is contaminated with bacteria, antibiotics and other parasites. All leading to disease, infestations with parasites, food poisoning or even worse superinfections due to antibiotic resistance.
2. Lose Weight
That`s another valid point to bring up just for the new year, as lot`s of us are taking plans into actions to lose weight. A vegan diet can be a great contribution for your weight loss schedule, as you automatically will eat healthier. No meat, fish and dairy, which means you are going to eat tons of healthy produce, like fruits, vegetables, legumes, tofu, nuts and seeds. The fresher and less processed food you implement on your vegan diet, the better the impact will be on your weight.
3.Eat a Balanced Diet
Going vegan reduces the food groups you are able to choose from and guides you into a eating habit where you`re automatically going to consume bigger amounts of the more healthier food groups. You will eat more vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds to cover your daily needs and maintain a healthy vegan diet. On the other hand you completely ditch produce that contain cholesterol. And to keep things interesting living a vegan lifestyle you will buy different vegetables and fruits, because let`s be honest nobody likes the same type of veggies every day. Overall veganism leads to a more balanced and versatile diet.
4. Save the Planet
Short and simple, veganism is one of the most sustainable diets. I`ve been already talking about this excessively in my blog posts about sustainable diets. But to summarize it once again, livestock breeding and the dairy industry are the biggest producers of CO2 emissions on this planet. Besides the fact, that they consume a huge amount of area on this planet to bring up the animals we are going to eat later and grow their food. How about growing crops we all can eat instead of planting food for the animals to be fed? Wouldn`t there be more food? In other words becoming vegan is going to minimize your personal carbon footprint and thusfor the negative impact on this planet. If you want to spin this further, by eating a vegan diet you are doing a great thing to save our planet from pollution. If you are interested in that topic I highly recommend you watching “Cowspiracy“. Actually that`s the movie who made me become a vegan!
5. Save the Oceans
Becoming a vegan also means saying goodby to fish. But let me tell you that the oceans will thank you for that. Overfishing caused by the never ending raising demand for fish are a huge problem nowadays. If we go on this way, there will be no more fishes living on our oceans within a matter of years. Not only is the fish population drastically decaying, but also there are animals that depend on them as their main source of food. Oceans are their very own biome. Changing the balance of that biome by killing all the fish and polluting the oceans can completely destroy our oceans. Avoid the destruction of our oceans by going vegan.
6. Save the Forests
Same goes for the forests. The meat and dairy industry constantly needs more space for the breeding livestock. Space that a lot of times has to be created by reducing forest area. Or to explain it differently, trees need to leave hence cattle can graze. There is no other industry that has such a high impact on deforestation than livestock. If you become vegan you are actively contributing in maintaining our forests.
7. Save the Animals
Let`s keep it real, there is no good doing in killing animals against their will. Taking baby cows away from their mother to get access to the mama cows milk. Breeding hatchlings in a small space, stuffing them with food, so that they aren`t even able to walk due to their overweight and the not available space. Eating beef that has been imported in very narrow transporters, being kept under bad conditions and mistreated. These are facts, but most of us just close the eyes or don`t want to listen, because it`s easier to just go into the supermarket, buying your already cut and packed piece of meat without knowing what cruelty the animal you`re going to eat suffered. But every living being has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Turning vegan is the best way to ensure the well being of every animal on this planet.
8. Save the Wildlife
As mentioned above, you will need food to feed the animals you are raising for slaughtering. As a consequence of that livestock breeding encourages deforestation and the killing of wildlife animals for reasons of space and/or protection of the their animals. Wildlife`s habitat gets stolen from the animals living our forests or meadows, predators are being killed in order to prevent them from eating the farm animals. By going vegan you are not longer contributing to that unnecessity.
9. Save the Humans
Agriculturally raised animals consume more food than they provide. If we would plant food for humans on all the area that is being used to grow crops to feed livestock right now, food supplies would raise, world hunger could be reduced. So why in gods name supporting a system that is as inefficient as the animal industry, if there are much better ways in using the resources we have by eating plants. By going vegan you are indirectly contributing to the reduction of food shortage and global hunger.
10. Save Money
I don`t know here you live, but where I do animal products are expensive. Vegetables, legumes and fruits aren`t! In other words a vegan diet helps you save money and honestly who doesn`t want to grow their bank accounts. I`ll keep that one short but effective *lol*.
I bet one or several of these reasons will make you turn vegan, even if it`s only for a month, something is better than nothing. And if you struggle with the transition or keeping up your vegan diet, please write me so we can support each other and get through this. I`ll gladly help whenever I can and I am definitely looking forward for lot`s of you taking the “Veganuary” challenge this January.
Read you soon,
Sarah
Sources used for writing this post:
https://vegan.ch/warum-vegan/fuer-deine-gesundheit/
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/why-go-vegan
https://freefromharm.org/why-vegan/
https://chooseveg.com/blog/16-reasons-to-eat-vegan-in-2016/
https://www.peta2.com/save-animals/tell-parents-save-money-go-vegan/
https://www.peta.org/living/food/top-10-reasons-go-vegan-new-year/
https://nutriciously.com/why-go-vegan/
https://www.vegan.eu/fische-vegan/