When I tell people I’m on a vegan diet, their first question usually is: What is veganism? They also wonder about why I choose to go vegan. Eating out can be a challenge, because there aren’t many vegan restaurants around where I live. Also, even professional cooks are often at a loss as to what a vegan eats.

What is Veganism?

Veganism is often considered as the strictest form of vegetarianism. Whereas vegetarians only omit meat, poultry and fish from their diets, vegans take it one step further. Like vegetarians, vegans don’t eat meat, poultry or fish either. In addition, they don’t eat eggs, dairy or honey either. In fact, vegans don’t use any products that or in any way derived from animals. They don’t wear wool, leather or fur, and don’t use any products that have been tested on animals.

Veganism and animal cruelty

One of the main reasons why a person chooses to go vegan, has to do with animal cruelty. This is obvious when it comes to eating meat, but how about dairy and eggs? Surely no animals died for those products, did they?

The disturbing truth is that animals have been treated cruelly and did die for the egg you eat at breakfast. And yes, animals did die for your milk, your cheese and your yoghurt. As soon as an animal is too old to be productive anymore they are slaughtered. Male calves and chickens are sold as meat. And do I really have to go into detail about the horrors testing-animals have to endure?

Veganism and the environment

Another reason why some people choose to go vegan is environmental concern. The animal industry is bad for the environment. U.S. farm animals, for example, eat about six and a half times more grain than all people living in the U.S. A meat-eating diet requires about fourteen times more water than a vegan diet. There’s the problem of soil and water pollution, overgrazing and so on.

Is your meat, egg or cheese really worth the destruction of our planet?

Veganism and your health

A third, and very important, reason for going vegan is your health. If you are really serious about living a healthy lifestyle, going vegan is a logical choice. Since a vegan diet is low in nutrients that are potentially bad for your health (cholesterol, saturated fat, animal protein) and high in fibers, vegans are healthier. They are less likely to suffer from e.g. cardiovascular diseases, cancers, asthma, diabetes, gallstones, hypertension, and osteoporosis.

The health benefit is greatest of course if you don’t use refined products like white meal and white sugar, which have lost all their nutritional value. By choosing varied, wholesome meals, vegans can make sure they don’t deprive themselves of the nutrients their bodies need.