Is it healthier to be a vegan?

I am thinking about becoming a vegan for the health benefits. I have no problem eating animals or carrying around my leather purses or even hunting overpopulated animals for sport. I just want to know if it really is better to eat all those veggies or if it is not any different from eating a well balanced meals of chicken/fish with veggies etc. If you could direct me to some books or websites that have more ndepth information I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

I am a vegan, and it really is much healthier. I could go on and on about reasons why it is better for you, but I recommend reading the book "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins. This explains many reasons from both health and cruelty standpoints. The first section is about cruelty reasons, and if you aren't really interested in finding out what all happens to your meat before you consume it, than you could just skip that section and go right on into parts two and three. These explain very thoroughly why it is healthier not to eat meat or dairy products; why many vegetarians and vegans live longer than meat-eaters; how excess protein, especially animal protein, causes osteoperosis; how the human body was not designed to digest meats or animal fats... and so on.

Also, in response to droidac, you should read the book "Dominion" by Matthew Scully. It is a vegatarian argument from a christian standpoint, explaining that animals were put here for humans to have dominion over them. To protect them and watch over them is what we were intended to do. Not torture them, kill them, and eat them. Many parts of the bible that you will find as an argument for why humans should eat meat were written by MEN who ate meat their whole lives, and so did their ancestors, and their ancestors and so on. But just beacuse humans have been eating animals for so long, does not mean that it is right to do so. It is a terrible thing to assume that something is right just beacuse it is custom.

Well, I have been a vegetarian since I was 8 years old. I think being a vegetarian is healthy. Works for me. Vegan however I think is stretching it. I have tow girlfriends who are vegans and just had babies. They have been breastfeeding and are raising them vegan too. The children are so tiny and underweight it is causing great concern. One of them at 10 months old, wears size 3 months. The other just turned 1 and is still in size 6 months. My children are being raised vegetarian and I never had this problem.

Well it is sad to see animals suffer, but it would be really hard to fill yourself up on fruit and vegetable. just think about it. Yes I thought about becoming one once to.But then I thought it wouldn't be any healthier than it is if you eat the right amount. You need milk to build strong bones, meat for protein, and dairy as it cheese to build your calcium. You may thing this is bull, but it's not so hope you listen to my opinion and not become a vegan!!! good-luck

You need all types of nutrition. You can not replace everything with vitamins. You need to balance meat, vegetables, dairy, fruit, starches and carbs, and yes, you even need to have some fat.

The healthist way to eat is to eat in moderation all of the food groups.

What about environmental benefits, moral benefits. Many vegetarians eat few veggies. It's easier to be healthy if you eat a variety of plant foods. Find out about pesticide residues in dairy products and flesh foods, you'll be surprised how much worse they are than in plant foods. Moral health is important also.

Vegan in my opinon, is not a good idea at all. I can understand being a veggie for the sake of the animals but to be a vegan is to much. Try going vegetraian that way you can still get protein and stuff from cheese and stuff...

yes, it's probably healthier than being non vegan. the only thing you have to worry about is vitamin b12, but i get that from soymilk and cheerios.

as a former vegan myself,I can tell you whole heatedly that vegan ism is not the healthiest diet in the world,no matter what propaganda is thrown at you.Some people do okay as vegans and others crash very hard,even become extremely ill.While the spiritual and philosophical reasons behind it are understandable,they are also unfounded.There is no long living culture on earth that is purely vegan.Human beings have been relying upon animals for good nutrition since the beginning of time.Whether through their milk,meat or eggs.Vegetables cannot provide the essential b 12 that your body needs.I destroyed my health on a raw foods type vegan diet,im paying for it now.The vegan movement is nothing but a cult.If you do decide to go vegan pay close attention to your nutrition,consult a dietitian and u have to take extra b-12 supplements.listen to your body,if it doesn't feel right for you then change it,if you are doing okay then make sure you don't get into a set mentality or judge others who do use animal products.

You would not be vegan if you carried a leather purse.

If God hadn't meant for animals to eat people, why did He make Us out of meat?

Hi, here is a link which may explain why eliminating milk in our diet is recommended.

http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Pra...

PLEASE come to care about other animals. it would not be nice if man would be "hunted" and made into purses by others would it? Some think this is far-fetched but it really is not, I mean just think and realize how GROSS man has been to be murdering other creatures.
BREAK ON THRU: BE VEGAN, hope in peace



www.sparethoughts.20fr.com

No, it is not healthier. There are some diseases that affect meat eaters more often, and there are some diseases that affect non-meat eaters more often. In both cases it is more because of imbalanced diets than anything else. In general, meat eaters need to beware of harmful fats, while non-meat eaters need to beware of the lack of certain (usually trace) nutrients. The best thing is to be aware of what one eats, whether on eats meat or not
Exercise, mental attitude, genetics and a host of other factors, including some random ones like location, go into determining ones health. Nowadays, there tends to be an overemphasis of one factor over another without any real justication other than things being "脿 la mode."

If you have no trouble with meat, then you should probably just reduce eating it to 3-4 times a week, lean cuts only. Round out the rest of the diet with veggies and whole foods. I think dairy should be tossed, especially cheese due to the saturated fat content. Find out what Jack Lalane is eating. He's 92 and works out in the gym for two hours a day. He drinks alot of vegetable juices and has fish and egg whites in his diet. (I am vegetarian and have low dairy and egg in my diet).
The Food Revolution by John Robbins
www.ravediet.com
www.veganoutreach.org (vegan nutrition concerns)

No. If a vegan diet is very carefully planned, and that requires either fortified foods or supplements, it can be AS healthy as a good meat eating diet. I think there are a couple of benefits, but they come from eating a wide range of fruit and veg and being health conscious as vegans have to be, not omitting meat, and thus those benefits can be go without actually going veggie. Needless to say a uncarefully planned vegetarian, or especially vegan, diet can lack many essential nutrients and be very bad for your health.

It takes a long time to explain well, and rebuke the crap some people will tell you, so I'll just copy and paste from an older answer of mine.

"There are many benefits to a diet containing meat. Many vegetarians claim that meat is unhealthy. This is a blatant fallacy.
It is well established that eating meat improves the quality of nutrition, strengthens the immune system, promotes normal growth and development, is beneficial for day-to-day health, energy and well-being, and helps ensure optimal learning and academic performance.
A long term study found that children who eat more meat are less likely to have deficiencies than those who eat little or no meat. Kids who don鈥檛 eat meat 鈥?and especially if they restrict other foods, as many girls are doing 鈥?are more likely to feel tired, apathetic, unable to concentrate, are sick more often, more frequently depressed, and are the most likely to be malnourished and have stunted growth. Meat and other animal-source foods are the building blocks of healthy growth that have made America鈥檚 youngsters among the tallest, strongest and healthiest in the world.
Meat is an important source of quality nutrients, heme iron, protein, zinc and B-complex vitamins. It provides high-quality protein important for kids鈥?healthy growth and development.
The iron in meat (heme iron) is of high quality and well absorbed by the body, unlike nonheme iron from plants which is not well absorbed. More than 90 percent of iron consumed may be wasted when taken without some heme iron from animal sources. Substances found to inhibit nonheme iron absorption include phytates in cereals, nuts and legumes, and polyphenolics in vegetables. Symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue, headache, irritability and decreased work performance. For young children, it can lead to impairment in general intelligence, language, motor performance and school readiness. Girls especially need iron after puberty due to blood losses, or if pregnant. Yet studies show 75 percent of teenage girls get less iron than recommended.
Meat, poultry and eggs are also good sources of absorbable zinc, a trace mineral vital for strengthening the immune system and normal growth. Deficiencies link to decreased attention, poorer problem solving and short-term memory, weakened immune system, and the inability to fight infection. While nuts and legumes contain zinc, plant fibre contains phytates that bind it into a nonabsorbable compound.
Found almost exclusively in animal products, Vitamin B12 is necessary for forming new cells. A deficiency can cause anaemia and permanent nerve damage and paralysis. The Vitimin B12 in plants isn't even bioavailable, meaning our body can't use it.
Why not buy food supplements to replace missing vitamins and minerals? Some people believe they can fill those gaps with pills, but they may be fooling themselves. Research consistently shows that real foods in a balanced diet are far superior to trying to make up deficiencies with supplements.

Lets not forget either that protein, while it is found in plants, is better quality in animal products.

Some people claim that meat is unhealthy because it contains saturated fat. So does margarine and olive oil, and they're vegan suitable (in fact the hydrogenated fats in Marge can be very bad, but that's another story). Besides, any excess calories in your diet, any excess sugar, starch or carbohydrates are stored in your body for later use. This is done by turning them into saturated fats.
Cholesterol also, your body on average creates four to five times more cholesterol than the average person consumes, and compensates by creating more when less is consumed. Cholesterol isn't evil, it is essential; it makes up the waterproof linings of all our cells and without it we would die. Too much can be bad, but as with saturated fats there are more healthy ways of disposing of it, like regular exercise. Anyway, it isn't so much how much cholesterol you eat, but how well yur body handles it. A person who eats loads of dietary cholesterol and leads an unhealthy lifestyle can still have low cholesterol, and vice versa. Most people's bodies are able to take a large amount of cholesterol without getting atherosclerosis. For this reason that eating meat gives you heart disease is very misleading, and for the most part untrue. Of course, if you do have a problem eating loads isn't a good idea, but for most people there is nothing at all to worry about.

Yes, there are things in meat that there is some evidence can cause cancer in some people, but there are as many in plants too. Soy especially has some very potent carcinogens. Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women. Also they are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
Soy is bad for numerous other reasons, but that isn't the point, I'm just using it as a quick example relating to cancer not being exclusive to some animal products. The evidence that claims meat does cause cancer is patchy anyway.

Some people also claim that we aren't designed by evolution, to eat meat. They claim that our digestive system is quite long and that we produce amylase, a starch splitting catabolic enzyme, akin to herbivores and unlike carnivores. Apparently this clearly shows that we were designed to eat plants. Such people should go and look up 'omnivore' in a dictionary. They have also been known to cite other reasons we are like herbivores and unlike carnivores: that we suck water instead of lapping it, and that we perspire through our skin, such things have nothing at all to do with whether or not we were designed to eat meat, and nothing to do with how our body handles food. I might as well say that because we, like most carnivores and unlike most herbivores, have eyes that face forwards, we must be carnivorous. Of course, that's not true for precisely the same reason.

The fact is Humans are omnivores, with the ability to eat nearly everything. By preference, prehistoric people ate a high-protein, high-mineral diet based on meat and animal sources, whenever available. Their foods came mainly from three of the five food groups: meat, vegetables and fruits. As a result, big game mammoth hunters were tall and strong with massive bones. They grew six inches taller than their farming descendants in Europe, who ate mostly plant foods, and only in recent times regained most of this height upon again eating more meat, eggs and dairy foods. We are adapted to eat meat, and it is just as natural as eating plants.
Some also claim that the digestion of meat releases harmful byproducts into our system. This is true, however such are our adaptations to eating meat that our bodies are quite able to dispose of said products without any adverse effects.

So, in summary: it isn't healthier to avoid meat. You can be healthy without meat, but likely not as healthy as if you did, assuming you kept things like the wide range of fruit and veg that a veggie diet usually entails. Too much meat can be bad, but normal amounts are no problem at all. Any health benefits that come from a veggie diet come from a wide range of fruit and veg, and being health conscious, as veggies often are; that doesn't require you to not eat meat."

I don't think a vegan diet benefits anyone in any way better than a better meat eating diet could at all. If you have no ethical qualms, it's quite pointless. PETA will tell you otherwise, but they have very strong ethical opinions, and mould their 'evidence' around it. There is, for example, some evidence that vegans live longer and are at less risk from cancer and heart disease; however those studies show only a very marginal and insignificant difference and none of those studies have yet managed to identify meat as the only variable. Veggies are less likely to smoke, drink or eat junk food, and eat a wider range of fruit and veg, making the test results inaccurate and unreliable.

Probably would be healtyier, but why would you want to give up meat???

"If God didn't want us to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them out of meat!"