Why Plants?

FACTS:

Human Health

A plant-based diet is a powerful solution not only to optimize your own health, but also for reducing environmental pollution, animal cruelty and improving food security in our world.

Studies have shown that a low-fat, plant-based diet, combined with regular exercise and a healthy overall lifestyle, can prevent, delay, and even reverse heart disease and other cardiovascular events. (1)

A study in 2003 funded by the NIH, determined that a plant-based diet controlled blood sugar three times more effectively than a traditional diabetes diet that limited calories and carbohydrates. (2)

In 2006, an article in Nutrition Reviews by Berkow and Barnard reported that a vegan or vegetarian diet is very effective for weight loss. Observational studies indicate that the weight and BMI of both male and female vegetarians, on average, is approximately 3% to 20% lower than that of non-vegetarians.(3)

Researchers asked nearly 70,000 volunteers about their diets, then tracked them over time and found lower cancer rates among people who didn't eat meat at all. (4)

Studies have shown that those who are vegan have a higher intake of fiber, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and certain vitamins and minerals. This is caused by vegans naturally consuming higher amounts of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.(5)

Vegan diets may improve activity levels in those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis by reducing pain, joint swelling, and morning stiffness. (6)

Decreasing the amount of animal protein and increasing plant-based proteins such as soy products can increase kidney function and decrease the chance of kidney disease and proteinuria (a condition where there is an abnormally high amount of protein found in urine).(7)

Animal Welfare

Can we justify killing animals for food? What about raising animals in poor conditions to produce food? What do we base these decisions on? Do we believe it’s okay to control the fate of animals who are less intelligent than we are?

This has become a raging human debate. Some people feel that eating animals is a natural part of the cycle of life. They argue that animals eat other animals and it is no different for a human to eat a cow. Animal rights activists however, maintain that we should have compassion for all living things. Why would we choose one being over another? They also argue that animals feel pain and that it is cruel to harm them for our nutritional needs, particularly when humans do not require animal products to survive or even thrive.

The human race has evolved from more primitive times, and we are now asking ourselves more often to consider right from wrong. We are asking our fellow humans to be more compassionate. We are capable of thriving without harming animals and we have a responsibility to adjust our choices to meet our new understanding and capacity for conscious compassion.

Environmental Protection

When comparing the water footprint of animal products to crops, the amount of water needed to raise livestock overtakes the amount of water it takes to grow fruits, vegetables, wheat, and legumes. From a caloric point of view, with beef, the average water footprint per calorie is 20 times greater than root vegetables and grains. Research shows that it is more productive to consume calories from plant-based foods to reduce our water footprint. (8)

Food Security

Replacing all animal based product items with plant based replacement diets can add enough food to feed 350 million additional people in the US.(9) 36% of the world's calories are used to feed livestock and only 12% of those feed calories ultimately contribute to the human diet (as animal products). If all of those calories were used to directly to feed humanity, we could feed an additional 4 billion people. (10) While food loss is a key contributor to global food insecurity, however converting to plant- based diets is an even more effective way of ensuring enough food supply for all.

92% of the population's fresh water is used for agriculture while 1/2 of that is used for animal products. A decrease in animal consumption would result in a decrease in freshwater used for raising livestock, resulting in more consumable water available for humans. (11)

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