Friday, October 10, 2008

102 Reasons Why I'm Vegan

102 Reasons why I am and why I went vegan, and also why I remain vegan. Not all are about food, some deal with fur, leather, etc.
I'm sorry I don't have sources for these, it became too tedious!
  1. Vegans on average live up to 6 years longer than non-vegans.
  2. Vegans on average are 10% lighter than non vegans.
  3. It's virtually impossible to get a heart attack if you are vegan because the lowest cholesterol level for a heart attack was 150 and on average a vegan's total cholesterol is 128.
  4. It's always nice to know you haven't eaten a dead animal for breakfast.
  5. Or lunch or dinner for that matter.
  6. Leather is dead skin, something I use an exfoliator to get rid of.
  7. Animals are cuter and softer when they are living and breathing, not in jackets or trim.
  8. Because cows also feel pain.
  9. Because a lobster doesn't have a shock system that inhibits extreme pain when it's cut in half or boiled alive.
  10. Meat and dairy makes your farts smell worse.
  11. Lettuce doesn't ooze blood when you cut it.
  12. Cucumbers don't have faces.
  13. I don't see anything different between eating my dog and eating a cow.
  14. Because I have 9 pet chickens and they are so cute and lovable!
  15. Because animals can't speak up and say they don't want to be eaten.
  16. Because giving a damn is attractive.
  17. It takes over 3000 gallons of water to feed an omnivore for a day, and less than 400 gallons to feed a vegan.
  18. Because most of the deforestation in the Amazon is for increasing cattle grazing lands.
  19. And the Amazon Rainforest has the most rare species than any other place in the world.
  20. The man who made the word vegan, Donald Watson, lived to be 94
  21. Dr. Atkins however, had severe heart disease and died at the age of 70.
  22. A lot of rabbit fur used for jacket trim is actually mislabelled dog and cat fur.
  23. Animals in China used for fur are killed by smashing their heads against brick walls.
  24. Many pet dogs die each year by stumbling into fur traps in the woods.
  25. Beavers are drowned to death by traps to use them for fur.
  26. Fur smells like nasty chemicals.
  27. Faux fur is cheaper anyways.
  28. And leather is disgusting when it rips and you can see all the fibers of the skin of the animals it used to be.
  29. Leather tanning is extremely harmful to the environment.
  30. Fiber (found in veggies) helps keep you regular.
  31. The casein protein in milk causes your bones to lose calcium in urine.
  32. Countries that have low intake of dairy actually have less hip fractures, a sign of osteoporosis.
  33. I have a lot more energy than I did before I went vegan.
  34. Eating meat means you payed for the slaughter of an innocent animals.
  35. On average, vegans save 90 lives per year.
  36. Humans have characteristics that show they were meant to be herbivores.
  37. Because I don't salivate when I see roadkill.
  38. Milk is the breast milk of another species.
  39. Have you ever seen a dog suckling from a giraffe?
  40. And we drink it past infancy too, something that certainly isn't normal.
  41. I don't go to zoos because there was a dolphin who attempted suicide from the stress of being watched 24/7 and being confined in a small tank.
  42. How would you like to be confined to a cage not much bigger than your bedroom for the rest of your life?
  43. Because the only way to train circus animals to do unnatural tricks is by fear.
  44. Elephants are beaten with electric prods to get them to perform.
  45. Soy milk doesn't have pus (somatic cells) in it.
  46. 98% of chicken contains a small piece of feces, aka SHIT.
  47. That gives new meaning to the phrase "chickenshit."
  48. I don't have to worry about cross-contamination between raw meat and vegetables.
  49. If I under cook my food, it won't kill me.
  50. A hamburger is a patty of ground of cow brains, meat, and tissue.
  51. Under animal protection laws for slaughtering, birds don't count as animals.
  52. Not that those laws are adhered to anyway.
  53. Pigs have the mental ability of 3-year old children.
  54. That little piggy is smarter than your dog.
  55. Fish can concentrate toxins from its environment up to 9 MILLION times stronger in their flesh.
  56. Shrimp has more cholesterol than beef.
  57. Chickens and humans both have a tongue, 2 legs, a brain, a nose, and nails. And we both have hearts.
  58. Eating something that died doesn't make you manly.
  59. It shows you have disrespect for life.
  60. Every year in the UK ALONE, livestock is fed enough food to feed 250,000,000 people while in the world 30,000,000 people die of starvation.
  61. 1 acre yields 165 lbs of beef or 20,000 lbs of potatoes.
  62. It takes 2500 gallons to produce 1lb of meat; compared to:
  63. 25 gallons of water to produce 1lb of wheat.
  64. 49 gallons of water for 1 lb of apples.
  65. 23 gallons of water for 1 lb of lettuce.
  66. The water used to produce 10 lbs of steak is equivalent to the average consumption of water for an entire household for an entire year.
  67. 70% of all grain grown is fed to animals, and that grain is fit for humans.
  68. Calf leather comes from animals killed at just 2 weeks old.
  69. Vegans have a 20% lower rate of mortality from all causes.
  70. Omnivores have double the risk of Alzheimer's disease than vegans.
  71. Chinese people (living mainly on a vegetarian diet) consume 20% more calories than Americans but Americans are 20% fatter.
  72. The cling film used to wrap meat in supermarkets & butchers contains chemicals linked to falling sperm counts in men.
  73. Because slaughterhouses are rarely regulated, many animals have their throats slit while fully conscious.
  74. Meat packing is the most dangerous job to have.
  75. If not for the animals, go vegetarian for the people who have no choice but to work in slaughterhouses and risk losing their lives and limbs.
  76. In the land it requires to feed one meat eater, 20 vegans can be fed.
  77. It takes 16lbs of soy protein to make 1 lb of beef.
  78. 90% of cattle ranches created on cleared forest land go bankrupt in less than 8 years .
  79. Which leaves that deserted, barren, and unusable because of nutrient loss.
  80. Many of our rivers and streams are polluted because of animal runoff (poop)
  81. To produce 1 calorie of energy from meat , it takes 60 calories of fuel.
  82. Growing grains and beans to directly feed people produces 20 calories for every calorie of fuel used .
  83. You do the math, veganism is 1200 times more effective in this respect.
  84. Fish caught by nets die by suffocation.
  85. I can easily make/buy brownies, pancakes, pies, cakes, pizza, "ice cream", nachos, crepes, burgers, burritos, tacos, soups, "hot dogs", pasta, noodles, fajitas and much more without using animal products, so I can feel good about not contributing to animal torture.
  86. And those foods can be made even healthier than their "real" counterparts.
  87. Being vegan has opened my eyes to new foods that I never would have tried before.
  88. Indian cuisine has some of the best vegan food ever, and most of it is healthy and cheap.
  89. Because being vegan makes you learn to cook better.
  90. I wont lie, you'll need to cook more than before as a vegan, but everyone knows home-cooked food is so much better for you!
  91. Cows naturally produce 5 liters of milk per day for their calves , with factory and profit-driven farming they produce 25-40 liters per day.
  92. Spent dairy cows (from overproduction) are turned into hamburger.
  93. To make milk a cow must have a calf, so she will be impregnated numerous times over what is natural so she will have more milk.
  94. Almost all male calves born will become veal calves.
  95. So there is a chunk of veal in every glass of milk.
  96. That is why I made the switch to vegan from vegetarian, because everything is connected and the deadly cycle needs to be broken.
  97. Countries with the highest meat and dairy consumptions have more brittle bones (osteoporosis.)
  98. On average, a normal cow can live between 25-30 years, but dairy cows only live 3-5 years.
  99. That is only ten percent of their natural life span!
  100. Free-range and organic milk, eggs, and meat are hardly differently than their non-organic and non-free-range counterparts because there are no guidelines to specify what free-range is, and organic only applies to what is fed to the animals, not how they are treated!
  101. Free-range chicken can mean that the chickens were crammed together tightly on a cold, concrete floor where they can't even turn around, and will be trampled on as they try to reach the food trough. I don't see how this is any less cruel.
  102. And lastly, being vegan isn't hard, it's easy when you realize just how much you are helping animals, people, and the planet!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

awesome list! i was wondering if you have citations for some of these... like the dolphin thing? i would like to share this with friends but it would be cool if there were references.

Allie B said...

The citations became too tedious after about #25. But I do remember the dolphin one came from a PETA website. I bet if you google it you will come up with something.

Anonymous said...

Allie B

Totally agree with your comments on there being no difference between eating a kitten or a cow.

Became a vegan 25 years ago because i didn't want to eat my dog.

Had to give up my favourite beer, but soon got used to an amimal friendly one.

Keep up the good work, you have a great mind for such a young lady.

Nick (UK)

Anonymous said...

I am a vegetarian and think your facts are great. the only thing is some of your cow facts are stereotypical. if your lucky to live near farms the male cows are usually not tuned into veal. they have more nutrient in them then the females!!!! like I said I am a vegetarian not a vegan. I admire vegans because it can be harder. I only know that because my aunt is also a vegan. I agree it's not hard to find food thats good and cheap. I am 15 so I didn't know much about food but now I eat things I never knew existed. I still cant stand tofu though.

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Anonymous said...

Lobsters probably can't feel pain at all since they do not have well-developed nervous systems. Also, the sound that is heard occasionally when a crustacean is being boiled is air escaping from inside of its shell. Lobsters lack vocal cords, which are apparently important for making noises.

Anonymous said...

One more thing: humans are 'meant' to eat both plants and animals. There is nothing, biologically, that suggests we were better adapted for a herbivorous lifestyle; if that were so, we would have a much larger cecum and lack the necessary enzymes for meat digestion.

katpurr85 said...

I agree with anonymous on March 4, 2009. Humans do have the capability of eating both plants and meats. So I say go ahead...eat your dog. or cat. or bird. or fish. whatever...

point is...just because we can, doesn't mean we have to. So if you have the balls to slaughter a helpless, innocent animal and skin it and cook it...congratulations. I hope your mother is proud. sicko.

Anonymous said...

That's kinda harsh. I am a vegetarian but as good I think it is to encourage others to become vegetarian or vegan for however many reasons there are, I believe everyone has the right to choose how they want to live and what they want to do with what they are given. If you're fine with eating meat and if you dont mind harm being done, that's completely respectable. To each their own.

Jen Treehugger said...

This is an awesome list and there were a good few things in there that I didn't know - like losing calcium in your pee pee!!

Claire said...

Very informative and makes me proud to be vegan!

Katherine Claire said...

allie b,

i'm really impressed by your blog! i recently decided to try out being vegan, and so far things are going really well. i love to cook, so it's a fun way to explore new foods. i'd love for you to check out my blog...

www.avegantraveler.blogspot.com

can't wait to explore the rest of your site!

Elle said...

For the comments about how there is no biological proof that humans shouldn't eat meat.. please check out http://www.celestialhealing.net/physicalveg3.htm There are many other websites with the same info, and books.

But Allie, I have to disagree with your #100. There ARE guidelines that differentiate free range, from cage free eggs & meat. It is a very thin line, but some farmers really do care about their animals, although it may be hard to find. "The Ethics of What We Eat" is a great book about the difference between factory farms, cage free, free range, organic etc, that I think you would be interested in.

kitty said...

interesting list. i can't yet truthfully call myself vegan, although i'm working toward it. i'm one of those wannabes who doesn't bother meat-eaters about their habits. we are all on different stages in our journey. people get there when they get there. one problem with the list: dr atkins was 72 when he died but it wasn't from heart disease. i remember when it happened. i believe his wife was with him when he was leaving a meeting on a cold day and slipped on ice, suffering a severe head injury. it was in either chicago or new york. just thought you should know.

Tom said...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-02-10-atkins-statements_x.htm
I know this is getting off topic from the great 102 reasons for being vegan, but the wife of Dr. Atkins was so emphatic that the cause of her husband's death was no one's business. I disagree. This is a man that sold a diet to thousands. If the diet was even suspect in the cause of his death, then the thousands of people who are being misguided by this diet need to know the facts.
Anyway, protein is over-rated. If you want to get the most out of life you need to be active and to be active you need the carbs!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I just stumbled across this website today.
Some of the comments on here are so ignorant i want to vomit.
There is solid proof we were meant to be herbivores... namely the length of our digestive track and our teeth.
Look it up.
And there are NO guidelines as to free range, organic, "certified humane"... wtf? how do you humanely slit someone's throat.
All methods of animal slaughter are abusive.
Farmers don't care about their animals, they care about money... hence factory farming. it it nearly (financially) impossible to run a farm today.
When was the last time you saw a thriving farm?
...Exactly.

Anonymous said...

"There is solid proof we were meant to be herbivores... namely the length of our digestive track and our teeth."

wat

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