Veganism Saves Human Lives.

Have you heard mention of going how going vegan not only saves the lives of ythe animals that you chose not to eat (and you!) but those of starving children in developing countries as well? Are you intrigued by the idea, but don't really understand how it works?

Somebody asked me to explain this to them the other night, and I realized that there are probably more people out there who don't quite understand how exactly this plays out, so I wanted to share a simple version of the process, as I understand it, today.

See, the thing is, 150 tons of cereal grains and edible legumes fit for human consumption, fed to livestock results in less than 30 tons of meat. Obviously, we would be able to feed far more people if we fed the grains straight to people,rather than having them go through livestock.

In addition, many big companies exploit undeveloped countries such as Africa and Central American countries, by utilizing arable land there, to grow grain for livestock, which is then fed to Americans/developed countries. This, thereby, obviously creates a food deficit in Africa and the other less developed countries, as the grains that they could be eating are being used to feed cattle in America instead.

Thereby, eating meat supports the exploition and starvation caused by the meat industry in third world countries.

Cold, Hard Facts For Veganism

I did not assemble these statistics. This post is taken from the "Veganism" Facebook page.

The Hunger Argument
Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people:20
Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock:80
Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95
Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90
How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds
Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre: 40,000
Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250
Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56
Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of edible flesh from feedlot beef: 16

The Environmental Argument
Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect
Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more
Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75
Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85
Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million
Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America: 300,000,000 pounds
Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are undernourished: 75
Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55 square feet
Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses:1,000 per year

The Cancer Argument
Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 times
For women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week: 2.8 times
For women who eat butter and cheese 2-4 times a week: 3.25 times
Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week: 3 times
Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.

The Cholesterol Argument
Number of U.S. medical schools: 125
Number requiring a course in nutrition: 30
Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours
Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack
How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds
Average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent
Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat, dairy and eggs by 10 percent: 9 percent
Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent: 45 percent
Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs from your diet: 90 percent
Average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered-diet: 210 mg/dl
Chance of dying from heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol level is 210 mg/dl: greater than 50 percent

The Natural Resources Argument
User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.: livestock production
Amount of water used in production of the average cow: sufficient to float a destroyer
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25
Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000
Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13
Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260
Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78
To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2
Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is devoted to the production of livestock: 33
Percentage of all raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a complete vegetarian diet: 2

The Antibiotic Argument
Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55
Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13
Percentage resistant in 1988: 91
Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban
Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support

The Pesticide Argument
Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health through meat inspection
Reality: fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues
Percentage of U.S. mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99
Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT: 8
Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher
Amount of Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant: 9 times the permissible level

The Ethical Argument
Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000
Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker
Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker

What Are You Buying?

Really says it all... Wordlessly. <3

Thinking About Trying Fruitarianism?

These are just a few tips that I have for... Really, anybody. Specifically, those thinking about starting a fruitarian, frugivorous, raw vegan, frugan, vegan, or vegetarian diet!

Greens. My diet does consist of some greens, though ethically I don't feel that this is ideal. Obviously I would prefer to be eating nothing but freely given fruit - however, there are no 100% fruitarians in nature, and minerals tend to be much more abundant in vegetables - so, I believe that for optimal health, one must eat some veggies, the best being delicate leafy greens like lettuce (try to stay away from cruciferous and root veggies, they are harder on digestion). To stay as ethical as possible (if this is your goal) always make sure to only take what you need without killing the plant - for me it is an important difference, between taking what I need and killing.
I don't eat things like seeds, nuts, grains, spouts, and root veggies - as it is necessary to take the life of a plant in order to eat any of these. These are not ideal foods for humans, at any rate, so I advise that everybody stay away from them.

Eating enough. Another important thing is to eat enough! Fresh fruits have high water content, so it will seem like you are eating much more, but you actually won't even be getting ENOUGH calories! At first you will want to make an account on a website like Cron-O-Meter that will track your calories and nutrition daily... Make sure you are getting AT LEAST 2,500 calories every day to fuel a healthy, exciting, adventurous lifestyle!

High carb, low fat! This is the healthiest diet! Try to keep your carbs:protien:fat ratio to 80:10:10. Fresh fruits and veggies will supply this ratio very well, but try not to eat too much avocado or durian. Carbs fuel your body and give you energy and happiness (in addition, carbs never make you fat! Even if you did over eat on carbs...which is all but impossible...the excess carbs would be burned off as excess heat.) Too much fat or protein in your diet will make you feel less than your best, and lead to serious, degenerative diseases like diabetes or colon cancer in the long term. Though they can be enjoyed in moderation, try to keep from eating too much of fatty fruits like avocado and durian.

Stay away from cooked food! Did you know that when you eat cooked food, your body reacts to it as a pathogen? That doesn't sound very healthful, right? It's not! When we cook food, carbohydrates carmellize, proteins denature, and fats carcinogize, producing compounds like acrymalide, which has been proven to cause cancer in mammals. In addition, most other nutrients are destroyed with heat, meaning that you are basically just eating empty calories - no wonder cooked meals leave don't leave you energized and invigorated!
(As a side note, if you must eat cooked foods, try to eat them steamed, as for some reason, studies show that this has the least carcinogenic effect on foods.)

Follow these tips and your diet will provide you with everything you need, in terms of nutrition! If you choose to follow this path, you are about to reach a whole new level of amazing, vibrant health, and you are just going to want to shout it to the world, 'cause its that great. (;

Good luck on your journey, and for sure feel free to leave a comment or send me over an email at ktms_96@yahoo.com, I'd love to provide whatever support or guidance you might need.
Or, feel free to just search my blog... I'm pretty sure I have some useful stuff in there (though a lot of it is also outdated, back from when I was eating high-fat.)

Wishing you all peace, love, fruit, and loads of sunshine! ☼

Annoying, Negative Vegans!?

We don't want to scare people into veganism, and we don't want people to become vegan out of guilt!

There are so many wonderful, positive reasons to go vegan - do it because something amazing will happen when you do; not because something bad will happen if you don't.

Benefits Of Raw Vs. Cooked Vegan

Preaching

I was thinking today, about just how much I preach to people about my diet. I prattle on about it to my family, friends, people I barely know, the wide open internet... I spend so much time talking about the way I eat.

It is kind of a big deal for me. It is definately something I am passionate about, finding the 'perfect diet' (if it exists. Haha). I spend a lot more time on my diet, and learning about it. I guess I just invest a lot more in my diet than a lot of people do. And I think that might be part of the reason that I seem to have this insane need to defend the way I eat, and try to make other people understand.

But another reason is: I care, to put it simply. I have found something that works really well for me, and that I absolutely believe in. I want to share it with people I care about. I want my friends and family to have lots of energy. I even want to help that depressed freshman girl feel better about the world and about herself with this fruit diet. And I want to help you - that's (partially) why I post a lot of what I do on this blog. Because (I know it sounds cheesy) it really does make the whole world a better place. I believe you will have more energy and empathy and optimism and just.. So many more positive emotions and ideas, that will influence those around you. In addition, following a vegan or fruitarian diet contributes to a more violence and pain-free world, which is really an goal that we should all be striving towards however we can.

So, no, I am not going to stop annoying you, trying to share this information with you. It's sort of a moral dilemma for me, because I don't want to annoy people, with the message. I know people are often irritated with vegans for just this reason... But I can't sit by and watch people that I care about essentially destroying themselves with foods that they eat only because it's all they know to do. I will not silently watch as millions of animals are being brutally murderd, daily... Only to lead to chronic and detrimental diseases in the humans that ingest them. So, until you take responsibility for your own diet and the world around you, I am going to keep trying to share what I know with you. I guess it's just the kind of person I am. So, sorry. 

Anyhow, all that...is not to say that I am absolutely sure this is the right diet at all. I'm just gonna keep preachin' as long as I believe it is. 'Cause as of today, based upon the information that I have and that I've gathered, I feel this is right. However, I might add that we are daily discovering new, important information about diet (and everything else!). None of us really knows nearly as much about anything as we all seem to assume. I think of how many times I have changed my mind concerning my diet, upon recieving new information, or even just new experiences. Three years ago, I wasn't even vegan and thought I was eating really healthily. I felt the same about the succeding veganism and raw veganism.

So yes, I realize that I'm not always right... And, for this reason, I wouldn't want anybody to make a decision about their diet based just on what I believe and say. What I really hope I can do is maybe just inspire enough curiosity in people to research their diet and learn abut their options and what's good for them, for themselves, and come to their own conclusions... And to help people who already have researched and have come to some of the same conclusion as I.

In addition to this... I know a lot of the terms and expressions and explanations that I use to explain why I eat the way I eat make it seem as though I think you're a terrible person if you choose to eat meat. I do feel that the action is absolutely wrong... But I really don't mean to sound condemning to you as a person.

To be perfectly honest, I do sometimes have issues with being compassionate towards people who chose to eat this way, just because... well, we all do have to share this world, and eating meat takes a pretty big toll on it, the environment, animals, my tax dollars (or, well..my parents'. Haha).

However, it is absolutely wrong of me to judge somebody for their actions, from my point of view... When I do this, it's totally me at fault, and not the meat eater. I (and probably a lot of other vegetarians/vegans/fruitarians) need to remember this. I used to eat meat. It took me a long time to get to the place I'm at now in my diet... and I know (hope) that I am going to keep progressing. I recognize that we are not all at the same place in life, and we are not all emotionally, financially, mentally, whatever.. ready to go vegan/fruitarian. Or wanting to go vegan/fruitarian. It's easy for me to forget that sometimes, but... no matter how you eat and choose to live your life, (even if that includes making dumb comments about my diet,) I promise, I don't believe that you are less of a person for chosing to eat differently, or follow a different path in life than I am chosing.