Why Be Vegan? - Whole Plant Foods Nutrition Why Be Vegan?

4 Reasons to Eat a Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet

You may be wondering why be vegan, or why stick to a whole plant diet? People choose plant-based diets for different reasons, or often a combination of reasons. The four main reasons are:

1 – Health – A whole foods plant-based diet has been shown to prevent, and often even reverse, all the leading causes of chronic disease and death – as long as you meet a few basic requirements.

2 – Compassionate Eating – No animals are factory farmed or slaughtered for a plant-based vegan diet. Not mustangs, burros, or other grazing animals are killed, and no rainforest habitats are destroyed to make room for cattle grazing.

3 – Environmental Impact – A plant-based vegan diet conserves precious water resources, prevents ocean dead zones, helps to lower carbon emissions that may contribute to climate change, helps to save the forests that produce oxygen we need to breathe, protects habitats of wild grazing animals like mustangs, burros, and elk, and avoids the spread of salmonella and fecal contamination of our water supply with E. coli..

4 – Human Hunger Concerns – A vegan diet requires far less land and water than animal agriculture, while providing even more nutritional value.

Not bad for a simple switch to plant foods.

What is a Vegan?

The official definition of a vegan is someone who does not use any animal products. In terms of food, it’s all about what you don’t eat, rather than about what you do eat. It can include a lot of processed junk food and may or may not be a healthy diet.

Ethical vegans do not use wool, feathers, honey, leather, or anything else that comes from animals. Their main concern is not harming animals in any way.

Personally, I see no harm in using wool, cashmere, mohair, etc., from animals that are treated kindly and never slaughtered. I also use and recommend raw organic honey and have explained why in my blog. So, I am not technically a vegan according to the official definition. I choose a plant-based diet for a combination of health, environmental, and animal welfare reasons.

You may choose a vegan diet just because you care about animals, but please make sure you also care enough about yourself to do it the healthy way.

Many vegans eat some very questionable meat and dairy substitutes, plus a lot of refined junk food. They are eating a plant-based diet, but not a whole foods diet. That makes all the difference in sustaining long term health. Vegan junk food will eventually undermine your health.

Always read the ingredients of packaged foods and avoid anything with chemicals, GMOs, and refined foods like oils, sugar, and white flour. Scroll through the What Vegans Eat page for more on “good and bad” food choices.

A Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet is both Vegan and Healthy!

A vegan diet can be both compassionate and very good for you if based on a wide variety of whole plant foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. It can also be the easiest diet you could ever choose. Fresh fruits, nuts, salads, and smoothies require little or no time and effort to prepare. Beans and grains can be cooked in bulk and used over several days. You can even find organic canned beans in BPA-free cans. Add them to soups and salads, or blend into humus or other bean dips.

If you are still wondering why a whole foods vegan diet is best, please read through the rest of the information on this website. It could save your life.