Veganism for health
Veganism for health
Vegan food, with its densely packed nutrients and fibre, and lack of cholesterol, is extremely healthy. Adopting a vegan diet improves health, and even allows people to wean themselves off prescription medications. Medical research indicates that lifelong vegetarians and vegans visit hospitals 22% less often than meat eaters. Furthermore, once admitted, human herbivores spend a shorter time at the hospital than their meat eating counterparts.
Our anatomy
Our digestive system and anatomy is similar to those of our ancestors, the primates. Eating food that is not meant for our anatomy causes disease. If you were to compare the anatomy of human beings and those of other classes of animals, you would find that we are anatomically herbivorous. For example, our teeth, mostly molars and premolars, are useful for eating plant-based foods, while carnivores have large canines for the purpose of tearing flesh. We also do not have claws or teeth to kill the prey with.
Too much protein
Female mammals secrete milk for their young. As the needs of human infants are quite different from the needs of infant animals, the composition of the milk differs. Most mammals attain full size in a short span of several months to a couple of years, while human beings take about eighteen years to reach physical maturity. Cow’s milk contains about three times more protein and two times more fat than human milk since calves attain full size in about eighteen months! Thus, when humans consume dairy products, we are forced to process more protein than our systems were designed for.
The human growth rate is highest in the first year of life. The infant doubles its birth weight in 6 months and triples in one year. After this, the rate of growth slows down. Proteins are essential for growth, and especially crucial early in the infant’s life. Human milk, the ideal food at this age, contains a percentage of protein similar to fruit juice. We never need a higher percentage of protein in our diet than this. We exceed this percentage several times with our diet of dairy products and animal flesh.
A high protein diet is harmful because it increases the acidic content in our body. To neutralize this acid, calcium is leached from the bones, resulting in osteoporosis. Even though cow’s milk contains a high percentage of calcium our body cannot retain much of it because of its high protein content. Osteoporosis is more prevalent in countries with a high milk intake, like the USA and Sweden.
Poison in animal products
If all the reasons listed above are not enough, meat and milk are filled with drugs that are inevitably passed on to the consumer. Antibiotics, growth promoters, and prostaglandins and a concentration of pesticide residues are all found in meat and could be harmful to humans.
Eating what nature planned for us
The verdict is simple. If we eat the food nature has designed for us to eat, it is easy to steer clear of diseases. This means that whole, unrefined, natural, plant based foods will help us keep the doctor away throughout our lifespan.