25 reasons for veganism

8/6/2019 25 Reasons for Veganism

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To Reduce YourRsk of Ccer

To Reduce Your Rskof Dbetes

To Prevet Gob

Cmte Chge

According to the American Dietetic Association,

vegetarians tend to have lower overall cancer

rates.

For example, the massive Adventist Health

Study ound that meat-eaters had a 54%

increased risk or prostate cancer and an 88%

increased risk or colorectal cancer, even ater

controlling or age, sex and smoking.

The American Dietetic Association

states that vegetarian diets are associated

with a lower risk o type 2 diabetes.

In one study, risk or diabetes was 80%

higher in men who ate meat, compared

to vegetarian men.

According to the United Nations, raising

animals or ood produces more greenhouse

gas emissions than all o the cars, trucks,

planes, ships and other orms o transportation

combined.

Researchers at the University o Chicago

calculated that each person who adopts a

vegan diet prevents the equivalent o 1.5

tons o CO2 emissions every year.

Which causs mor

transportation mat

gloal warming?

This brochure explores 25 o the countless reasons more and

more Americans are choosing to orgo meat, and enjoy a diet

based on health, compassion, and sustainability.

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We Do’t Hve toK to Be Hethy4

Animals value their lives just as we value

ours. They don’t want to be killed. Nor do

they want to see their riends or amily

members killed. Is it morally justiable or

us to take animals’ lives – and orce them to

endure lietimes o suering – simply to

satisy a palate preerence?

According to the American Dietetic

Association, “Well-planned vegan and

other types o vegetarian diets are appropriate

or all stages o the lie cycle including during

pregnancy, lactation, inancy, childhood,

and adolescence.”

Not only are vegetarian diets appropriate

or people o all ages, but our bodies can

thrive on them. In act, studies o vegetarian

Seventh Day Adventists – one o the largest

populations o vegetarians in the United States

– indicate that they are among the healthiest

and longest-living people in the world.

My best year o track

competition was the rst

year I ate a vegan diet.

- Carl Lewis, Olympic Champion

What about protein?

It’s easy to get enough protein on a well-balanced vegan diet. High-protein plant oods

include beans, lentils, peanut butter, oats,

veggie burgers, tou, tempeh, seitan, soymilk

and more.

Don’t i neeD to eat Dairy proDucts

for calcium?

Humans have no need or cow’s milk.

Just as dog’s milk is intended or puppies,

and human’s milk is intended or human inants,

cow’s milk is intended or calves – not humans.

There are many excellent sources o plant-

based calcium, including kale, broccoli, collard

greens, ortied non-dairy milks and ortied

orange juice.

take your b12

The one vitamin vegetarians should pay

special attention to is B12 – a vitamin not

reliably ound in plants. Luckily, getting B12

is as easy as taking a supplement or a

multivitamin.

Visit VeganHealth.org for more information.

VEGETaRian HEalTH

FRUiT

VEGETaBlES

BEanS & lEnTilS

WHOlE GRainS

3 or more servings

a day

4 or more servingsa day

5 or more servingsa day

2 or more servings

a day

The Vegetarian 4 Food Groups



To Reduce YourRsk of Hert Dsese

Farmed animals are mutilated in a

number o ways to re-purpose them or

the economic objectives o actory arms.

For example, animals are castrated to

change the taste o their fesh, and they

are branded and tattooed or identication

purposes.

In an attempt to cut costs, these agonizing

mutilations are usually performed without

any painkillers.

Vegetarian diets are associated with a lower

risk o heart disease, and on average, vegans

have cholesterol levels more than 40 points

lower than meat-eaters.

Physicians such as Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr.

Caldwell Esselstyn have stopped and even reversed

heart disease by placing patients on programs that

include plant-based diets.

Frmed ams areMutted wthoutPkers

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Visit HeartAttackProof.com

or more inormation.

branDing: Cattle are branded with a red-hot

iron, causing third-degree burns to the skin.

Debeaking: Part o the hen’s beak is

seared o with a hot blade or laser.

castration: The piglet’s scrotum is

cut open and his testicles are ripped out.



The vast majority o egg-laying hens spend

their lives packed into tiny wire cages so

small they can’t even spread their wings.

Nearly every natural instinct and desire is

thwarted by the cages that conne them –

the ability to build nests, orage, roost, dust

bathe, see the sun, or even eel the earth or

grass below their eet.

The majority o mother pigs spend most o

their lives conned to metal crates barely

larger than their own bodies.

Unable to turn around or lie down without

touching the metal bars, many pigs develop

painul sores.

Some pigs go mad and exhibit behaviors

such as repetitive bar-biting or rubbing their

snouts bloody on the concrete foor.

Since male chicks o the egg-laying breed do

not lay eggs, and do not grow quickly enough to

be raised protably or meat, they are disposed

o by the egg industry.

Every day, thousands o chicks are ground up in

macerators – blender-like machines that rip the

birds apart while they’re still alive.

Other killing methods include suocation,

decapitation, gassing and being let to die

in dumpsters.

Me Chcks are Groud Up aveby the Egg idustry7

Fctory-Frmed ams areDeed nery Everythg

Tht is ntur to Them

no Grss. no Fresh ar.no Exercse. Just Msery.8

“Forgt th pig is an animal. Trat him

just lik a machin in a actory.”

- Hog Farm Management Magazine

Over 90% o U.S. eggs come rom hens

crowded into wire cages the size o a le drawer.

Many sows are conned in cages

barely larger than their bodies.



To Coserve ld,Wter d Eergy

To Prevet Deforestto

d Speces Extcto

Vegetarian oods take a raction o the land,

water and energy required to produce meat.

Meat production’s squandering o our mostimportant resources aects everyone, but

hits the global poor the hardest.

As Time magazine notes, “Around the world

as more water is diverted to raising pigs and

chickens instead o producing crops or direct

consumption, millions o wells are going dry.”

In a growing world in which over 1 billion

people are already malnourished or lack

access to clean drinking water, meat is an

extremely wasteul ood choice.

The United Nations reports that “the livestock sector

may well be the leading player in the reduction of

biodiversity, since it is the major driver o deorestation,

as well as one o the leading drivers o land

degradation, pollution, climate change, overshing,

sedimentation o coastal areas and acilitation o

invasions by alien species.”

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To produce one pound o animal protein

vs. one pound o soy protein it takes:

6 to 17 times as much land

4 to 26 times as much water

6 to 20 times as much fossil fuel

The average American

eats about 27 landanimals plus dozens o

sea animals every year.

By choosing vegetarian,

we can each spare the

lives o over 50 animals

every year, adding up

to thousands over our

lietimes.

Vegetrs Spre the lves of over 50 ams Ech Yer11



Becuse FshgHurts

To Keep atbotcsWorkg

A growing body o scientic evidence

demonstrates that sh are sophisticated

animals who exhibit intelligence, complexsocial structures, long-term memory,

and the capacity to eel pain, but the shing

industry treats them as i they were

nothing more than inanimate objects.

Dragged rom the ocean depths, sh

undergo excruciating decompression,

which can rupture their bladders and pop

out their eyes. They are then tossedonboard where they slowly suocate.

Some sh are gutted, lleted, and rozen

while still alive and conscious.

Imagine getting an inection that won’t go away, even

when treated with antibiotics. The broad-scale use o

antibiotics on actory arms – ed in mega dosages to

animals to promote rapid growth and ght o illnesses

induced by lthy, disease-ridden, and overcrowded

living conditions – is creating antibiotic-resistant

superbugs, making these same antibiotics less

eective at treating human illnesses.

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It’s not appreciated until it’s your mother,

or your son, or you are trying to ight o an

inection that will not go away because the

last mechanism to ght it has been usurped

by someone putting it into a pig or chicken.

- Dr. Kellog Schwab, John Hopkins researcher

eat flax, not fish

Flax seeds and vegan DHA (algae oil) are

excellent sources o Omega 3 atty acids,

without the cruelty or mercury that come

with sh consumption.Fish suer tremendously when

caught and suocated.

Untold millions o non-target aquatic animals,

such as dolphins, turtles, and “by-catch” sh,

are killed by the shing industry each year.



ams are Buredd Drowed Scdg Tks

Crg for Some ams (lke Dogs d Cts) d EtgOthers (lke Pgs d Chckes) is Mory icosstet

At the slaughterhouse, many chickens and

turkeys are not dead by the time they reach

the scalding-hot eather removal tanks.

According to USDA statistics, hundreds

o thousands o birds every year have their

bodies submerged in scalding water (about

143° F) while they are ully conscious. The

animals are burned and drowned.

According to a ormer Tyson slaughterhouse

worker, “They oten come out the other end

with broken bones and disgured and missing

body parts because they’ve struggled so

much in the tank.”

Many pigs meet a similar ate. The Washington

Post reports, “Hogs ... are dunked in tanks

o hot water ater they are stunned to soten

the hides or skinning. As a result, a botched

stunning condemns some hogs to being

scalded and drowned.”

Chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows possess intelligence, individual personalities,

and emotional lives just like dogs and cats do. All animals value their lives

and wish not to suer.

I you wouldn’t eat your dog or cat, why eat any other

animal when it’s completely unnecessary?

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When chickens are scalded alive in the eather

removal tanks, their skin becomes bright red.

“There’s a schizoid quality to our relationship

with animals, in which sentiment and brutality

exist side by side. Hal the dogs in America will

receive Christmas presents this year, yet ew o

us pause to consider the miserable lie o the

pig – an animal easily as intelligent as a dog –

that becomes the Christmas ham.”

The New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan,“An Animal’s Place”



ams are

Defeseess

Farmed animals, whose every moment in lie and

death is controlled and manipulated, are entirely

deenseless against cruelty and exploitation, and

their ates rest squarely at our mercy.

Modern chickens and turkeys are

bred and drugged to grow so

large, so quickly, that their legs

and organs can’t keep up, making

heart attacks, organ ailure and

crippling leg deormities common.Many become crippled under

their own weight and eventually

die because they can’t reach the

water nozzles.

Researchers have ound that this

lameness is so chronic and painul

that modern breeds o chickens

will repeatedly choose ood thathas painkillers added to it over

regular eed.

As many as 26% o

chickns raisd or

mat ar svrly

crippld and 90%cannot walknormally y th

tim thy rach

slaughtr-wight.

Tody’s Chckes dTurkeys Hve BeeBred for P

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Many birds have diculty standing, due to leg

disorders induced by unnatural weight.

“True human goodness, in all its purity and reedom,

can come to the ore only when its recipient has no

power. Humanity’s true moral test, its undamental

test, consists o its attitude towards those who are

at its mercy: animals.”

- Milan Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being , 1984



Becuse You Woud’tWt to Wtch WhtThey Do to Sck Pgs

According to The New York Times ,

“Sick pigs, being unproitable

‘production units’ are clubbed

to death on the spot.”

Other methods used to kill sick

pigs include “thumping” (slamming

animals’ heads against the foor until

they die), drowning them with a hose,

gassing them, and standing on

their necks.

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“A lot o ths tims,

I would s th pigs not di

on th rst hit, also not di

on th scond hit. You harth squaling, you s th

lood fy, you s th ys

ulg out...”

- A South Dakota hog arm workr

19To Prevent WaterPollution

The United Nations reports that animal

agriculture “is probably the largest sectoral

source o water pollution,” contributing to:

dead zones in coastal areas, degradation o

coral rees, human health problems,emergence o antibiotic drug resistance.

The major sources of pollution include:

animal waste, antibiotics,

chemicals rom leather

tanneries, ertilizers

and pesticides used or

eed crops.

x

Feces runo rom actory arms oten pollutes

local groundwater.

See the shocking truth

behind meat production

at MeatVideo.com.



Fctory-Frmed amsare Deed adequteVeterry Cre

To Tret ams sWe Woud Wt toBe Treted

Viewed as mere production

units by an industry seekingto maximize prots, actory-

armed animals are oten

denied individual veterinary

care.

Many animals are let to suer

or days or weeks with painul

and sometimes debilitating

inections and illnesses.

I we wouldn’t want these things or

ourselves, then why should we orce

them upon animals?

• If we wouldn’t want to be

orced to live in a cage…

• If we wouldn’t want to be

mutilated without painkillers…

• If we wouldn’t want to

have our necks sliced open

with a knie…

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One should treat all

beings as he himsel

would be treated.

- Mahavira

In order to reduce costs, sickness and injuries

oten go untreated, causing prolonged suering.



Becuse no Oe ShoudHve to K for lvg

To Mt HethyBody Weght

The nature o slaughtering animals, day in and day

out, requires workers to suppress their empathy

or even “develop a sadistic sense o reality,” as one

ormer slaughterhouse worker puts it.

This is an extremely dangerous mindset that can

have serious consequences both inside and outside

o the slaughterhouse. A recent sociological study

ound that counties that have slaughterhouses

consistently have higher rates o violent crime,

such as murder and rape, even when comparedwith demographically similar counties.

“Th worst thing, wors than th physicaldangr, is th motional toll. I you work

in th stick pit [whr th hogs ar killd]

or any priod o tim, you dvlop an

attitud that lts you kill things ut dosn’t

lt you car. “

- Formr hog slaughtrhous workr

Obesity is one o the most pressing health

problems in the United States, and it will

soon become the country’s leading cause

o preventable death.

Studies indicate that vegetarians have low rates

o obesity and on average weigh approximately

3 to 20 percent less than meat-eaters.

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You’ Be Good Compy

Some o the world’s greatest thinkers and

humanitarians have recognized the moral

importance o a vegetarian diet, including:

Albert Einstein, Jane Goodall, Plutarch,

Cesar Chavez, Pythagoras, Buddha,

Leonardo da Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi,

Mary Shelley and Coretta Scott King

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“I have no doubt that

it is a part o the

destiny o the human

race, in its gradual

improvement, to leave

of eating animals. “

- Henry David Thoreau,

Walden, 1854

To lveOur Vues

Choosing to go vegetarian is simply

a matter o living according to the

values so many o us hold dear, such

as airness and kindness to others.

Most people would never think o

cramming six egg-laying hens into

a le-drawer-sized cage, ripping the

testicles out o a screaming baby

piglet with no painkillers, or cutting

the throat o a cow as she stares back

at them with her big brown eyes.

How then, as compassionate

individuals, can we justiy paying

others to carry out these atrocities

on our behal?

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Enjoy vegetarian versionsof your favorite foods!

Try new foods from around the world.

Being vegetarian is more un

when you’re not alone. See ia riend or amily member will

try going vegetarian with you,

or nd vegetarian organizations

in your area to get involved with.

Meetup.com is a good starting

point, since they list numerous

vegan and vegetarian “meetups”

across the country.

Becoming vegetarian doesn’t mean you

have to give up the tastes you love. There

are now delicious vegan versions o almost

every meat, dairy and egg product with all

the favor but without the cruelty. Next time

you are at the grocery store, ll your cart

with these healthy and humane alternatives.

Ater exploring oods rom other cultures, most new vegetarians nd that

they really have more ood choices – not ewer. Here are just a ew choicesrom around the world.

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Tipsfor making the switch

Chinese - veggie stir-fry, garlic eggplant, fried tofu Thai - veggie pad

thai, tofu coconut curry Japanese - veggie sushi (avocado, carrot,

cucumber, mushroom, tofu, inari), edamame, miso soup Ethiopian - lentils,

collard greens, yellow split peas, injera Indian - chana masala, aloo gobi,

dal, veggie samosas Mediterranean - hummus, falafel, baba ganoush,

mujadara, stufed grape leaves Mexican - bean burritos, veggie tacos

Dehorning – The buds o calves’ horns are burned o with a caustic acid or scooped rom their

skulls.

Tattooing Workers painully tattoo sow,

striking them with sharp, ink-soaked spikes.

Meet othervegetarians.3



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mealideas

To see references for facts in this brochure, visit: 25resos.com/refereces

Try these llings and

toppings: beans, rice,

salsa, spinach, cilantro,

resh tomatoes, olives,

guacamole, and bell

peppers.

Order your

avorite veggie

pizza without

the cheese. Or

try making

your own!

Put veggies and tou ina steamer or a ew

minutes. Serve over rice

and top with lemon juice,

soy sauce, or your

avorite salad dressing.

Heat up your avorite

veggies in a little oil

over medium/high heat.

Add your avorite stir-ry

sauce at the end and

serve over rice.

Sauté a delicious

veggie burger in a

little bit o oil and

serve on a bun with

all the xings!

This hearty, high-protein

soup can be purchased

at most grocery stores.

Serve with sliced whole

wheat bread or chips

or dipping.

VeganPizza

Tacos andBurritos

Steamed VeggieCombo

Stir-Fry

VeggieBurgers

LentilSoup

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Web ReSOURCeS:

MetVdeo.com - Watch the video the meat industry doesn’t want you to see.

ChooseVeg.com - Online guide to vegetarian living, with recipes, videos,

tips, & more.

VegGude.org - The ultimate restaurant and shopping guide or vegetarians.

VeganHealth.org - Ino on how to live a healthy vegan liestyle.

Mercy For Animals is a nationalnon-prot organization dedicated

to preventing cruelty to armed

animals and promoting

compassionate ood choices

and policies.

Visit MercyForAnimals.org to

“How wonderul it is that nobody need wait a single

moment beore starting to improve the world.”

- Anne Frank (1929-1945)

25 reasons for veganism

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