Veganism is where a person will live without the consumption of any food or products that may cause harm to animals. This includes a diet without meat or any type of dairy. There can be many benefits and reasons for going vegan and it has begun to rise in popularity as the preferred diet.
One reason people may choose to go vegan is that they care for animals and believe that animals should have the right to freedom as well as life without animal cruelty. Another reason may be due to a person’s health. Since some research has shown that people with vegan diets on average have lower blood pressure and cholesterol. This may enable someone to change their diet as they believe it is a healthier option. As well as these reasons, the increasing severity of climate change can encourage a person to go vegan. This is due to the damage the production of animal products creates. Cattle ranching is one of the biggest contributors to deforestation which means that the more the population grows, the more trees must be cut down to create space to enable livestock such as cows to live there. While taking a source of oxygen away, cows also release methane into the air which contributes to global warming.
Veganuary is a non-profit organization that can help motivate people to go vegan in January. This January I decided to try going vegan. I had decided to go cold turkey and not eat any animal products. This was a lot more inflexible than I expected. It was harder to eat out and I had to start preparing food for my lunches when I was out. Overall the experience was one that made me realize that you may need to be more prepared as you need to research before buying a product. It was an eye-opening experience as the more I researched around the topic, the more I began to understand why people changed their diets to veganism.
Overall, this has made me appreciate the people who are committed to veganism as it is difficult in a society that predominantly eats meat. However, there has been an increase in the last few years in people who have changed their lifestyles and the available products have increased in stores, which can make the transition into veganism easier.
By Lilymay Scanlon, Carshalton high school for girls
