Why vegan diet is better than non vegan diet
This is the third article in the series with the morale on why it is ethically and morally important to live on a vegetarian diet and lifestyle. For the first two articles, please refer the following link.
Why humans are naturally herbivorous
Do plants feel pain or sufferings
What this article is all about?
Normally, all meat eaters argue that eating meat is sensible and necessary because it is the only source to vital nutrients like proteins. They argue that while meat provides high amount of proteins, there is not even a single vegetable or fruit that provides same amount of proteins. Though it may sound logical or sensible, such kind of thinking is just a myth and misconception. Actually, the truth is that meat eaters are not able to resist their temptation of eating meat and hence, they resort to such false statements to justify their act of eating corpses of animals. In this article, we will go through all such arguments and at the end; I will list out all the nutrients found in abundance in vegetables/fruits but not found in red meat.
Natural food chain or food pyramid
When it comes to eating, all living beings on earth follow a natural cycle known as "food cycle" or "food chain". This food chain is usually depicted in the form of pyramid where the plants are shown at the bottom while different types of consumers are shown at the top layers. Sun is the source of all living beings. Plants extracts all their nourishment from sun which are then eaten by herbivores animals (Primary consumer) which are in turn eaten by carnivores animals (secondary consumer) which in turn are consumed by tertiary consumers(Mostly after death by vultures, eagles etc). Food eaten by consumers is inferior in nature and hence, is often termed as "second-hand" nutrition.
Food chain pyramid
All foods have nutrient in varying proportion
All kind of foods consumed by human, be it vegetables/fruits or meat, have essential nutrients in varying quantities. While the plants nutrients are easily assimilated by the body, our body finds it difficult to digest second hand nutrition. Very often, you may hear that meat is the only source rich in proteins and without meat, our body will not get all the proteins needed by the body. This is totally a wrong conception. There are many vegetables/fruits which provide twice the amount of proteins supplied by meat. Besides, vegetables/fruits also provide many other nutrients not provided by meat.
All vital Nutrients are abundant in plant kingdom than animal kingdom
Pulses, nuts and seeds supply more protein than any kind of meat. There is not even a single nutrient that is not found in greater abundance in vegetables or fruits. Vegetables grown beneath ground like onions, carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, potatoes are rich in starch, sugar, vitamin c, fibre etc. Fruits are very rich in calories and so, its juice is consumed in large quantities by athletes and sportspersons. Note that drinking fruit juices in excess would lead to sugar diseases like diabetes and insulin spikes. In fact, all vital ingredients including proteins, minerals, calories, vitamins etc are found optimally in the plant kingdom but not in the animal kingdom.
Vegan and healthy food
Photon which is very essential for your cells is found only in vegetables/fruits, not in any kind of meat.
Our body need many minerals like copper, magnesium, calcium, iodine, manganese, potassium, selenium, zinc, sodium, and phosphorous. All these minerals are absent or are present in very less amount in meat. Our body needs about .8-1.3 gram of calcium per day by adults. Our daily body need for copper is about 1.5-3 mg per day. Iodine of about 70 -150 needed by body is obtained only from salt and other vegetable sources. Our body needs about 10-15 mgs of iron per day. Our body needs different kind of Vitamins like vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12, C, D, E and K, all of which can be obtained only from vegetables and fruits.
Vegan Myths Debunked
You can find the nutrients and benefits of all vegetables in the following ink.
<https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/vegetable-nutrition.html>
Additionally, you can also check the below link for amount of nutrients in different fruits and vegetables.
<https://www.fruits.com/fruits/_admin/ckfinder/userfiles/files/pdf/FruitChart.pdf>
<https://www.fruits.com/fruits/_admin/ckfinder/userfiles/files/pdf/VegChartFinal.pdf>
Ayurveda (Ancient Indian medicinal technique) have listed out several kinds of vegetarians’ diets, each sufficient to provide all kind of nutrients needed by the body
Comparison between nutrients obtained from vegan & non-vegan sources
Below is the chart of various nutrients you get from different sources of meat.
From the above chart, you can notice that Maximum amount of protein you get from such meat sources is 30g/100 gram. The vegetarian diet which provides proteins more or around 30 g/100 g are
| Soyabean (White) Seeds | 43.2 grams |
| Milk (Skimmed) | 38 grams |
|
Fenugreek Seeds | 26.2 grams |
|
Groundnut(Roasted) | 26.2 grams |
|
Garden Cress Seeds | 25.3 grams |
|
Lentil | 25.1 grams |
Maximum amount of fat you get from meat sources is 18g/100 gram. Now the vegetarian diet which provides three times more fat is
| Cooking oil | 100 grams |
|
Ghee | 100 grams |
|
Butter | 81 grams |
|
Walnut | 64.5 grams |
|
Coconut | 62.3 grams |
|
Piyal Seeds | 59.1 grams |
|
Almond | 58.9 grams |
|
Pistachio | 54.3 grams |
Maximum amount of energy you get from meat sources is 280kCal/100 ram. Vegetarian diet which provides three times more energy are
| Cooking oil | 900 kcal |
|
Ghee | 900 kcal |
|
Butter | 729 kcal |
|
Walnut | 687 kcal |
|
Coconut | 662 kcal |
|
Piyal Seeds | 656 kcal |
|
Almond | 655 kcal |
|
Pistachio | 626 kcal |
Maximum amount of iron you get from meat sources is 4 mg/100 g. Vegetarian diet which provides roughly three times more iron are
| Garden Cress Seeds | 100 mg |
|
Niger Seeds | 56.7 mg |
|
Cauliflower Leaves | 40 mg |
|
Rice Flakes | 20 mg |
|
Shepu Bhaji | 17.4 mg |
|
Soyabean | 10.4 mg |
Similarly, for all other nutrients, there are many non-animal sources of food that provides more nutrients than any sources of meat. In fact all other minerals like phosphorous, magnesium, copper, riboflavin, thiamine, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, manganese are present in negligible amount in meat but found abundantly in vegan food.
Healthy vegetarian diet that provides all the necessary nutrients
Why eating meat compared to vegetables/fruits is risky and dangerous to life
Meat generally results in nutrients excess to the body, which is the cause of many diseases exclusively to meat eaters. Sufficient amount of protein is found in milk, wheat, soyabean, yoghurt, corn, vegetable seeds, fermented grains etc. Leafy vegetables are abundant in potassium, proteins, calcium, fiber etc, are said to be the most nutritious of all food items in the whole food chain. Seeds and nuts are abundant in iron, magnesium, zinc, calcium, proteins etc. The same amount of nutrients if you try to get through animal flesh, are dangerous to health and can lead to various diseases. This is because proteins obtained from animal sources are of lowest quality, mixed with adrenaline, chlorestoral, toxic chemicals and parasites. Those who are heavily dependent on meat are deficient in B1, all types of vitamins, iron, potassium, sodium etc.
There are many kind of diseases linked exclusively to red meat, predominantly cancer and heart diseases. Various studies done by leading group of scientists and doctors have came to the conclusion that all kind of chronic diseases are linked more to meat eaters than vegans. This is due to the unhealthy non-nutritious diet with too much emphasis on eating meat that does not provide all the required nutrients to the body.
Bacteria’s in meat that causes various diseases
Below is the link which details out some of the diseases caused by eating too much of meat?
<https://www.heimat-fuer-tiere.de/english/articles/med/meat_makes_you_sick.shtml>
Following a vegetarian lifestyle is not enough
The point to note here is that just having a vegetarian lifestyle is not enough. Actually, the diseases are more linked to an unbalanced unhealthy diet than to being a vegan or a non-vegan. Following a vegan diet having all junk food that does not provide all the necessary nutrients to the body, is of no use. There is a need to follow a balanced nutritious diet and lifestyle to keep your body active, healthy and fine. Vegetarians are generally not overweight because raw fruits and vegetables don’t make any fat inside the body and hence, you can eat as much as you want but note the fact that anything in excess is dangerous to life.
>
101 Reasons to become a Vegetarian
Above link is an excellent presentation by James Wildman, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. In this presentation, he explains why the vegetarian diet is not only the healthiest, but also the only morally justifiable diet for humans.
Only those Vegetarians who eat large amount of cooked grains, dairy products and refined sugars consume fat in excess amount. Strictly vegetarian diet subside diabetes, heart and cancer related diseases. It also boosts the health and vitality of your brain. Some of the most famous vegetarians are Bill Goldberg (wrestler and football player), Albert Einstein (scientist), Voltaire (scientist), Keith Holmes (Boxer - US), Thomas Edison (scientist), Mahatma Gandhi (Freedom fighter), Bep van Klaveren (Boxer - Netherlands), Sushil kumar (World wrestling champion), Leo Tolstoy (Author) etc
>
Famous VEGAN Quotes
Vegetarianism is ethically and morally right choice
If anyone wants to eat meat then definitely eating down the dead animals is ethically and morally acceptable than to domesticate animals in inhumane conditions. If you are starving to death, then eating meat is not condemnable but when you have abundance of fruits and vegetables available to satisfy our appetite, then there is no ethical reason to kill innocent animals. According to Ayurveda, vegetarian is normally expresses as minimum possible animal violence, and so, the places where vegetables or fruits are scarcely available, animal food can be considered as vegetarian.
Vegetarianism sounds extremely good and healthy but meat eaters are not able to control their meat eating habits just because their mind is too weak to resist the taste of meat. After attaining maturity, humans should follow the natural life cycle and detach themselves from materialistic pleasures just like the fruit detaches itself from the tree after attaining ripeness (mature)
A few quotes to end this article
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages" ~Thomas Edison
"Meat eating and a compassionate religion do not go hand in hand."
~ Bodo Balsys
"One is not a great one because one defeats or harms other living beings. One is so called because one refrains from defeating or harming other living beings."
~ The Buddha
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