The Lies You Were Told About Veganism

Being a vegan for 3 years exposed me to the all of the ignorance and misinformation that people have when it comes to veganism. I have done hours upon hours of research to see the other side of these arguments. I've tried to understand where they are coming from. I would like to share the research that I've found to counter the arguments or excuses, as I like to call them, against veganism.

Vegan Diets are Not Healthy

The word vegan does not necessarily mean a healthy diet, the actual definition according to The Vegan Society is "a lifestyle which seeks to exclude all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to animals for food, clothing or any other purpose." Any diet can be unhealthy, it is the foods you choose to eat that make that diet healthy or unhealthy.

A plant based diet is the only diet that has ever reversed heart disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death and a plant based diet is the only known way to reverse that. So why isn't a vegan diet our standard diet? Plus what part of a diet that's full of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and seeds is unhealthy, exactly?

Let me put it this way; The cow, the chicken and the pigs that are believed to be rich in protein, calcium, and nutrients that we all need, where do you think they get those nutrients from? From plants! According to the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources the average cow eats 27 pounds of grains on a daily basis and yet it's only "healthy" to eat it from the meat of the cow rather than eating the plants themselves that don't contain the additives, hormones, saturated fats, and cholesterol.

Being Vegan is Expensive

You know what is expensive? Hospital bills. Which will only grow when you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer, lung and kidney failures, when you're severely obese or when you have osteoporosis and literally any other disease! A whole food plant-based diet can prevent and even reverse most if not all of these diseases.

One "quality" pound of beef is averaged at $20 which would feed 2 average people. Now, that compared to a 5 pound bag of potatoes for 3 bucks, 20 pound bag of beans that costs $10, or even a 45 pound bag of rice that costs $15. Imagine the kind of army you can feed with that!

Which helps me onto my next point that animal agriculture is one of the main contributors to world hunger and world pollution because it takes about 2,500 gallons of water and 12 pounds of grain to produce only one pound of beef. 70% of US grain production is fed to livestock instead of being given to the 842 million people who are suffering from starvation worldwide. If Americans reduced their intake of meat by just 10%, 100,000,000 people could be fed using the land, water and energy that would be freed up from growing livestock feed.

All Vegans Eat is Salads

Even though I was vegan for 3 years I ate a salad maybe once or twice. Nowadays, there are so many different vegan foods that replicate real beef or chicken like Alpro, Amy's Kitchen, Beyond Meat, BOCA, Chao, Daiya, Earth Balance, Earth Grown Vegan, Earth's Own Food Co., Eden Foods, Gardein.

There are just so many options for vegans now that it has become such a big thing. There is vegan ice creams that taste better than real ice cream and vegan restaurants with incredibly large menus with various options.

Veganism is Unnatural

Tell me this; what is natural about drinking the breast milk of an animal that is not your mother as a grown ass adult? Over 65% of the world's population is lactose intolerant because our human bodies stop producing lactose by the age of 5 as we are supposed to because breast milk is only meant for your infant body to fully develop and for you to get all the protein and nutrients that the breast milk contains.

Cows breast milk is meant for 65 pound calves to grow to be thousand pound animals. Animal proteins produce acid when they’re broken down and calcium is an excellent acid neutralizer. So in order to neutralize and flush out the acids properly, our bodies have to use all the calcium that the milk contains—as well as some from us. So with every glass of milk we drink some calcium chips away from our bones. That’s why medical study after medical study has found that people who consume the most cow’s milk have significantly higher osteoporosis rates than those who drink little to no milk.

What exactly is so natural about completely cooking meat on a 100% man-made stove and pan and seasoning the crap out of it with...PLANTS? Our teeth are actually not even made to bite into raw meat. We have the same teeth structure as an herbivore. The barely-even-sharp canine teeth that we do have are meant to tear through fruit and vegetable skins.

Cave-men and hunters killed animals purely for survival. They used every single part of the animal to provide for themselves and their families. The skin would be used to shelter or clothing, the meat as food, and the bones as weapons to defend themselves or for bowls and furniture. Animals were never killed in vain. Now what part of nature is mass producing cows, chickens, pigs, and fish and then having them shoved into cages where they are forced to be in not only their own feces but the feces and fluids of all the other animals in their cages.

Oh but a plant based diet, where not one person is harmed is unnatural.

Pesticides

I feel like this is non-vegans last resort when trying to find an excuse as to why they don't want to convert to veganism. Pesticides in plants are the very least of vegans worries because they can just get pesticide free veggies and fruits. Non-vegans on the other hand should be a little worried about pesticides as well though.The drinking water in nearly every mid-western city south of Chicago is contaminated with agricultural weed killers. Meat, poultry and dairy products contain pesticide residues from their feed.

The EPA issued more than 1,000 warnings against eating fish from chemically-contaminated waters in 1994. Nearly half of all fish was contaminated with bacterial from human or animal feces. 99% of US non-vegetarian mothers’ milk has significant levels of DDT which is and yet only 8% of US vegetarian mothers’ milk has significant levels of DDT which is a is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound originally developed as an insecticide.

The Bible Says...

I saved the best for last. Before I say my opinion on this sensitive topic of religion I'd like to say that I am not religious and I do not believe in Christianity. I am solely bringing this up for argumentative purpose, not to offend anyone.

I am not here to bash anyone's religion. I simply don't believe that a God that claims to be all loving would give feelings and families to "his creations" just to tell his other "creations" that the only way to be forgiven by him is to kill these innocent creatures as a sacrifice to repent for their own sins.

And...

In conclusion, there are a million excuses to not be vegan and a million more to be made but the truth is that a plant-based diet is good for the body, mind, and the world. Give it a second thought, you won't regret it :)