Being Sustainable in Our Lives: The Vegan Lifestyle
Veganism is a type of living method which excludes all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty containing food, clothing, and other purposes. In other words, vegan diets exclude all animal products, including meat, eggs and dairy products. Recently, more and more people have begun to show their interests on health, wellbeing and a good quality lifestyle. For that reason, vegan lifestyle and vegetarianism have become big trends among the public.
There are several different types of vegan diets: whole-food vegan diets, raw food vegan diet, 80/10/10, the starch solution, raw till 4, the thrive diet and junk-food vegan diet. Whole food vegan diet is a diet based on a wide variety of whole plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Raw food vegan diet is a diet based on raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds or plant foods cooked at temperature below 118’F (48’C) while 80/10/10 is a raw-food diet that limits fat-rich plants such as nuts and avocados and relies mainly on raw fruits and soft greens instead. The starch solution is a low-fat, high-carb vegan diet similar to the 80/10/10 but focuses on cooked starches like potatoes, rice and corn instead of fruit. Raw till 4 is a low fat vegan diet inspired by the 80/10/10 and starch solution where raw foods are consumed till 4pm, with the option of a cooked plant based meal for dinner. The thrive diet is a raw food vegan diet which has plant based and whole foods are raw or minimally cooked at low temperatures.
The trend for veganism is growing globally and people have started to consume more vegetable-based protein rather than animal-based protein. Moreover, the number of people who order vegan food delivery to their homes has increased. Searches for keywords like “vegan delivery”, “vegetarian delivery”, and “order vegetarian food” increased by 128%, 233%, 51%, and 27% respectively from January to May 2020.
One of the reasons why more and more people are preferring a vegan lifestyle is because of the increasing consciousness for health. Vegan lifestyle promotes a lower body mass index (BMI) than non-vegan lifestyle and because of this reason, an increasing number of people turned to veganism to lose body mass. Since vegan diets are composed with natural fiber which makes feel fuller with lower calories, it is much more effective in terms of healthy eating. Not only that, vegan diet helps for Type 2 Diabetes since vegans benefit from lower sugar levels, higher insulin sensitivity and up to a 78% lower risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes than non-vegans. Moreover, a vegan diet is helpful for heart health as well. Observational studies report that vegans may have up to 75% lower risk of developing high blood pressure and 42% lower risk of getting a heart disease because vegan diets are much more effective at reducing blood sugar, LDL and total cholesterol.
Other than health, there are other reasons why people are pursuing a vegan lifestyle. Getting and staying slim effortlessly, showing kindness and compassion to sentient beings, consciousness for resources and world hunger, ethical problems in animal-based products, saving the environment, stopping climate change and trying new amazing dishes are the reasons why more people turned towards the vegan lifestyle.
If you are the person who cares about health, animal protection and environmental issues, it’s safe to say that the vegan lifestyle will be the next thing you’ll consider putting on your list.
