Got Plants? Reasons for a plant-based diet

[Storyteller.]

Got Plants? Reasons for a plant-based diet
By Traci (Coffee.)

Most people have at least one vegetarian or vegan friend, and it’s easy to wonder why they would pick a lifestyle that seems so difficult to manage without being able to eat meat, and for vegans, cheese and eggs! These are staple foods in most western lifestyles, and for most it would seem crazy to give them up. There are actually many reasons why people transition to vegetarianism, some that the average person isn’t aware of. Although this is not inclusive to everybody’s reasons, the following are a few reasons that some people choose to eat a plant-based diet.

Ethical reasons
Some people oppose to eating meat due to a variety of ethical reasons. Some of these may include religious beliefs, such as Hinduism, which view the consumption of most meats, particularly beef, as taboo. Many religions believe that it is culturally unacceptable to eat specific meats, such as Judaism, which does not allow the consumption of pig, and many western countries believe it is unacceptable to eat animals such as dogs. The ethics of meat consumption depend a lot on culture.

Another ethical reason is the debate on whether it is right to kill an animal for food. Many people consider killing an animal to be barbaric, and with the fact that a human does not need meat to survive, they wonder if it's truly right to continue eating them. Some people limit this argument to specific animals that they consider sentient. For example, many believe that it would be wrong to eat land animals, such as pigs or cows, because of them having a higher capacity for feelings and attachment, while they may believe that eating chickens or fish is acceptable due to their smaller brain size. Others expand it to all animals and even animal products, saying that the killing of the animals along with the consumption of their eggs or milk is barbaric and unnecessary.

The last common reason is the current treatment of animals in the westernized animal industry. Most animals live in awful conditions. Cows, for example, live in stables they can sometimes not turn around in and eat a diet of indigestible corn when they should be eating grass. Chickens often live in cages where they cannot move and their beaks are snapped in half in order to not peck at each other, but it causes them to live a painful life. The slaughter of animals is also often very painful and degrading to the animals. The production of animal products are usually not much better; chickens are kept in cages for their egg consumption and male chicks are often killed right at birth, while cows producing milk are fed hormones and impregnated multiple times shortening their lifespan. People with this belief sometimes argue that their vegetarianism or veganism can act as a more temporary solution until conditions improve, and some believe that the slaughter or production of animals will always be filled with mistreatment.

Dietary reasons
Many argue that vegetarianism lacks the nutrition that omnivores have. Those with plant-based diets often have lower levels of vitamin D, vitamin B-12 and protein. However, this is not always the case. Vegetarianism and veganism are both able to hold nutrition-rich diets, and scientists are finding that there are actually benefits! A common reason that people will abstain from eating meat and animal products is actually for nutritional reasons. Research has shown that a well-rounded vegetarian diet is lower in cholesterol and saturated fat while being higher in fiber, vitamin C, antioxidants and potassium. This is linked to a lot of benefits in disease prevention. Because of being lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, those who have plant-based diets tend to have lower levels of heart disease. There are also correlations between plant-based diets and lower levels of Type-Two Diabetes and many cancers, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.

There are also many arguments that the consumption of animals and animal products is particularly unhealthy. An example is the findings that diets high in casein, the main protein found in milk products, are linked to much higher levels of cancer and diabetes. Animal products also often have high amounts of hormones, saturated fat and few antioxidants, all which are linked to poorer health. In contrary, the proteins, fats and other nutrients in plant products are found to be more digestible and healthier for human consumption.

There are many particular foods that vegetarians and vegans often keep their diets rich in that are filled with vitamins and healthy nutrients. On is quinoa, which is a delicious grain that is filled of protein and fiber. Another would be tofu, which is fermented soy, and is also a great source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. Those who eat plant-based also fill their diets with nuts, beans and legumes in order to keep their protein intake in check. Other common foods would be leafy greens, such as spinach or kale, which are filled with antioxidants and many vitamins. Then, many vegans will also supplement their diets with vitamin pills or other foods with added nutrition. For example, many vegans try to eat nutritional yeast, which is a cheesy and delicious spice that one can add to many salty foods. It is naturally filled with protein, but also supplemented with Vitamin B-12 in order to help vegans eat a complete diet.

Enviromental reasons
Eighteen percent of greenhouse gases come from the production of livestock. This isn’t only carbon dioxide; this includes nitrous oxide and methane, both proven to be even more harmful than carbon dioxide. Think about the amount of carbon dioxide it takes to transport the animals to slaughterhouses, transport the meat to packaging companies, and send these packages to the supermarket. This doesn't stop at just transportation on land, but also by sea. That takes filling boats and planes with fuel, and it requires a well fueled bulldozer to strip the rainforest of the trees, soil, and animal life that were previously living there in order to grow the grain to feed the livestock, and grow the livestock to feed us.

The Amazon Rainforest alone gives us 20% of the oxygen we breathe and 60% of the fresh water we drink. Rainforests hold more species of animal, bug, and plant than any other part of the world. Clearing the rainforest is terrible for our planet and our lives, so why do we keep doing it? The answer: Meat production. 90% of the rainforests cleared from 1970 to today were cleared due to the global meat production. So not only are we putting dangerous chemicals in the air, but in the process, we are destroying the trees that keep our air clean. Eating meat destroys the resources we need from the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Water is a limited resource on Earth and is becoming a global concern. Turning off the water while brushing one's teeth or watering your garden for a lesser amount of time are the ways we often hear to save water, but 70% of fresh water is withdrawn from lakes and reserves for agriculture. It takes a lot of water to produce the food for cows, along with the water they need to drink to live. While it takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, to produce the soybeans for tofu would take one tenth of the water used for meat. Water is a depleting resource already, we no longer have enough of it to sustain all of humanity, and along with producing meat? We are keeping necessities from the people in need.

“Isn’t grass fed beef for sustainable?" This is an ongoing theory. Although grass fed beef is more ethical than traditional feed lots, and is more nutritious for the human body, environmentally, it has nothing to offer. Grass-fed activists claim because of the carbon being stomped back in the soil, in the end there are no emissions at all. The problem is, there is no way to calculate how much of these are actually stomped back into the ground, so this theory has never been proven. There are also problems with the amount of land we have for farming. As horrible as industrial farming has become, one of the benefits it offers that is it takes up little space. Unless we want to cut down more rainforests, there isn’t a lot more area that can hold our livestock. We also still have to feed them and give them water, a process wasteful of the food and water we could be eating and drinking. As Rita Shneck, Executive Director of the Institute for Environmental Research & Education in Vashon, Washington said, “No matter how you grow the beef, eating vegetarian is substantially better from a carbon point of view” and for many other points of view as well.

Overall, meat-eating is seen as unnecessary to many people around the world, and hopefully, this article allowed meat-eaters to get a different perspective upon the food choices they make. Every dollar that one spends on food votes for the way it's processed, produced and delivered, and if somebody doesn't agree with the way things are, the best way to change the world is to change oneself. Perhaps one can consider taking the “Meatless Monday Challenge”, abstaining from meat during one meal each day or even going completely vegan. Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivores Dilemma once said “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” Even small changes can make a large difference and a plant-based diet is a great way to make the world more ethical, improve your diet and help the environment.