A vegan lives a lifestyle that excludes, as much as realistically possible, purchasing and/or consuming products that are derived from animals.
A vegan recipe will never include: meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, milk, butter and honey, as well as fur, silk, wool, gelatin, beeswax and lanolin.
More and more people are turning to veganism in an effort to help save the environment. It is estimated that it takes 50 times from fossil fuels to produce a meat-centric diet, versus a plant or vegan-based diet.
Global warming is currently the prevalent environmental concern for everyone. Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect. The primary cause of the greenhouse effect is the presence of carbon dioxide, which comes from fossil fuels.
It is estimated that 260 million acres of forests have been cleared throughout the United States in an effort to provide land to help produce meat-centric diets.
Vegans also argue that a meat-centric diet depletes our water resources. For example, it has been reported that 2,500 gallons of water is required in order to produce one pound of meat. On the other hand, in order to produce one pound of wheat, which is used in many a vegan recipe, only 25 gallons of water is required.
If the environmental issues don’t sway you, there are also the claims that vegans are healthier than meat eaters. And there is research to back this claim up. In particular, research has shown that vegans have a lower body weight compared to meat eaters. Vegans also have lower rates of heart disease.
One report claims that a meat eater can reduce his or her risk of having a heart attack by as much as 90 per cent, if they switch to a vegan recipe diet. It has also been reported that the average male, living in the United States, who avoids meat-based diets, but still eats poultry and fish for example, has a 15 per cent chance of suffering a heart attack. However, a vegan American male has only a four per cent of suffering from a heart attack.
By reducing your consumption of animal products just by 10 per cent, you can reduce your risk of suffering a heart attack by nine per cent. But if you reduce your intake of animal products by 50 per cent, your risk of suffering a heart attack drops by 45 per cent.
Many people who are not knowledgeable about the vegan diet, assumes that vegans eat only raw food and don’t cook. But that is not the case. There are numerous vegan recipe books and web sites available to help people cook vegan.
Vegans are able to enjoy virtually all of the same types of foods as meat eaters, but without all of the fat and cholesterol. For example, there is a whole range of vegan breakfast recipes, vegan cookie recipes as well as vegan burger recipes available.
The ingredients required for vegan cooking and baking are becoming easier to find in mainstream grocery stores. They are also readily available at health food stores.