- It is much less expensive to be vegan, and the main staples like grains and beans can store really well.
- Vegan meals are often easier to cook and have fewer risks of bad bacteria like salmonella or E. coli.
- You can actually get all the protein and macro nutrients you need without meat. Plus you get a lot more beneficial micro nutrients.
- A vegan diet has been known to lower cholesterol, help lose weight, and reduce the risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes. You may also discover like I did that your body could be having negative reactions to meat and dairy products.
- The longest living people in the world have a largely vegan, plant based diet. You might become one of them.
- A vegan diet is more sustainable because it is significantly less intensive on the earth. Livestock from pasture to table take a massive amount of land, water, processing resources, and carbon emissions to produce.
- It is a lot easier to grow your own food if you are vegan which leads to lower living costs and greater food security.
- Your cooking waste is more easily compostable reducing landfill waste.
- You can start out slow by going vegan for one meal a week or one day a week, or you can keep a few items you enjoy like eggs or bacon particularly if used as a flavoring or side dish instead of the main course.
- It doesn't have to be all or none. You can have the occasional meat or dairy treat and you'll enjoy it that much more when you do.
Here are a few key resources that inspired me to go 90% vegan. That 10% is because I enjoy my backyard chicken eggs, flavoring in sauces (like Worcestershire), bacon or sausage in beans (although some soy substitutes aren't too bad), sustainably produced fish, and an approx. once a month special meal.
- Dan Barber Third Plate book about the changing dietary habits of humans over time.
- Dan Buettner Blue Zones about his extensive research on the longest living human populations.
- The Game Changers documentary about the misconceptions of a meat based high protein diet for athletes.
- Medically reviewed Medical News Today article on the health benefits of going vegan.
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