Are we living in Denial?

Are we living in denial?

Does being born a human- the powerful, the smarter of the species, allow us to manhandle every other species for our sensuous palates and?desires?

Though we have laws to prosecute one human being for his or her act against another human being we do not have any laws to protect an animal or a bird for an act by humans against them except for a one or two laws against endangered species.

IMPORTANT NOTE TO THE READER: I am not anti meat eaters. I am only requesting you to know our food and some clothes. To be aware of how it reaches us. Let us stop living in denial.

Darwin's theory can even defend an assault, a rape and every other crime we the HUMANE despise.

Is it really fair to torture the cow, the hen or the sea creatures ?because we desire not just food but the "tastiest" food?

Do we really want to clip a cow’s ears and brand her with a flaming rod so that we know it has been tortured in "hygienic" environments?

We are dumping the cow and hen live with 100 others, just so that it is FRESH to chop for the morning breakfast or lunch??So do they (the animals and creatures) deserve to be treated the way they are treated now?

Does a neatly packaged pack of meat written on the cover as FRESH meat appear on the shelf of our neighborhood supermarket? We even have celebrities modeling and as brand ambassadors asking us to eat those “fresh meat” (how can the dead bodies of an animal or any creature be called fresh??)

Was it found in a farm- just soiled? Was she playing happily in the field and simply shot in the head?

If what followed was just death- I would certainly have said she had the best life.

Unfortunately this is exactly what didn't happen. What followed was, suffocation, non-anesthised branding, crippling cages and beating because we don't have all the time in the world for their slow leisurely walks around the slaughter house.

Visualise the millions of silk worms “crushed to death” just so that we are happy wearing the clothes made out of silk, sleep in linens made of silk. Many of us who call ourselves as pure vegetarians also may be ignorant of this mass butchering of the silk worms. We are ignorant of this fact and happily wear the clothes (shirts, kurtas, silk sarees) and call themselves as vegetarians. Many of us spend hundreds and thousands to buy silk clothes just for one event –marriages and perform all religious rituals and ceremonies but ignoring the fact that we are wearing clothes woven by crushing innocent creatures.

Let us not use ignorance as an excuse. Come up with a rationale better than that of the molester you detest. Are we truly proud of the meat or milk while we are eating it or drinking it?

The jungle rule is that the animals do not kill when they are not hungry. But we humans amass the harmless living beings and kill them in hundreds of thousands to entertain our bellies.

If we are more superior to the animals are we not responsible of protecting the environment and our fellow beings, with whom we share our beautiful earth. If we were to solely go by the "survival of the fittest" theory, we may soon be slaughtering our own kind (the old and the handicapped), who clearly won't live upto our "high" standards of existence, and of course like animals, are unable to defend themselves. This is specifically with reference to people who believe that animals have been put on earth to be eaten. We are no longer hunter-gatherers. These things affect us, only when such things happen to faces and body structures like ours.

So does turning a Vegan helps? Let’s find out more

What’s veganism anyway?

Veganism is a way of living that seeks to abstain, 'as much as possible', from the use of animal products. Vegans don’t eat animal-derived foods such as meats, milk, and dairy. Many vegans also boycott clothing and other products that involve animal exploitation, such as leather and fur. Vegans also avoid eggs and sea food.

Why do people go vegan?

The top three reasons that make people choose veganism are

a) Improving their health,

b) Saving animal lives, and

c) Helping the planet.

Turning Vegan could be one of the best decisions you make for your health!

Many people switch to veganism because it’s healthy! Recent studies found that a plant-based diet can reduce your chances of certain cancers and of developing type 2 diabetes. A vegan diet can also reduce blood pressure levels and lower cholesterol!

A plant-based diet increases metabolism

The metabolism of people who follow a plant-based diet burns calories 16% faster on average than the metabolism of meat-eaters for the first few hours after meals.

The term “Vegan” is less than 100 years old

The term “vegan” was coined by the British animal rights activist Donald Watson in the 1940s. “Vegan” describes the philosophy that animals should not be exploited and hurt for food or other purposes. Though the term Vegan is less than 100 years old there are many in India who follow vegetarianism and their food consists predominantly of plant based food with the exception of some percentage of dairy which is used to make butter milk and curd (yoghurt, butter).

A plant-based diet can easily provide complete protein!

There are so many affordable options for plant-based protein. Beans, chickpeas, lentils, tofu, tempeh, soya chunks, and seitan are only a few options for vegan protein!

Vegan food is delicious and very diverse

There is a vegan version of just about anything you can think of. As demand soars, more and more companies are launching new vegan products, such as vegan meats and dairy-free milks and cheeses.

So many social justice activists throughout history have been vegan or vegetarian

Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Mahatma Gandhi, Dolores Huerta, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, and countless more, have been saving animals and exposing the abuse involved in animal agriculture while fighting for social change.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2021 828 million people, or almost 10 percent of the global population, were affected by hunger. And in 2021, an astounding 29.3 percent of the world’s population was considered either moderately or severely food insecure — this translates to 2.3 billion people.

With so many people affected, world hunger may seem like an insurmountable problem. Yet we know this is not the case. Through a concerted effort of political, societal and economic change, world hunger could be ended at any virtually any time. One powerful tactic to help expedite the end of world hunger and food insecurity is to adopt and encourage more sustainable eating habits and to limit food waste.

Where is all the Food Going?

One contributing factor to world hunger is food distribution. Instead of feeding people, much of the food grown today is fed to livestock, despite meat’s caloric inefficiency – animals take in more calories than are provided. Another large chunk of food is simply wasted, in homes, restaurants, grocery stores and fields.

Animal Agriculture and World Hunger

Animal agriculture uses about 77 percent of all the land used for farming in the world, with the remaining 23 percent of land being used to grow crops for human consumption. Much of the land used for animal agriculture is used to grow feed for livestock to consume. Yet farmed animals produce only 18 percent of the calories consumed around the world. Dedicating such a large proportion of agricultural land to meat and other animal products — sources of food that is calorically inefficient — is simply unsustainable.

Each vegan spares 30 animal lives a year

Animals in the food industry are abused, mutilated, crammed, and slaughtered. The industries use horrific practices in order to generate a maximum profit. 99% of farmed animals spend their whole lives confined in factory farms. Around the world, over 150 million farmed animals are killed each day. By turning veganism, you’re protecting animals.

Veganism is environment friendly

Factory farming is significantly responsible for deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and water shortages.?Livestock and their byproducts are accountable for 51% of all greenhouse gas emissions, worldwide. 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of beef. Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of the Amazon rainforest destruction. It is so easy to help the planet – by eating a plant-based diet you will be living a much more sustainable life.

We could have fishless oceans by 2048

Animal agriculture causes ocean dead zones due to overfishing, pollution, and climate change which is ruining marine ecosystems. Scientists expect fishless oceans by 2048 unless we change the animal food industries and their practices.

How to Solve World Hunger?

One key step to solving world hunger in the long term is to adopt a more sustainable approach to food production. One important facet of this is to encourage the adoption of plant-based diets on a large, even global, scale. The environmental impacts of animal agriculture have been well recorded by researchers, NGOs and governments. Continuing to use and destroy a large portion of land available to us for agriculture while also polluting our water supplies and exacerbating climate change will make ending world hunger increasingly difficult.

Can Veganism End World Hunger?

Veganism can help in solving world hunger too.

Research shows that we could feed an additional 4 billion humans if we grew our crops directly for human consumption, rather than feeding the crops to farmed animals and then consuming them.

Though veganism alone cannot end world hunger, wider adoption of plant-based diets would be a big step in the right direction. Plant-based diets are less damaging to the environment than the diets heavy in meat and other animal products that are common in many western countries.

Could We Feed the World Without Meat?

Plant-based foods are more calorically efficient than animal-derived products. For example, beef contains only 1.9 percent of the calories that went into its production in the form of animal feed. Even whole milk, which is the most efficient animal product, contains only 24 percent of the calories consumed by the cows producing the milk. Choosing to consume calories from plant foods cuts out the middleman, ensuring that less energy is lost to produce the foods we consume.

Can You Feed the World on a Vegan Diet?

With the increase in availability of plant-based meat alternatives that can be used to enjoy favorite foods and traditional meals once made with animal-derived ingredients, the possibility of feeding the world on a vegan diet is becoming more and more real. Around the world people are already consuming more plant-based foods.

What Will Happen if Humans Stop Eating Meat?

If humans were to stop eating meat, public and planetary health alike would improve. Consuming meat, especially red and processed meat, has been tied to several health issues including diabetes and heart conditions. If we were to stop eating these foods and instead eat plant-based products, especially whole food plant-based products, the average person in a high-income country would be eating a healthier diet. We would also lower the risks of zoonotic disease (Disease Transmitted from Animals to Humans )outbreaks and eliminate pollution that emanates from animal farms.

Animal agriculture is also a major contributor to environmental destruction and degradation. Were we to stop eating meat, the 14.5 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions caused by animal agriculture (on a highly conservative estimate), would be eliminated. The future effects of this reduction on public health would be enormous.

Would the World Be Better if We Were Vegan?

Increasing the prevalence of plant-based eating has been recognized by many as a key step in solving a vast array of problems ranging from climate change to habitat loss and world hunger. Adopting a plant-based diet stands to benefit us in all of these areas, as they are all interconnected in ways that can often be overlooked.

How Can we Help?

Adopting a plant-based diet may not seem directly connected to decreasing world hunger, but the reality is that by choosing to eat vegan, or plant-based, we are doing our part to shift to a more calorically-efficient food production system. Taking the step of switching to a plant-based diet is one of the most impactful personal steps a person can take toward ending world hunger as well as preventing cruelty to our fellow animals and birds.

Is there a flip side of Veganism?

What are the health risks of being vegan?

There are risks of nutritional deficiencies, as well as a risk of exacerbating or initiation of disordered eating patterns. Please contact your healthcare provider to determine which the best diet plan is for you, and how you may adapt a plant-based diet to best meet your individual needs.

Certainly, not everyone has a negative experience on a vegan diet. There are plenty of people who would benefit great from adopting certain aspects of veganism, including incorporating more vegetables into the diet, and understanding the importance of not purchasing or consuming factory-raised meat.

Vegan doesn’t automatically equal health. French fries (cooked in vegetable oil) and soda fit the definition. "Being vegan does not relieve you of the responsibility of making good nutrition choices," says Meir Stampfer, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The first big question when going vegan is how you will make those wise nutrition choices.

"It’s not magic. It’s a hard thing to do," says Eric Rimm, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Prof Rim says” With any kind of change, the stronger and more personal your reason, the more likely you’ll stick with it. When deciding to be a vegan, there can be an ethical and even an emotional component of concern for animal welfare and the environment. Those things mean something to you, and you are not going to eat, wear, or use any animal products because you consider that inhumane. It will probably make you go all-in from the start, and your deeply held belief and devotion to a bigger cause will not make giving up certain foods feel like a loss.

But what if better health is your primary reason for going vegan? The elimination of animal products and dairy means a reduction in saturated fats and sodium, which can help with losing weight and/or preventing weight gain, and can reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease, blood cholesterol, and diabetes, Stampfer says.

With a lifestyle and health-oriented goal, you are in control of how and when you go about your transformation. There are no deadlines to meet to be vegan. It is about a way to eat — your way to eat — and it is fine to do at your own pace, since an immediate overhaul can feel too sudden and restrictive and might make you quit after a few weeks. To some people, "It feels like you are being punished,"

It can also feel overwhelming to think about giving up long-loved foods forever. Instead, start by being vegan with just vegan breakfast twice a week. Or you could give up chicken and see how that feels, then eventually give up red meat or ice cream and keep slowing or eliminating old foods over several months. And at some point, maybe even a couple of years later, you realize, "Hey, I am a vegan."

And still, you can decide that once a week, you will have cheese on your salad or spread on your bread because it makes everything taste good. Is it being a "classic" vegan? No, but you can define it — and just call your approach plant-based, plant-forward, or whatever you want to align with your ultimate goals. "There is no police," Stampfer says.

Planning for pitfalls

Preparation is key when trying a new way of eating. Find appealing vegan recipes in cookbooks or on websites, or set up a food subscription service, and at the beginning line up two weeks of meals so what you are going to eat is not a constant scramble and daily stress, Prof. Rimm says.

Whenever you face challenges in your life or whenever you want to make some changes, one of the best tools I have found is asking questions; asking questions to yourself:

?→????How often do you eat out?

→????Do you like to cook?

→????Do you like to socialize?

→????Do you know anyone else who is a vegan who can give you tips, recipes, vegan-friendly restaurants?

None of the answers are disqualifying, but you can identify potential pitfalls and get a handle on how you approach food. And the last question is key, since having support when making a change can help smooth the transition and make you feel less alone in the attempt.

?"It prepares people for what they are up against," Prof. Rimm says.

Health caveats and choices when turning to a vegan diet

Its one thing to give up animal products, and that move can lead to health improvements, but it is just as important to know what you are replacing those items with. And the prescription for being vegan is not much different from any healthy diet. You want to choose whole grains and avoid refined foods and sugar, so your blood sugar doesn’t spike and you are not feeling hungry again soon, leading you to eat more, gain weight, and potentially develop diabetes, Stampfer says.

You also want to eat good fats. Fats took a beating in the 1980s and ‘90s, and they still carry an unfair stigma of being unhealthy. But only certain ones are, such as the already-mentioned saturated fats. The goal is to minimize — not eliminate — them, since that is not possible. Instead, use mono- and polyunsaturated ones, like olive oil, nuts, and avocados, which are calorically dense and provide a measure of satiety.

One concern with eating vegan is getting ample B12. The vitamin mostly comes from animal sources, and is essential in forming red blood cells and DNA and in the development and function of brain and nerve cells. Inform your family doctor (if you have one) about your new diet and have your B12 levels checked to get a baseline, and then supplement with a daily amount (around 2.4 micrograms). This is not an issue to treat casually. "You could also die without adequate B12”.

But here is one thing that is not such a worry: Protein.

It might seem to be, because animal products (i.e., meats) are gone, but tofu and beans are well-known substitutes, and vegetables and grains also are sources, along with nuts and avocados. As Stampfer says, "We don’t need as much as we think. It’s rare to see people who don’t get enough protein."

Fruits like?apples, bananas, blueberries and oranges?are some fruits that are high in vitamin B12 and beet roots, spinach, pumpkin, butter squash and the friendly potato also has ample B12 vitamins.

It might be something to be mindful of, and it’s something that might be foremost on your mind at the beginning when you’re adjusting. But is it a reason not to make the switch? That again goes back to your motivation, and whether it’s a desire to protect animals or a way to live with more energy, then you probably can find alternatives, and rather than feel dread, enjoy the experimentation that comes from choosing to do anything new.

The bottom line is that it is important to be aware of the risks of extreme diets and any quick-fix approach to health. Based on my experience and exposure to the scientific literature on nutrition, a balanced diet including varying ratios of all of the macronutrients, will most often provide long-term benefits and a reduction of risk of nutritional deficiencies.

"It is not magic. It is a hard thing to do," says Eric Rimm, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Let me end my article by reproducing a text from Genesis I-29.

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon all the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.”?...Genesis-I-29

Do we need any more evidence?

?Source:

1.??????Harvard health publishing

2.??????Articles from Health, from MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program,

3.??????Indian vegetarian diets and south Indian cuisines

4.??????My experience to turn Vegan since the last three years

5. Genesis- I-29

6.??????Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014) | Documentary Film- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xwyO1jpB0E