5 Reasons to go Vegan

By StrongerGreen | August 7, 2016 |

There are MANY more than 5 reasons to go vegan, but we have to start somewhere. Along with increasing life span, detoxifying the body, having healthier bones, fewer nutrient deficiencies, a lower body weight and enhanced athletic recovery (just to name a few), below are 5 other very important reasons to adopt a whole foods plant based diet…

1. A WHOLE FOOD PLANT BASED DIET WILL SLOW OR STOP CANCER GROWTH IN THE BODY:

John McDougall, MD, is the medical director of the McDougall Program in Santa Rosa, CA. He cites that “adopting a plant based diet will focus on strengthening the human body and its magnificent abilities to heal and stay healthy; while, at the same time, removing cancer-causing and -promoting elements from patients’ diets.” McDougall continues to explain how removing meat and dairy from the diet removes substances that cause cancer progression. Animal foods of all kinds increase growth factors for cancer progression.

2. PREVENT AND REVERSE DISEASE:

According to Michael Gregor, M.D., a prominent speaker on public health issues, “a significant convergence of evidence suggests that plant-based diets can help prevent and even reverse some of the top killer diseases in the Western world.” He states “plant based diets can be more effective than medication and surgery.”

Alzheimer’s Disease
Cancer
Diabetes
Heart Disease
High Cholesterol
High Blood Pressure
Parkinson’s Disease

3. SLIM DOWN AND HAVE MORE ENERGY:

Vegans are, on average, up to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. According to Dr. Deborah Wilson, author of the article Eating Meat is Linked to Obesity, “There has not been a single study indicating that high-protein diets such as Atkins work for more than a year. In fact, two studies showed that weight loss on the Atkins Diet reversed or stalled after just six months, and Atkins himself died weighing 258 pounds. The only weight-loss plan that has been scientifically proved to take weight off and keep it off for more than a year is a vegetarian diet.”

4. VEGAN FOOD IS DELICIOUS:

If you’re not overly excited about eating delicious fruits, vegetables, pasta, beans and legumes right now, companies are coming out with more and more delicious meat and dairy-product alternatives that taste like the real thing but are much healthier and don’t hurt any animals. Plus, The Green Zone team will provide you with a list of some of our favorite products, many delicious recipes and a vegan nutrition guide to help you get started! Of course we recommend limiting consumption of the “fake meat” products as they are processed. Yes, there is such a thing as an unhealthy vegan!

5. SAVE THE PLANET:

Eating meat is not green, healthy, or eco- friendly. Consuming meat is actually one of the worst things that you can do for the planet. It is wasteful and causes enormous amounts of pollution. The meat industry is also one of the biggest causes of climate change. According to peta.org and a report done by Worldwatch Institute, 51% or more of global greenhouse emissions are caused by animal agriculture. The United Nations states that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change.

Staggering Statistics according to peta.org:

-A single cow used for milk can drink up to 50 gallons of water per day—or twice that amount in hot weather-and it takes 683 gallons of water to produce just 1 gallon of milk.

-It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef, while producing 1 pound of tofu only requires 244 gallons of water.

-More than 90 percent of all Amazon rainforest land cleared since 1970 is used for grazing livestock. In addition, one of the main crops grown in the rainforest is soybeans used for animal feed.

-According to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, it takes up to 10 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat, and in the United States alone, 56 million acres of land are used to grow feed for animals, while only 4 million acres are producing plants for humans to eat.

-Coastal fish farms release feces, antibiotics, parasites, and non-native fish into sensitive marine ecosystems.