A vegan is one who tries to live a life free of animal products. Vegans eat a plant-based diet, with no components from animals: no meat, dairy, eggs or honey. A vegan lifestyle also avoids leather, wool, silk and other animal products for clothing or other merchandise, and animal tested products.
The Vegan Society, founded in 1944, who sponsors World Vegan Month, suggests that non-vegans take the pledge in November to go vegan for a day, a week or month.
As environmentally conscious people, trying to lessen our impact, we must also examine our eating habits. The case for Veganism, and its less strict cousin, Vegetarianism, grows as the negative health implications of consuming animal fats and proteins are revealed. Coupled with the effects of factory farming on the environment, and the inherent animal cruelty, a meatless diet, or a diet with less meat, certainly becomes more compelling.
Growing plant crops for direct human consumption makes much better use of resources than does animal farming. The United Nations 2009 report on The Environmental Food Crisis states that over three billion people could live on the grain fed to farmed animals. An acre of grain can produce five times more protein than an acre allotted to meat production. One billion people around the world are under-nourished. Continuous expansion of animal farming, which has quadrupled in the last 50 years, may pose a real threat to the global food supply as Earth’s population is projected to grow to 9 billion by 2050.
A typical vegan diet of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans, is low in fat, high in fiber, contains no cholesterol, and is nutrient rich. Vegans get their protein from grains and legumes such as beans, tofu and nuts. Calcium rich vegetables like broccoli, kale, and collard greens take the nutritional place of dairy products. There are also vegan substitutes for nearly every meat and dairy product. For wonderful and diverse vegan recipes check out ChooseVeg.com.
Consider starting with a vegan meal during World Vegan Month, and see where your conscious takes you.
Global Food Security: The Benefits of vegan diets and stock-free farming (pdf)
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this is too much for me i cant live without eating fish.:S