Let's review: Reasons not to go vegan (Informational)
Hello readers and newcomers, welcome back to Nature's New Nook! I hope my last post on the beginner steps to going vegan helped as a short preview guide to what is expected to come. On today's post, we will be analyzing and debunking a blog post I came across called "10 Reasons Why I’ll Never Be Vegan" from the blog Empowered Substance. For the most part, majority of people can become vegan.
"Vegan diets do not provide fat-soluble vitamins A and D"
Especially protein, it can be found in all whole plant foods like beans, tofu, lentils, almonds, etc. As long as an individual is getting enough calories, they will be getting enough protein. Besides protein all vitamins and minerals can be found in plant-based whole foods.
"Ethical omnivorism supports a healthy planet"
Consuming animal byproducts from the factory farmed meat industry indeed contributes to the environmental matters of climate change, air pollution, water pollution, water scarcity, global warming, and non-renewable energy costs. There are many different layers to consider in explaining this complicated matter. Using cows as an example, are massive sized animals, hence they require a lot of space. About 26% of Earth’s land is used for livestock grazing, and 33% of croplands are used for livestock feed production (FAO of the United Nations). In order to obtain more land since there is such a high demand for meat leads to cutting down trees, acres of forest, and clearing out land.
"Vegan isn’t the answer to autoimmune disease"
For years, multiple studies have found that diet plays a huge role in one’s health and development of disease are not just genetic predisposition. For example, an individual's grandfather and father have both had type 2 diabetes and both had strokes or heart disease. The individual automatically assumes that the reason for them to adopt one of these incidents will be because of their genetic predisposition.
Dr. Alan Goldhamer, author and founder of TrueNorth Health Center, elaborates in the What the Health documentary “Even if you have a genetic predisposition, doesn’t mean it’s going to necessarily manifest. Determintination for whether it manifest or not… may be the things you can control...The environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors...by what we eat, and what we put in our bodies.”
Outside of this article, there were a few myths about veganism that I wanted to debunk.
"Humans are designed/built to eat meat"
When analyzing this claim we typically look at our ancestors and how they ate, an article on Viva Health written by Juliet Gellatley states “Digestion begins in the mouth with a salivary enzyme called amylase. Its sole purpose is to help break down complex carbohydrates from plant foods into simple sugars...there are no carbohydrates in meat, true carnivores don't need this enzyme...We were never meant to eat meat or dairy (humans only began consuming 6,000 years ago), our bodies are not designed to eat flesh...”
"Veganism is too expensive and is not a convenient enough lifestyle"
The expression ‘pay for it now or pay for it later’ can help debunk this claim. Fruits, vegetables, beans, pasta are all some of the cheapest ingredients at the grocery store. You can pay for healthy ingredients now or be paying in medical bills, prescriptions, and frequent hospital visits later in life.
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