What are the advantages of a vegan diet?

Answer 1

1. It's good for your health: When you choose a whole-foods, plant-based diet, you will quickly appreciate the many health benefits: you may lower your cholesterol, lose weight, reduce your risk of Heart disease, cancer, or Type 2 Diabetes, increase your energy levels, and reduce constipation. In the HBO documentary The Weight of the Nation, it was noted that if you "go with the flow" in the US, you will eventually become obese. In 2011, in some areas of the country, the rate of obesity was 39% and was increasing at a rate of 5% per year. Risks of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, along with their ensuing complications (eg, behavioral health and quality-of-life problems) often go hand-in-hand and are strongly linked to lifestyle, especially dietary choices. Of all the diets recommended over the last few decades to turn the tide of these chronic illnesses, the best but perhaps least common may be those that are plant based.
2. It's good for the earth: The production of a quarter-pound hamburger requires 625 gallons of water, the destruction of 55 square feet of rainforest, and wastes 50 times more fossil fuel than would the production of the same amount of plant-based food. Up to 16 pounds of grain and soybeans are needed to produce one pound of beef. Of the grain grown in the United States, 80% is fed to animals to produce meat, milk, and eggs. That statistic is even more alarming now that we are also using grain to produce more fuel. Out of the huge amount of pesticide used on these grains, a percentage ends up on the food is destined for animals that are used to produce meat, milk, and eggs. The pesticide concentrates in the bodies of the animals. This pesticide is then eaten by people, and fed to their companion animals. The other 99% of pesticide ends up in the air that we and other animals breathe and the water that we and other animals drink. The meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Using animals to produce food is bad for the environment.
3. It's good for your fellow humans: Besides costing in terms of water and fuel that much of the world cannot afford, a pound of ground beef will cost $2.88 this year in the United States, where its production is highly subsidized. It provides 1,152 calories, nearly 91 grams of fat, 78 grams of protein, and no fiber. A half pound of lentils mixed with a half pound of brown rice costs about $1.38 in the United States. They provide 1,587 calories, 8 grams of fat, 88 grams of protein, and 77 grams of fiber. Many scientists now believe that in the wake of a changing climate, the switch to a largely plant-based diet is necessary to avoid famine.
4. It's good for your bank account: Spending less on groceries is great, but the biggest savings are long-term. By avoiding chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, you could save on such procedures as a $57,439 heart bypass operation, take far fewer sick days, and substantially lower your life insurance premiums.
5. It's the right thing to do: Animals on a modern factory farm lead lives of unimaginable suffering and die cruel deaths. Dairy cows spend years in a concrete stall or filthy feed lot before they are slaughtered. Calves and are quickly separated from their mothers, confined in tiny pens, and then killed for veal after only a few months of life. Baby pigs are castrated without anesthesia, taken from their mothers who are confined in tiny crates, and killed at just 7 months. Chickens raised for eggs are crammed in tiny cages and have their beaks clipped to prevent them from hurting each other due to stress from confinement. These animals are killed with a bolt to the head or a knife. Male chicks are thrown into trash bags to suffocate or ground up alive.