Running head: VEGANISM, BETTER OPTION?

Is Veganism the Better Option?

Hannah Blankenship

Germanna Community College

VEGANISM, BETTER OPTION? 2

Abstract

This paper gives reasons and their examples for why veganism is the better option as a diet and a

lifestyle. From all of the different health benefits, environmental benefits, and the ability to end the

suffering of so many animals, veganism is an overall very great way to live. Consuming many

animal products is scientifically proven to cause a plethora of issues like heart disease, obesity, and

many different types of cancer. A vegan diet can lead to an individual being overall healthier and

allowing that person to have a helpful impact on the planet as well as save countless animals from

suffering brutal and inhumane deaths.

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Is Veganism the Better Option?

Imagine if there was a way people could actually decrease the amount of disease and

sickness while helping the planet and save over 100 animals per person every year. Veganism has a

plethora of benefits for the environment and even one’s health. This is one of the hardest lifestyles

to start given the long list of products that are made from animals. Despite the difficulty of a full

diet/lifestyle change the long term effects of the choices made by one who is vegan are beneficial in

so many different ways. It is so easily understandable that one would pass up the chance to be

vegan, or not even try it at all, because of that strong and uncontrollable desire society has built

around food like meat, poultry, eggs, fish and dairy. Changing to a vegan diet/lifestyle will not only

show respect for the animals being brutally slaughtered in the industry, but help spread awareness

and eliminate contribution to climate change and create an all around more healthy society by

lowering risk for cancer, heart disease, and obesity.

Veganism can be traced back many years to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos

around the year 500 BCE. He believed in the ability for all species to be kind to each other. It was

also largely influenced in religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism as all three believed that

humans should not inflict pain on any animals. In 1944, Donald Watson, a British woodworker,

created the term ‘vegan’ for all of the vegetarians who did not eat dairy and eggs. Unlike

vegetarianism, and despite all of their similarities, veganism is still tied to ethical reasoning and not

just health reasoning. It is defined as a vegetarian who consumes no food (such as meat, eggs or

dairy products) that comes from animals. The main purpose for veganism
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as always been to avoid exploiting animals in any way. But from some more recent studies

veganism as been proven beneficial for one’s health and for the environment as well.

People trying to argue against veganism often talk about how they think that growing

healthy food is causing more greenhouse gas emissions than the meat industry is. While still being

able to see why this could possibly be logical, studies by the EPA (United States Environmental

Agency) on the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions being released have shown otherwise.

Sixty-five percent of the total greenhouse gases are being emitted from industrial processes like the

factories processing the meat and dairy sold in all of the grocery stores and being sold to

restaurants. Think about all of the land that needs to be cleared every year for these animals being

raised solely for human consumption. The gases emitted from processes like deforestation take up

eleven percent of the gases on top of the sixty-five already being used by the factories needed to

make the products. The main gases being emitted are methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide,

which all contribute significantly to things like climate change.

Limiting one’s contribution to the use of fossil fuels by going vegan could be a great way to

play a part in the mission to save the planet. It takes ten times the fossil fuel energy to make one

calorie of animal protein than it does to make one calorie of plant protein. What is being fed to the

animals that these companies are raising for consumption is only the beginning of the cycle. The

food and seed used to feed the animals is filled with chemicals that are basically engineered by

humans to make the animal grow the best meat possible no matter what it does to that animal or the

effect it will have on the consumer. All these corporate companies are worried about is the highest

dollar amount they can sell the product for. The grass that is grown for cows and sheep to graze is

sprayed with chemicals and fertilizers to help it grow that these animals are then consuming. Feces
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from these animals who consume the chemicals often are harmful to the soil causing companies to

begin deforestation in other areas to find fresh and healthy soil.

Another huge component in saving the planet is trying to limit water use. One person going

vegan could save up to 219,000 gallons of water a year. Think about all of the water that could go

towards people in bad areas of the world with no access to drinking water or all of the food people

could be growing for their families. Water is especially needed in areas that are drying up due to

climate change and the animals living there rely on the water sources in their environment to live.

Instead of putting all of the clean water towards food for the animals waiting to be killed it could be

put towards good healthy food for the people who need it. It takes 683 gallons of water to make one

gallon of milk. One cow that is being used for milk can drink up to 50 gallons of water per day and

sometimes more depending on the weather. Making a pound of a meat alternative, like tofu, takes

244 gallons of water. Making a pound of beef takes 2,400 gallons.

The health aspect behind the vegan lifestyle has been more recently a reason that

people are going vegan. The main health concerns that people believe about veganism are protein

deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency. Both of these reasons should be a big reason to be

concerned, but thanks to scientists they have been able to prove that through veganism there

are plenty of ways to receive all the protein needed for the body and different measures can be

taken to get all of the essential vitamins. The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio conducted a four

week study to show the effects of a plant-based diet on thirty children and their parents. Per the

vegan diet, they consumed less protein, cholesterol, saturated fat, vitamin B12 and vitamin D, while

consuming more carbs and fiber. Both the children and the parents were able to lose weight

throughout the experiment The results overall were lower BMIs, reduced systolic blood pressure
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and LDL cholesterol. Parents also had lower hemoglobin AC1 levels meaning they were at less of a

risk for prediabetes and diabetes.

There is a huge stigma around protein and how much protein the body actually needs. What

the body really needs are the things that are in protein, amino acids. Even though meat, eggs, dairy,

and other animal products are considered complete proteins, proteins that contain all of the essential

amino acids, there are incomplete proteins and complementary proteins that come from the many

different options of plant-based food which provide all of the essential amino acids and more.

Getting all of these proteins through things like tofu, lentils, chickpeas, almonds, peanuts, and

mycoprotein, which is a meat substitute product with 13 grams of protein per ½ cup, will be more

than enough protein for anyone. Choosing any of these choices rather than meats or dairy can save

one from things like, arthritis, heart disease, strokes, obesity, and several different types of cancer.

The vegan diet has been proven to completely reverse the effects of heart disease and lower

unhealthy high cholesterol levels by including good amounts of fruits, vegetables, nuts,

and seeds. Healthier fats that are found in a vegan diet lead to anti-inflammatory benefits that help

things like arthritis. The awful saturated animal fats found in meat, dairy and many processed foods

can be replaced with things like fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains to make the process of

losing or maintaining weight a lot easier and healthier. Another concern some have had is the

consumption of soy products. A majority of the products that are store bought frozen vegan items

are made with soy. Soy has a few risks, the biggest one being hormone interference. Then again,

there are always alternatives. Instead of risking one’s chances with these soy products they could go

for something like seitan. Seitan is a very popular choice throughout many restaurants that want to

build their vegan and vegetarian selection. It is made from wheat gluten and easily able to replicate
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the look and texture of meat. With any option of food there are benefits and risks to choosing that

food. One should just be educated and know how to make the smarter decision.

Probably the biggest downside people have talked about regarding a vegan diet would be the

vitamin B12. The most important things that vitamin B12 does is keep the nerve and blood cells

healthy. Vitamin B12 also helps to make human DNA. There are different recommendations for

ones amount of B12 that should be consumed depending on age, and for women, if one is pregnant

or not. Unfortunately, in a modern American diet, the main ways to get vitamin B12 in ones diet is

to eat beef, poultry, eggs, milk, and other dairy products. Some cereals and other yeasts could also

possibly have B12, which is why checking the food labels in necessary. Being vegan is no reason

to be scared of a B12 deficiency. There are a plethora of vegan options out there that have been

fortified with the vitamin B12. Eating a food source fortified with B12 two

or three times a day would be plenty of the vitamin that the human body needs. Probably the best

way to get this vitamin is to take it through daily or weekly supplements. Taking supplements is

better because they are pure vitamin B12, not processed to have the vitamin.

People always argue that animals were put on this Earth for us to use them. Which could

seem true in some instances like back in the day during native american times when they didn’t

have all of the technology that society does now and they never knew where their next meal was

coming from. Today, most people on the planet, especially in first world countries like America, get

a choice of where their next meal is coming from. They get to choose whether to support the

slaughter of cows and eat a burger or to nourish their bodies with a nice plant-based meal. In

today’s society anyone can just go to the grocery store and pick up endless amounts of meat. Does

anyone stop to think about where exactly that came from?

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Let’s take cows for instance, since we get beef as well as dairy, and sometimes even pelts

from them. Assuming that they even survive the feeding lots and the dairy sheds, 40 to 45 adult

cows are shoved into metal trailers that could comfortably fit maybe 35. They are forced to be

shoved next to their peers for hours at a time with no food or water. Imagine in the wintertime how

cold it can get driving 70 miles an hour down a highway with no protections. They have no choice

but to stand and sometimes fall down into the hours worth of their own urine and feces. The cows

who fell during transport are often drug off of the trailer with ropes tied to their legs. The ones who

managed to be healthy enough to walk are too scared to and don’t want to leave the truck so the

workers of the slaughterhouse shock them with electric poles and drag them out with chains. After

being brought into the slaughterhouses and being such a state of shock and fear these cows are then

put into an inhumane assembly line as if it were a car building factory. One by one they are shot in

the head with a stun gun that supposedly makes them immune to pain. Yet several workers have

reported that after being shot cows still show many signs of being able to feel and the workers can

see it in their eyes. After being shot they are hung by one leg onto a conveyor belt, their throats

sliced, pelts skinned, hooves cut off, by this time they are dead and is just the beginning of the

process to get their meat onto shelves for consumers to buy. This awful process doesn’t just happen

to cows, think about where we get all of the other meats, all of the fur used to make designer coats,

the leather and snakeskin used for bags the people love so much, the makeup being tested on

animals before is gets to the people, and all of the scientific tests being run on animals. They feel

pain. Being vegan can show these big businesses, that slaughter just for the money, that consumers

have the power. People have the power to put these slaughterhouses out of business and to not

support the terrible things they are doing.

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Making the switch to a vegan diet/lifestyle has never been easier and has never been harder

at the same time. Majority of people don’t go vegan because they would simply miss the addicted

taste of meat and dairy products. Society has been conditioned for so long to believe that these

things are good for the human body when in reality all they do is make these large companies

richer. On the bright side other companies are seeing the exponential growth in the vegan diet and

are beginning to create vegan products that are much better alternatives for human health. When

one goes grocery shopping they should think deeper into what these bad products are doing long

term, and what types of practices are they support by their dollar and choose the better option.
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