How veganism can create a healthier world
April 7 is World Health Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about global health concerns and encouraging healthy living. This year's focus is health for all.
Did you know that eating a balanced whole-food vegan diet can improve your physical and mental health, food equality, create a sustainable, secure food future, and reduce our environmental impact?
It is important to note that a product labelled as vegan does not automatically make it healthy. While you can eat vegan junk food in moderation, when we use the word "vegan" in this blog, we are referring to whole-food - such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and beans.
Veganism can improve your physical and mental health
Physical health
Eating vegan food has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease*, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Plant foods are high in fibre, vitamins, micronutrients, and phytochemicals, which are biologically active compounds in plants that protect against cancers and reduce heart disease and type 2 diabetes. On top of this, meat products have also been directly linked to cancers, strokes, and increased risk of death, due to TMAO, cholesterol, hormones, saturated fats and choline.
Animal agriculture also has the added risk of harbouring zoonotic diseases. Around 75% of infectious diseases in humans have animal origins, and many have emerged only recently. This is because of our close proximity to animals, the use of antibiotics on farms, and the conditions in which animals are kept. Factory farming, where thousands of animals are confined to small spaces, living amongst their waste, being fed antibiotics, creates the perfect breeding ground for diseases to spread, and even mutate. Some examples include avian (bird) influenza, SARS, Nipah virus, BSE (mad cow disease), Mers, swine flu, and West Nile virus. Experts recommend moving toward a vegan lifestyle to reduce the demand for animal farms and lower future risks of zoonotic diseases and possible pandemics.
*It is important to know that some heart diseases stem from genetic problems and are not preventable.
Credit: Animal Liberation
Mental health
With the current state of the world, from daily struggles to pandemics, wars, and environmental disasters, maintaining good mental health can be incredibly difficult. But, nurturing and taking care of our mental health is just as important as physical health. Mental health affects our behaviours, thoughts, productivity, self-image, and relationships. It is also linked to physical health problems, like heart disease.
While eating vegan food is not a sole solution to improving mental health, it has been shown to boost serotonin levels, known as the happy hormone, which can support mental well-being. This, in conjunction with other practices, can help us improve our mental health. Some positive things you can do, recommended by health experts, include journaling, practice mindfulness — like mindfulness meditation, exercise, yoga/low impact exercise, therapy, and learning to communicate effectively.
If you are feeling down, struggling, or would like someone to talk to, the following organisations can help you or connect you with the right person: Beyond Blue, Black Dog Institute, and Mental Help Alternatively, you can speak to your local GP for a referral.
Veganism can improve food equality and food security
Despite agriculture taking up 50% of earth's habitable land, food inequality is a massive issue, with approximately 811 million people still going hungry every day and this is expected to rise. Animal agriculture takes up 77% of agricultural land, however, it only provides 18% of the world's calorie supply. That means that the 23% of land used for crops is providing 82% of the world's calorie supply. From this, experts have found that if everyone lived a vegan lifestyle, we could reduce global land use for agriculture by 75%! While the world won’t go vegan overnight, your individual choices will still have an impact and pave the way for the future. Even reducing meat and dairy consumption can have a positive impact on food equality and security.
“Shifting away from animal-based foods [could not only] add up to 49% to the global food supply without expanding croplands;” but would also significantly reduce carbon emissions and waste byproducts that end up in our oceans and as seafood byproducts.”
This means we could increase the amount of food available and create a more sustainable food future, without clearing more land and can actually rehabilitate the land, giving it back to native animals and improving the environment.
Veganism is beneficial for the environment
Globally, animal agriculture is the leading cause of environmental destruction, species extinction, water pollution (PDF), and ocean dead zones. Farming animals requires extensive land clearing for both the animals and their feed, this, in turn, impacts native species survival rates leading to species extinction. On top of this, the amount of waste generated by farmed animals is extensive and pollutes the surrounding environment. As the waste, which is high in nutrients, enters the water system, it causes algal bloom outbreaks which deplete the water's oxygen levels.
As mentioned above, if people chose to eat plants over animals, we could reduce the amount of land we need for food, which can positively impact native species, reduce nutrients from waste entering the ecosystem, and reverse environmental destruction.
While crop farming can also negatively impact the environment, if everyone switched to a plant-based lifestyle or reduced their meat and dairy intake, and ditched other animal products like leather, we would still have less of an impact on the environment than we currently are. We should, however, also be looking for ways to improve crop farming.
Credit: Farm Transparency Project
Be part of the solution
Whether you’re vegan-curious, looking to reduce your meat intake, or just want to try new recipes, clothing and other product alternatives, we’ve put together a guide to help you get started. Take the pledge to become a conscious consumer and start your journey today.
DISCLAIMER
The Animal Liberation team are not doctors or mental health experts. The information in this blog is from researched journal articles, however, we always encourage you to speak to a health expert. Vegan Australia has put together a list of vegan health practitioners across Australia.