This week’s Food Savvy Friday edition will discuss all things vegan: what it is, why individuals embrace it, how to easily add plant-based products to your own routine, and benefits of this plant-based diet.
Let’s start with what being vegan actually means. A dietary vegan is someone who refrains from eating any products with ingredients derived from animals—this includes all meat, fish, and dairy. However, many processed foods contain animal-derived ingredients, like gelatin, which can be found in Jell-O. While dietary vegans steer clear of animal products in food, some vegans avoid animal-derived ingredients in more than just their diet. Some vegans refrain from purchasing or using anything with animal byproducts, from soaps and cleaners to clothes and shoes.
In the past three years, there has been a 600% increase in people identifying as vegan. There are three reasons to explain the growing trend in a vegan lifestyle:
- A plant-based diet is more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Avoiding animal products, especially beef and dairy, greatly reduces your carbon footprint.
- Many people believe that following a plant-based diet will improve overall health. It is true that there are numerous positive health effects when becoming vegan and consuming more fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods.
- Finally, a third major reason individuals embrace veganism is to promote animal rights and highlight animal abuse in the food industry.
Regardless of the reason, if you are considering embracing parts or all of the vegan lifestyle, here are a few ways you can introduce it into your routine.
Start slow. The switch to a vegan diet can seem drastic, and so for some people it may be better to slowly ease into it. You can do this by first increasing the amount of plant-based foods you consume. Attempt to first become vegetarian (no meat or fish, but can have dairy) or pescatarian (no meat, but fish and dairy are okay) before making the complete switch to veganism.
Find easy substitutions for the foods you currently enjoy. For example, supermarkets now have a diverse array of plant-based choices, from eggs to burgers, and even yogurt and cheese—all made from plants. Knowing that there is a plethora of options to help you still enjoy the food you usually consume can help you embrace and sustain this lifestyle choice.
Focus on the benefits. All the food categories previously listed have extraordinary positive health effects—increasing your consumption of fruits, vegetables, grains, and soy-based proteins can help increase energy and decrease inflammation to name just a few benefits.
Here are some more fun facts about the health benefits of veganism:
- Based on a study of 89,000 people, those eating meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free diets appeared to cut their risk of high blood pressure by 75%.
- Vegan diets have also been shown to help in the treatment of type 2 diabetes by lowering total and LDL cholesterol and by controlling lipid levels (for example, by reducing triglycerides, a type of fat that is also associated with a greater risk of heart disease).
- Individuals on a vegan diet are at less risk to develop both type 2 diabetes and major forms of cancer such as colon, breast, and lung cancer.