You may already be aware that following a compassionate vegan lifestyle is the kindest choice for the animals, our environment and our health. However some of the following true facts about vegan living may still shock those of you who thought you knew everything there is to know about veganism!
Let’s get started…
- Some of the most surprising and unlikely vegan foods found in most grocery stores or supermarkets include Oreos, dark chocolate, Ritz crackers, Kraft Creamy Italian Dressing, marshmallows and Hersheys chocolate syrup.
- The total amount of livestock slaughtered annually for our consumption is 150,000,000,000…that’s 150 BILLION animals per year. Or 500,000 every hour. On average, a vegan saves the lives of 198 animals per year by not eating or wearing them.
- Vegans live 20% longer lives than meat-eaters. A massive study by Loma Linda University followed 7000 vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, paleo and pescatarian men and women for over 6 years and conclusively found that mortality rates were significantly lower among the groups who ate a meat-free diet.
- The average cholesterol level of a vegan is 77 points lower than the average meat-eater and 30 points lower than the average vegetarian.
- Studies show that a vegan diet leads to increased libido due to a higher intake of zinc and vitamin B complexes as well as high quantities of fruit fructose, which leads to better stamina.
- The population of vegans in the United States has doubled in size since 2009.
- There is no known medical term for protein deficiency. Meaning vegans really do not need to worry about getting “enough” protein. In fact, most of the protein in the animals that people eat are derived from the animal’s plant-based diet!
- If the whole world switched to a vegan diet overnight, there would no longer be such thing as World Hunger. This is because the annual amount of grain we used to feed livestock being raised for slaughter could feed the mouths of 1.3 billion people.
- Some celebrity names you probably didn’t know were vegan include Ariana Grande, Ellen DeGeneres, Jared Leto, Alicia Silverstone and Carrie Underwood.
- Becoming vegan will literally help save the planet. 20% of all man-made pollution is a direct result of animal agriculture, beating all forms of transportation put together.
- The 20 year-long “China Study’ found conclusive evidence correlating cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other western diseases with western countries that eat a high intake of animal protein.
- Vegans get their calcium from foods such as broccoli, bok choy, chinese cabbage, collards, kale, and calcium-fortified orange juice.
- A lifelong vegan will save on average: 760 chickens, 5 cows, 20 pigs, 30 sheep, 46 turkeys, 15 ducks, 7 rabbits and half a ton of fish.
- A lot of alcohol on the market fails the vegan test. Many alcoholic drinks list animal by-products in their ingredients, for example some wines and cocktails are colored with crushed beetles (!)
- Physiologically, the human body is more closely aligned with those of herbivorous species, rather than omnivores or carnivores.
