If you’re new to the plant-based lifestyle, you’ve probably been asked your reasons for going vegan. This episode is your handy guide for replying to that coworker that scoffs at your lunch choice. For the most part, there are three main motivations. People choose to go vegan to save animals, to save the environment, or to save their own health.
Our Reasons For Going Vegan
In this episode, we go more in-depth on our whys for choosing the vegan lifestyle and our whys for staying vegan. The reasons you stay vegan can be very different than your reasons for choosing to be vegan. And that is true for Meg! Listen to this episode to find out how.
Save the Animals
We start this episode by discussing the main reason people go and stay vegan – the animals. Sometimes, it might not be their primary reason for choosing to eliminate animal products from their life. But it ends up being what keeps them living this lifestyle. Stopping the abuse, torture, and murder of animals is the backbone of the vegan movement. In this episode, we share a lot of statistics but the ones in this section are the most heartbreaking. Like this one – it is estimated that every year 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for food. That statistic alone could be the reason someone goes vegan.
Not everyone decides to change their lifestyle for animals, and weirdly, some vegans judge other vegans if animal protection isn’t the main reason they go plant-based. Personally, we here at The Average Vegans don’t care why you go vegan. We don’t care if you do it to piss your parents off. Or if you want to follow your favorite celebrity trend. We don’t care if you take small steps or big movements toward eliminating animal products from your life. We’re just thankful you did. And so are the animals!
If you want to hear more animal abuse statistics, you should check out Episode 63 which talks all about the dairy industry.
Save Your Health
The health benefits of a vegan diet vary from person to person. Studies have shown that a plant-based diet lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer.
In a 2009 study, 43% of participants following a vegan diet reduced their blood sugar-lowering medication, compared with only 26% of participants who followed an ADA-recommended diet. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466941/
Reasons for Going Vegan: Save The Environment
If the stats about animal abuse and slaughter weren’t bad enough, we also discuss the destruction of the environment thanks to animal agriculture.
One stat that might shock you is that animal agricultural production is estimated to be responsible for 80 percent of global deforestation. Keep listening to hear more reasons for choosing the vegan lifestyle.
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