Veganism: Pros and Cons...
|By Jyoti Palan and Het Panchal|
Let's start with the fact that vegetarian and vegan are not the same.
What is veganism?
Veganism is defined as a way of living that tries to exclude all forms of animal cruelty which are used for food, clothing, decorating houses, and other purposes. Those people are called vegans. Dietary Vegans, whole-food vegans, junk food vegans, Raw food vegans, Low-fat raw food vegans are types of vegans we see around.
Why choose veganism?
1st November is World Vegan Day, a celebration of people who don't eat any kind of food that includes animals. Food like eggs, meat, cheese, mayonnaise, honey, whey, gelatin also do not wear any clothing or accessory made from animals, like leather, wool, pearls, ivory keypad piano. To show respect to the 50th anniversary of the vegan society, in 1994 the animal-free holiday began. Before telling you why to choose veganism, let's go into the roots of veganism. In 1944 the concept of flesh avoidance was traced back to Indian and eastern Mediterranean societies.
Vegans generally avoid animal products for the following reasons.
1.Ethics: Ethical vegans strongly believe that all creatures have the right to live and freedom. Vegans also believe that the farm animals’ chicken and dairy cows lead to unnecessary miserable lives. The chickens who give eggs are trapped in small cages and have no free space to stretch or walk. They have a life-span of more than a decade but most of them are slaughtered after 2 years. Like chickens, the life of dairy cows is miserable too. They are killed when their productivity rate drops. They live up to 25 years but because of such treatment, they die after 5 years. Male calves have no value as they cannot produce milk and hence are sold and slaughtered in veal farms. Preventing the exploitation of animals is not the only reason for becoming vegan, but for many, it remains the key factor in their decision to choose to be a vegan and stay vegan.
2. Health: Many vegans choose the diet purely for its health benefits. Vegans can get all their nutrients without animal products. Veganism also requires professional consultation to meet their needs. Vegan mainstay foods like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes are naturally low in fat and cholesterol and rich in fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and vitamins C and E. Compared to non-vegetarians the vegetarians and vegans have lower body mass index. They also reported decreased rates of type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, prostate cancer, hypertension, and heart disease.
3. Environment: People may also choose to avoid animal products because of the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Animal agriculture requires vast amounts of land and water to support livestock and grow feed. A decline in biodiversity is seen due to land conversion which leads to deforestation and soil degradation. The water used for animal agriculture, mostly as irrigation for feed crops, accounts for 8 percent of global human water use. Animals themselves generate waste and pollution. Livestock produces 18 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent -- that's more than transport!
Why do vegans don’t eat honey?
Honey is a somewhat controversial food among vegans. Unlike overt animal foods like meat, eggs, and dairy, foods from insects are not always grouped into the vegan category. Many vegans avoid eating honey because commercial honey farming may additionally harm the health of bees. Honey’s main function is to produce bees with carbohydrates and other essential nutrients like amino acids, antioxidants, and natural antibiotics. Bees store honey and consume it over the winter months when honey production dwindles. It provides them with energy, helping them stay healthy and survive during weather condition
The bottom line: Vegans try and avoid or minimize all varieties of animal exploitation, including that of bees. Some vegans also avoid honey to take a stand against beekeeping practices which will harm bee health. Instead, vegans can replace honey with many plant-based sweeteners, starting from syrup to blackstrap molasses. Make certain to consume these varieties sparsely, as they contain immeasurable added sugar. As every coin has two sides, heads, and tails, let's check the PROS and CONS of Veganism.
PROS:
1. May slow down climate change: It is a truth, now more or less universally acknowledged, that a plant-based diet can do wonders for both your health and the health of the planet.
2. Positive health effects: One important advantage of veganism is that it can bog down global climate change to an explicit extent. The assembly of meat implies high levels of greenhouse emission emissions, which successively contribute to heating.
Thus, by avoiding meat consumption and switching to a vegan diet instead, you'll improve your ecological footprint and mitigate the worldwide warming issue. In keeping with a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the primary of its kind to link both individual health and also the Earth’s, a vegan diet, which excludes meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy, can really up the ante on both fronts. The study’s results show that 8.1 million deaths will be avoided annually across the world if more people adopt a vegan diet. One of the immediate results of adopting a vegan diet is weight loss, says Reed Mangels, a registered dietitian, and lecturer in nutrition at the University of Massachusetts. Amherst could be a definite positive that pulls many of us to veganism. A vegan diet is far lower in calories than even a vegetarian diet. Mangels says, “because, additional to knocking out the meat, you’re also knocking out high-fat dairy products.” The physical body is created for consuming a vegan or a vegetarian diet all at once some researchers have linked a vegan or vegetarian diet for health-promoting options like whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, and vegetables which are jam-packed with beneficial fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
3. Reduction of commercial meat production: Another upside of the vegan diet is that it reduces the necessity for factory farming. In our current state of the globe, we consume excessive amounts of meat.
Those amounts of meat can only be produced with the assistance of commercial meat production. By refraining from meat consumption and switching to a vegan diet instead, we could significantly reduce the requirement for factory farming since the general global demand for meat may well be reduced.
4. Fewer animals ought to die: It takes approximately 1,600 gallons of water to provide one pound of beef isn't any secret. Scientists established that fact quite a decade ago and that they have also shown that producing one pound of animal protein requires about 100 times more water than producing one pound of grain protein. Another upside of the vegan diet is that it reduces the necessity for factory farming. In our current state of the globe, we consume excessive amounts of meat.
Those amounts of meat can only be produced with the assistance of commercial meat production. However, in those meat production processes, the animals are treated quite poorly.
5. Increase in food use efficiency: Veganism may also be considered to be more efficient than meat consumption within the context of what percentage of people we are going to be able to prey on our planet. Since the assembly of one calorie of meat requires the utilization of multiple calories of plant materials, meat consumption will be considered to be quite inefficient.
Thus, if more people switch to a vegan diet, we could feed the next number of individuals on a worldwide scale. Efficiently using our calories may become pretty important within the future since our world population is growing and there are already many conflicts regarding food supply which can even deteriorate.
6. Mitigation of the hunger problem: Global hunger is another issue that may be connected to excessive meat consumption. While some people, especially in our rich Western world, consume excessive amounts of meat, millions, or perhaps billions of individuals in poor countries suffer from hunger and starvation.
This is partly because a major fraction of meat is going to be exported from poor countries and therefore the local population might suffer from an absence of meat and other food. Thus, by going vegan, we could also reduce the worldwide hunger problem to an explicit extent.
7. Reduction within the use of antibiotics: Most of our meat is produced with the assistance of factory farming. Large numbers of animals are raised in confined space and to avoid the spread of diseases in those big farms, large amounts of antibiotics are used. However, this excessive use of antibiotics may be a great danger to humanity since it can result in antibiotic resistance. Imagine you get sick and wish antibiotics for medical treatment. If those antibiotics do not work because of resistance issues, you would possibly be in serious trouble.
Thus, if the matter of antibiotic resistance becomes worse over time, the likelihood is that voluminous people around the world will die from its consequences. One solution to mitigate this problem would be to avoid meat consumption and to modify it to a vegan diet instead. By doing so, you'd not have to be compelled to place confidence in the meat of factory farms and you will be less likely to become antibiotic-resistant.
8. Overfishing could also be prevented: there's not only a retardant associated with our excessive meat consumption but also our global fish stocks decrease at an alarming rate. If we still engage in overfishing, chances are high that we would run out of fishes sooner or later. Therefore, to fight the matter of overfishing, switching to a vegan diet, would be an excellent tool since consuming fish isn't allowed in veganism.
9. Reduction in soil pollution: Farming animals end up in huge amounts of pollution, especially because factory farms typically use large slurry pits that may overflow and acquire groundwater. Huge numbers of animals mean huge amounts of urine and feces, and it all needs to go somewhere. Some American communities are even stricken by illnesses and diseases due to nearby factory farms.
10. Increased awareness regarding your diet: Going vegan also will likely increase your education and your awareness regarding your diet and what’s good for you and what’s not. By learning about proper nutrition, you'll be ready to increase your health level, which can provide you with every kind of benefit in your life and can also likely increase your expectancy.
11. Water conservation: Freshwater could be a valuable commodity in today’s day and age, especially due to widespread pollution. Only 2.5% of the water on our planet is fresh, and 70% of that's frozen solid as ice. Many parts of the planet are so in need of water that individuals are dying of thirst or drinking dirty water just to remain alive. Animals need water too, and plenty of it. A beef burger uses over 14 times more water to create than a soy burger. only one burger requires 2,350 liters.
CONS:
1. You'll have to be compelled to motivate yourself quite often: it should even be quite hard to remain strong and refrain from meat consumption. Since you may be confronted with delicious meat dishes all the time, chances are high that you just may fall for it sooner or later. Thus, so remain vegan, you have got to own a fairly strong will, especially if you're a meat-lover.
2. A vegan diet will be expensive: even supposing many of us think that going vegan might prevent money, the alternative could also be true in many cases. Vegan food is commonly quite costly compared to the consumption of cheap meat.
Therefore, especially if you're rather unaccustomed to the vegan lifestyle and don’t know where to shop for vegan food during a cheap manner yet, the likelihood is that you simply might need to spend extra money on food compared to your previous meat-based diet.
3. It's hard to implement in your daily life: In some regions of our planet, it should even be quite difficult to implement a vegan lifestyle in your way of life. Especially in regions where veganism isn't popular yet, you would possibly have a tough time finding supermarkets or restaurants that are specialized in vegan products. Thus, you would possibly have to be compelled to make great efforts in some regions to measure your vegan lifestyle and it'd even be quite time-consuming to urge all the groceries you would like.
4. You'll have to be compelled to refrain from your favorite dishes: it should even be quite hard to remain strong and refrain from meat consumption. Since you'll be confronted with delicious meat dishes all the time, the likelihood is that that you simply may fall for it sooner or later. Thus, to remain vegan, you've got to possess a reasonably strong will, especially if you're a meat-lover.
5. An increasing need to educate yourself: Since veganism requires you to learn about your nutrition and your diet, you might have to spend plenty of time, in the beginning, to work out what you're allowed to eat, where to urge the respective groceries from then on.
Thus, it might be quite time-consuming to switch to a vegan diet and you should make sure that your motivation level is high enough to take those efforts in order not to quit at some point
6. Not suitable for people with certain health issues: Some people might also not be able to join the vegan lifestyle since they may suffer from certain diseases that might prevent them from going vegan. Thus, for those people, a particular conventional diet could be necessary to avoid any health complications.
7. Social isolation: In some regions, veganism might also not yet be socially accepted and people engaging in vegan diets might have a quite hard time since they might become socially isolated. For instance, in regions where veganism is tabooed, you might have a quite hard time finding friends since people may be quite skeptical regarding your lifestyle
5 vegan products:
Veganism in India:
India has been referred to as one in every of the most effective countries within the world for foodies, furthermore as a dream destination for vegetarians. Its cuisine is additionally known for being very heavy in dairy products like paneer, lassis, milk-based ghee-laden curries, curd, and also the list goes on.
Approximately 30% of Indians follow a vegetarian diet and it should shock you that the people from Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and therefore the North-Indian states follow a 100% vegan diet. However, a bit like it's easy to search out meatless dishes, it's also easy to search out completely vegan dishes. Many meals are simply cited as being vegetarian, while they're 100% vegan and uncompromisingly delicious. Veganizing many non- vegan dishes in India is commonly as simple as kicking the dairy. When it involves spreading awareness and bringing about change, social media plays an undeniable role. The surge in videos showing cruelty inflicted on animals within the dairy and meat industries is one in all the explanations behind the short uptake of the vegan cause because of the continuous growth of pages. the rise within the number and engagement capability of vegan influencers among the young generation has proven to be pivotal within the rise of veganism in India. Instagram as a platform has helped make a vegan diet look more aesthetically pleasing, busting the stereotype of it just consisting of “twigs and grass”. Such platforms have helped people see it for what it is: a compassion-driven conceive to live an ethical, sustainable, and healthy lifestyle without contributing to animal suffering.
However, not everything is rosy. With purchasing power increasing and children originally raised as vegetarians inquisitive about meat, there are barriers India must tackle to become a vegan-friendly country. one of the foremost important is ensuring that veganism isn’t seen as an elite diet that only the rich can afford. While many restaurants and types are jumping on the bandwagon to “cash in” on the movement, there are others focussed on accessibility and affordability, just like the recently venture capital-funded Good Mylk and plant-based meat manufacturer Gooddot.
The main idea behind veganism is to try and do as little harm as possible. Realistically, it’s impossible to measure a life that’s neutral and within which you are not harmed in the slightest degree. Instead, veganism is all about keeping the damage as low as possible so that future generations can still enjoy the globe. After all, it’s not like we've got another one. Bon appetit!
Vegan Mango Sorbet Recipe:
This 4-ingredient Vegan Mango Sorbet is the perfect frozen treat that comes together in just 25 minutes, and no ice cream maker required!
Total Time: 25mins
Course: Dessert
Dairy-free, gluten-free, mango, sorbet, summer
Servings: 8
Calories: 118kcal
Ingredients:
600 gr frozen mango chunks
1 tbsp lemon juice
240 ml of water
150 gr sugar
Instructions:
In a small bowl combine water, sweetener, and juice.
If you use regular sugar, add water and sugar in a small pot, and heat on medium heat until the sugar has been dissolved, about 5 minutes, then allow the water mixture to cool down.
Add mango chunks and 1/2 cup of water mixed in a powerful food processor.
Blend until the mango pieces are completely smashed, pouring the remaining water mixture as you blend.
Blend for about 3-4 minutes, until the sorbet reaches a creamy dense consistency.
For soft-serve, scoop the sorbet directly from the kitchen appliance into small bowls and serve.
For a dense consistency, transfer the mango sorbet into a freezable container and freeze for 1-2 hours.
Before serving, let the mango sorbet soften for 5 minutes, then scoop into bowls
Calories: 118kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 126mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 812IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg.
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