6 Immediate Benefits of a Vegan Diet
July 12th, 2006
I’ve been a vegan for a few weeks now, and I have to say: It’s pretty awesome. I’m sure I’ll undergo more changes as time passes and I stick to a healthy diet, but already my body and mind are changing. Here are 6 positive things I attribute to being a vegan:
- I’m more energetic than ever. Since switching to a 100% plant-based diet, I’m not longer sluggish after lunch or lazy in the morning. I’ve been jumping out of bed and feeling great.
- I don’t get zits anymore. Kind of an awkward point, but it’s true. I’m still young enough where I’m rarely seen without a glaring blemish. Since giving up animal foods, I’ve stopped using pimple cream at night and my face is clearer than ever.
- No more athlete’s foot. I don’t know for sure that I had athlete’s foot, but the soles of my feet were always dry and cracking. I’ve noticed a significant increase in smoothness and the filling in of these cracks since becoming a vegan.
- I don’t miss meat. Though it’s harder to find variety in the vegetarian sections of most menus, I haven’t noticed a longing to return to the dark side. I see meat differently now. Namely, I see it as unnecessary and harmful.
- I eat less but more. For some reason, I get hungry more often during the day, but I eat less during each meal. I don’t think I’m eating any less than when I ate animal foods, but I’m spreading it out more. The result is that I don’t been bogged down by heavy meals - especially after dinner, which used to be much bigger.
- I’m learning tons. There is a mountain of knowledge that has been ignored for a long time by most people. I’m fascinated by learning more and more about the benefits of a plant-based diet.
If you want to know more about a plant-based diet, please don’t hesitate to ask. I probably won’t know the answer, but I’ll appreciate having an opportunity to look up the answer.
Entry Filed under: Thoughts, Philosophy
6 Immediate Benefits of a Vegan Diet
July 12th, 2006
I’ve been a vegan for a few weeks now, and I have to say: It’s pretty awesome. I’m sure I’ll undergo more changes as time passes and I stick to a healthy diet, but already my body and mind are changing. Here are 6 positive things I attribute to being a vegan:
- I’m more energetic than ever. Since switching to a 100% plant-based diet, I’m not longer sluggish after lunch or lazy in the morning. I’ve been jumping out of bed and feeling great.
- I don’t get zits anymore. Kind of an awkward point, but it’s true. I’m still young enough where I’m rarely seen without a glaring blemish. Since giving up animal foods, I’ve stopped using pimple cream at night and my face is clearer than ever.
- No more athlete’s foot. I don’t know for sure that I had athlete’s foot, but the soles of my feet were always dry and cracking. I’ve noticed a significant increase in smoothness and the filling in of these cracks since becoming a vegan.
- I don’t miss meat. Though it’s harder to find variety in the vegetarian sections of most menus, I haven’t noticed a longing to return to the dark side. I see meat differently now. Namely, I see it as unnecessary and harmful.
- I eat less but more. For some reason, I get hungry more often during the day, but I eat less during each meal. I don’t think I’m eating any less than when I ate animal foods, but I’m spreading it out more. The result is that I don’t been bogged down by heavy meals - especially after dinner, which used to be much bigger.
- I’m learning tons. There is a mountain of knowledge that has been ignored for a long time by most people. I’m fascinated by learning more and more about the benefits of a plant-based diet.
If you want to know more about a plant-based diet, please don’t hesitate to ask. I probably won’t know the answer, but I’ll appreciate having an opportunity to look up the answer.
Entry Filed under: Thoughts, Philosophy
12 Comments Add your own
1.
beily | July 13th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
hmm reading that definitely makes me wanna be vegan. but is there a huge difference between vegetarian and vegan in terms of the benefits?
2.
Sumeet | July 13th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Hi Beily. I was a vegatarian for a year or so when I was younger, and I don’t remember there being a huge difference. But since I was so much younger, I had a lot more energy naturally. If the perceived rigors of a vegan diet are preventing you from changing your diet, just go vegetarian. Then, as it becomes easier and easier to ignore meat, give a vegan diet a try for… say… a week, or two weeks, or a month. It’ll feel great. As for me, I’m probably going to become a fruits/veggies only guy for some time and see if I can handle it. Join me?
3.
Suneel Jain | July 13th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
I’m not an authority on this either, but I know that there are some differences.
By eating dairy products and eggs (the difference), there’s:
1) cholesterol intake, and even if meat isn’t eaten, being vegetarian may mean that meat products are replaced with large amounts of dairy, which reduces some of the benefits of not eating meat.
2) excessive protein from eggs and dairy is pretty bad. Among other things, it’s a large cause of osteoperosis (even though the US is high in calcium intake, it’s still high in osteoperosis for the reason that too much protein is consumed). Protein is pretty acidic, so to keep the ph balance normal, calcium is taken from the bones. There are other problems with taking too much protein, but I just can’t remember them right now.
3) Milk has many allergens (I think 25 or so) and Asians and African Americans are especially susceptible. Also, studies have shown that milk is even worse than meat in causing certain cancers.
4) I don’t know if you were asking from just the health point of view, but dairy products and eggs contribute to a lot of animal cruelty and environmental damage. I don’t know the exact extent of environmental damage- I just know that it’s a lot. And the cruelty’s pretty nasty to watch and not too fun of a read either.
4.
Xander | July 18th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Hi, saw your post on Digg. Congratualtions!
Hi Beily, vegan is definitely better for your health and the environment. But
there’s nothing wrong with baby steps!
Here’s some more info on health
http://vvviking.blogspot.com/2006/06/high-cost-of-meat.html
and the environment
http://vvviking.blogspot.com/2006/06/saving-planet-one-meal-at-time.html
5.
Suneel | July 18th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
I went to border today and made a list on why milk is bad. The top of the list covers some of the reasons why milk is harmful to cows. The bottom covers reasons why it is harmful to humans. It’s not a complete list, but I think it’s a pretty good one.
Harm to cows
• Milking machines that pull harder than necessary get milk, but cause pain. This causes udder injury and leads to clinical mastitis (this is found in more than 20% of dairy cows and symptoms are clots in milk, discoloration, and wateriness or milk) .
• 16,000 pounds of milk per cow means that they go through a lot of stress. Also, the nutrients in the milk (lots of protein and calcium) come from the cow’s blood. Forcing so much milk out of the cows makes them loose too much protein (the protein is lost to the milk), which causes ketosis (this impairs their metabolism) and also causes calcium depletion (which is already happening by cows giving birth to calves every year). So much calcium and other nutrients are depleted (this depletion is called milk fever) and in ten of thousands of cases each year, they simply collapse. Naturally, cows should produce much less milk. In the 1960’s, they made about 9,000 pounds a year, but that was still when they were being impregnated and not fed naturally. The point is though that they aren’t exactly happy cows.
• To combat infections, farmers keep the udders clean by burning away the hair around the udder with a blow torch.
• 95% of dairies dehorn their cows by scooping, gouging, or cutting. Cows are dehorned so that they are less likely to be injured in their crowded spaces/
• 90% of calves are separated from their mothers within a day of birth, which is pretty emotionally scarring. Also, calves need colostrum, which is a special type of milk that cows make immediately after birthing. This milk is hand milked and then given to calves, but not very much. Soon after birth, calves stop getting milk and are given a milk replacement, which is primarily made up of animal fat or coconut oil.
• The natural life of a cow is 20 years. Dairy cows live 4 to 5 years before they are deemed to be unprofitable and therefore sent to the slaughterhouse, where they’ll complete the journey by being grinded up and made into a hamburger.
• Pregnancy complications make up 1/5 of health-related deaths in cows.
• Dairy cows are kept pregnant 10 months out of the year.
• Cows that are unhealthy or have collapsed or are injured are not given any care. It’s unprofitable and they are instead carried away to the slaughterhouse before they die (not afterwards, otherwise it’s against the law for them to be food).
• Cows are not fed grass. They do not get to exercise much, if at all. They stand on concrete and rarely get to go outdoors for the most part. They are fed unnatural food mixed with hormones and grinded animals, which has caused mad cow disease. Due to laws, cows cannot be fed cows. So, they are instead fed other animals, which is just as bad.
Harm to humans
• 2/3 of people in the world have trouble digesting milk after childhood (body decreases its production of lactase). While white people are more able to digest milk (50%), 75% of people of African descent and almost all Asians experience some allergies from milk. Allergies vary in intensity, some being very mild while some are severe, but they cause gas, cramps, diarrhea, bloating, and more.
• Milk is very high in fat. Even 2% milk is misleading since they get the 2% from the weight. In calories, it’s really 34% fat. Cheddar cheese is 73% fat in calories, and butter is 100%.
• The antibiotics and hormones given to cows are passed on to us. These are harmful to use because they are not designed for human consumption and are harmful in the same way that taking unnecessary medication is.
• Milk protein leads to insulin dependent diabetes in children (children develop antibodies to milk protein which in turn destroys the insulin creating cells in the pancreas).
• Too much protein leeches calcium from the body (protein is acidic and the body, to maintain its PH balance using calcium because it is alkaline).
• Too much protein feeds precancerous lesions and tumors. Just being vegetarian cuts down deaths from cancer by 60%. By cutting of milk and eggs too, cancer is even less common.
• Among all causes of cancer, diet tops the list, a 5% more important factor than tobacco.
• Dairy accounts for 1/3 the source in the average diet for saturated fat, which causes the buildup of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins). This cholesterol is harmful to our bodies in many ways, most notably for heart diseases.
• Diseases linked with milk include diabetes, ovarian cancer, heart disease, colic, vitamin D toxicity, and cataracts. Also, there is a high correlation that shows that people consuming dairy are more anemic. Not because milk leeches iron from the body, but because it makes people much less hungry.
• No other animals drink milk after infanthood and no other animals drink the milk of another species. Cows milk is meant for calves when they are newborn and they are growing very quickly into several hundred pound animals. It simply has way too much protein for us, the wrong proteins, and many other harmful effects.
• Milk has cholesterol. Humans should not consume things with cholesterol as we can make it for ourselves. Anything consumed is unnecessary.
• In a study done in India and another duplicate done in Cornell University, both found that rats given milk developed cancer when injected with cancerous cells while rats not given dairy were able to resist the cancer cells.
Sources:
Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating
By Erik Marcus
The Vegan Sourcebook
By Joanne Stepaniak, M.S.ED.
The information in the last two bullets was not in these books. As far as I know, they are true and were told to me by a friend who has been researching this subject for decades. The first of the two bullets isn’t very controversial. You can look at the nutrition information on any milk container and it will have cholesterol. You can look at the nutrition information on anything without meat or dairy or eggs and it will not have cholesterol. For the last bullet regarding cancer, here’s a link:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/research-dr-campbells-china-study.html
It’s the first site if you type in “cornell india rats milk cancer” on Google. The other results seem to confirm and one of them says that the guy (Dr. T. Colin Campbell) who did the China Study (one of the biggest, if not the biggest study on the influence of diet on health) saying that milk is the number one carcinogen in the world.
6.
Ryan | July 19th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Sumeet thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed reading it…and I took the smaller step…I became vegetarian. I told my roommates about the things I learned from your Uncle…and they all lashed out. No matter how many medical facts you say, eating meat is ingrained into people’s heads and lifestyles.
It was easy for me to give up meat because of Sue and all my vegetarian friends. They seem to be living just fine eating no meat. So…for me it wasn’t hard to give up. I cut down my dairy intake…I haven’t drank milk plain for 4 weeks now. The only time I consume milk is with my protein shake in the morning. But that is less than half a glass. Silk is my new best friend…the choclate flavor is AMAZING.I’ll slowly give up more dairy products…but it’ll be over time.
On the note of exercising…..I go to the gym every morning and I feel full of energy. I haven’t experienced a decrease of weight. I can tell it is a bit harder to gain weight…but with time, it’ll happen.
7.
beily | July 19th, 2006 at 11:14 am
what about yogurt and cheese and all those other products from cows or other similar animals? how bad are they for you?
why is breastmilk good for you and not cow milk?
8.
Suneel | July 19th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I don’t know about nutrition info on milk from other animals, but I’d assume it’s about the same. At the end of this is a table of nutrition info comparing soy alternatives to dairy for yougrt and cheese and some other stuff and the actual dairy products. It doesn’t include cholesterol though, which I think should be included. So I put it in at the bottom.
For the “why is breastmilk good for you and not cow milk,” keep in mind that breastmilk is only good during infanthood. As people get older, I really hope that they kick the habit. Annyway, it’s meant for infants because of it’s nutrient content. Infants grow very quickly relative to the amount we grow the rest of our lives. So they need a fluid which can sustain that growth. Cow milk is meant for an animal that will gain hundreds of pounds in a short time, that has four stomachs, and a completely different body. It has different types of proteins and I’m sure that there’s more stuff. I’ll look it up next time when I go to the library to see if I can find more.
Here’s the chart:
Products are listed from lowest to highest sodium in each category. Dairy products are listed in red at the end of each category for comparison purposes.
Product Calories Protein (gms) Fat (gms) Sodium (mg)
Cheese Alternatives (1 ounce):
Vegi-Kaas, Cheddar 50 1 2 180
Vegi-Kaas, Mozzarella 50 1 2 200
VeganRella, Cheddar and Mozzarella 70 1 3 220
Soymage, Vegan Singles, Mozzarella 25 3 0 290
Soymage Vegan Chunk, Mozzarella 60 2 3 340
Soy of Joy Instead O’Cheese 50 3 2 480
Cheddar Cheese 114 7 9 176
Mozzarella Cheese, part-Skim 72 7 5 132
Yogurt (6 ounces):
White Wave, average of flavors 130 5 2 10
WholeSoy, average of fruit flavors 145 5 2.5 20
Soygurt, all flavors 102 7 4 n/a
Fruited lowfat yogurt 169 7 2 90
Cream Cheese Alternatives (1 ounce):
Soymage Vegan Cream Cheese Alternative 50 3 3 90
Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, all flavors 80 1 8 135
21st Century Foods, Tofu Cream Cheese 30 3 1 180
Cream Cheese 99 2 10 84
Sour Cream Alternatives (2 Tablespoons):
Soymage Vegan Lowfat Sour Cream Alternative 40 1 3 30
Soyco Rice Lowfat Sour Cream Alternative 40 1 3 50
Tofutti Sour Supreme 50 1 5 120
Sour Cream 51 1 5 13
Miscellaneous:
Now & Zen Hip Whip (2 tablespoons) 15 0 1.5 0
Whipped Cream (2 tablespoons) 15
9.
Suneel | July 19th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Ok, the chart didn’t paste properly from Word to the comment. But next to each item, there are four numbers. The first is calories, the second is protein, then fat, then sodium. All of them in grams (except calories, of course).
Also, the dairy products didn’t come out to be red.
Under the cheese section, cheddar cheese and mozerella cheese are dairy.
Under yogurt, it’s the fruited low-fat yogurt.
Under cream cheese, it’s… cream cheese.
Under sour cream, it’s sour cream.
Under miscellaneous, it’s:
Whipped Cream (2 tablespoons)
Coffee Cream (1 Tablespoon)
Parmesan Cheese (2 teaspoons)
10.
Suneel | July 19th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Post #8 apparently got cut off. Blame Sumeet.
Here’s the end of the chart:
Miscellaneous:
Now & Zen Hip Whip (2 tablespoons) 15 0 1.5 0
Whipped Cream (2 tablespoons) 15
11.
Suneel | July 19th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Silk Soymilk Creamer (1 Tablespoon) 15 0 1 5
Coffee Cream (1 Tablespoon) 29
12.
Steve | September 20th, 2006 at 5:19 am
One of the best places to get information on starting veganism or vegetarianism:
http://www.tryveg.com
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