You may know that vegetarians don’t eat meat, but many still choose to eat eggs and drink milk. They aren’t eating animals after all. But vegans don’t eat eggs. Have you ever wondered what’s so wrong about eating eggs? Here are a few key reasons why vegans choose to not eat eggs.

• By purchasing eggs, you are caging up innocent chickens into small confined cages, where they cannot even turn around or scratch themselves. Try doing that yourself for a while and see how it feels. The chickens are debeaked and then forced to lay eggs until they are on the verge of death. At that point, they are then deemed useless and slaughtered. Your purchase of eggs goes directly into the pockets of those who imprison and then kill chickens.
• Vegans also don’t approve of free range eggs either. The box will tell you the chickens were fed a natural non-meat diet and that they are not held in cages. It will say they are free to roam and have access to the outside. While this is true, and free range eggs are better than the typical eggs, the hens are still packed into confined houses and only have minimal access to the outside.
• Even producing free range eggs requires having fertile eggs. Half of those will hatch into male chicks. Those are slaughtered as babies or fed until they’re fat, then killed to eventually make a chicken sandwich.
• Eggs do provide a good amount of good protein, but at the risk of high cholesterol. There are plenty of plants with protein that don’t have the high cholesterol of eggs.
• The animal farming institution contributes to environmental degradation.
• World hunger. Instead of creating so many animals and feeding them to fatten them up, we should be giving that food to starving children.
• It can disgust you to know that the laying of eggs by hens is similar to a human female’s menstrual cycle.

Each vegan has their own personal reason or reasons why they’ve become a vegan. Perhaps they witnessed an animal being slaughtered and it left a painful memory. Perhaps they have a pet and could never imagine killing them for food. Perhaps it’s because their doctor told them to stop eating meat because of their diabetes or heart problems. While the specific reasons differ, most vegans choose the vegan lifestyle for the three reasons listed below.

Animals

The human population in the US is about 300 million, yet each year 10 billion innocent animals are slaughtered. But it’s not just that the animals are killed, it’s how they live. The animals are jailed and live in horrendous conditions before they’re eventually led away to be killed.

Environment

The meat industry is the leading cause of global warming, more harmful than all methods of transportation combined. It takes about 15 pounds of grain to eventually produce 1 pound of meat. No child in the world would go hungry if we gave the grains to them instead of the animals.

Health

There are countless health benefits to becoming a vegan. Vegans live longer, get less heart attacks and get cancer less. Eating meat and dairy will make you fat, so vegans even look better than meat eaters. But it’s more than just that, it’s also about feeling good. Drinking milk can give you a stomach ache. Eating meat can make you feel full and tired. But when you eat a fruit or vegetable it gives you energy and makes you feel great.

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. – Albert Einstein

A vegetarian is anybody who will not eat anything that can have children. – David Brenner

The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men. – Leonardo Da Vinci

For the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy. – Plutarch

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. – Thomas Edison

Suppose that tomorrow a group of beings from another planet were to land on earth, beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals. Would they have the right to treat you as you treat the animals you breed, keep and kill for food? – John Harris

The wild, cruel animal is not behind the bars of a cage. He is in front of it. – Axel Munthe

Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him when he shows no mercy to what is under him? – Pierre Troubetzkoy

I sometimes think, would I drink the milk from the breast of a woman I don’t know? No. So I think, why would I drink it from a cow. – Devon Aoki

I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. – Isaac Bashevis Singer

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. – Paul McCartney

Thou shalt not kill does not apply to murder of one’s own kind only, but to all living beings. – Leo Tolstoy

You’ve undoubtedly heard your whole life that milk is good for you. For decades parents and the government has been telling children to drink milk every single day. Even celebrities are getting in the act, as they pose with a milk mustache in ads for the dairy industry. Dairy is everywhere, from ice cream to cheese to butter and sour cream. So you would think that drinking milk is healthy. But you would be wrong. But health concerns is just one reason to stop drinking milk. Here are several other reasons to stop drinking milk.

1. Cow’s milk is intended for baby cows. Human beings are the only animals on Earth who drink milk after they are no longer infants. Humans are also the only ones who drink the milk of a different species. It’s not natural.
2. Humans have a delicate hormonal balance. It can be thrown off since the naturally present hormones in cow’s milk is stronger than human hormones. Not only that, but cows are given steroids and other hormones to make them bigger and to increase their milk production.
3. The highest occurrence of osteoporosis around the world happens in countries where its citizens consume dairy products.
4. Soon after cows give birth, their children are taken away and chained to eventually become veal. Thus, you’re drinking milk from grieving mothers.
5. Most cows live in inhumane conditions with no freedom to roam. Cows don’t live to their life expectancy, they are killed when they become fat enough. By drinking milk, you are giving money directly to the people who imprison them.

I’m sure you already knew that avocados were good for you. Here’s a list of some of the health benefits of eating avocados.

• Avocados contain nearly 20 essential nutrients, including: folic acid, potassium, fiber and vitamin E.
• Eating avocados can give you beautiful hair, beautiful skin and a healthy heart.
• Avocados are high in beta-sitosterol, which is a compound that lowers cholesterol levels.
• Folate is good for the heart, as is vitamin E, monounsaturated fats and glutathione. All of which are found in the avocado.
• Having avocados can also prevent you from getting cancers like breast cancer, prostate cancer and oral cancer.
• Carrots are good for the eyes, but so are avocados. Avocados have a lot of carotenoid lutein, which protects against macular degeneration and cataracts.

Are you convinced on the health benefits of avocados? Okay, great. Here’s how to pick a good avocado.

• Look for avocados with dull dark green skin that are heavy. This means they’re ripe.
• Gently squeeze the avocado with the palm of your hand. It needs to be not too hard and not too soft.
• Shake the avocado and if you hear the pit move, it’s a bad one.
• Most fully ripened avocados at the grocery store might already be pretty banged up. So grab a few green ones and store them at home. They’ll be ready in a few days.

Many meat-eaters say they need to eat meat because it helps them get strong. It helps them be physically fit. It helps them through the rigors of a long season. But there have been several athletes who have chosen not to eat meat yet they still excel at their sport. Here are six athletes who chose to be vegetarian and still excelled at their respective sport.

1. Joe Namath. This NFL hall of famer was one of the best quarterbacks who ever lived and is the most famous vegetarian football player.
2. Robert Parish. Do you need meat to feed a 7 foot tall basketball player? Apparently not. This NBA hall of famer was a vegetarian while winning championships for the Boston Celtics playing alongside Larry Bird.
3. Martina Navratilova. She won 18 grand slam singles titles and an additional 31 doubles titles. One of the greatest tennis players of all time was a vegetarian through most of her playing career.
4. Tony LaRussa. Perhaps best known for being one of the greatest baseball managers of all time. Tony led the A’s in the American League and the Cardinals in the National League to world series championships. Not only is he a great manager, he also did play in the major leagues before his coaching carer.
5. Bill Pearl. Former Mr. Universe Bill Pearl proved you don’t need to eat meat to have big muscles. He quit eating meat at the age of 39 and won the title of Mr. Universe at the age of 41 two years later.
6. Carl Lewis. This Olympic champion adopted a vegan diet to prepare for the Word Championships in 1991 and claimed he ran the best meet of his life. He ended up winning 9 gold medals during his career.

A common argument meat eaters make is this: I can’t stop eating meat, where else would I get my protein? I need my protein to be strong and active. This post will unravel those misconceptions.

An earlier post discussed six vegetarian athletes who managed to excel in their sport despite not eating meat. One of whom was Carl Lewis, a 9 time Olympic gold medal champion. That should dispel the myth that you need meat to be an exceptional athlete.

So is there a way to get protein other than from our beloved animals? Yes there is. Protein isn’t just in meat. You can find it in all sorts of natural foods. In fact, there’s protein in everything. Fruits, have it, vegetables have it, nuts have it and seeds have it. There’s enough protein in natural foods that it can meet the demands of aspiring athletes and even pregnant women.

While there is indeed protein in animals too, that protein is very acidic to the human body, which causes acids to rise in the blood stream. These excess acids stress kidneys. Don’t think that a diet high in proteins is good for you though. High protein often times goes hand in hand with high fat consumption. This can contribute to an increased risk of getting cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and arthritis later in life.

Time and time again it’s been proven that converting to the vegan lifestyle is good for your overall health. As long as you follow a balanced vegan diet, you’ll increase the chances of living a longer and happier life. This is due to the health benefits and disease prevention aspects of veganism.

Vegan diets help reduce the risk of heart disease, they help prevent heart attacks and strokes and will reduce high blood pressure. Since vegans don’t eat meat, their diets have reduced saturated fats and vegans have lower cholesterol levels. For good heart health eat whole grains and nuts. These are the key foods that help your heart and blood pressure.

Vegan diets help those with type 2 diabetes as well. Diabetics can lose weight and lower their sugar levels by eating a perfectly balanced diet of fruits and vegetables. The person with type 2 diabetes will lower their cholesterol, lower their blood pressure and develop a healthier weight.

Vegan diets can also give you a boost of energy. This boost in energy levels leads to things like becoming more active. This increase in activity means more exercising and the release of endorphins. This leads to increased happiness. Ultimately it lifts your overall self esteem. A lack of energy could be due to low iron levels. Foods that are high in iron include oranges, strawberries, tomatoes, cantaloupe and potatoes.

Oh but there’s more. Going vegan can also do the following:

• reduce bad breath
• give you healthier skin
• alleviate allergy symptoms
• have fewer migraines
• reduced body odor
• feel happier

Many aspiring chefs are pleased to learn about the substantial culinary arts salary that can be attained.

Preparing raw vegan meals can be surprisingly simple. There are so many simple recipes and many raw vegan ingredients to choose from. You can make entrees, soups, salads, desserts and smoothies. These can all be created with simple raw vegan recipes.

Did you know that cooking foods to higher than 130 degrees can destroy the vitamins and nutrients naturally found in foods? You’ll end up eating empty foods that only provide calories but no nutritional benefits.

Raw foods are great for your skin. Instead of buying a moisturizer to temporarily fix your dry skin, try eating raw vegan foods, as the natural health from the food will transfer to your skin, giving it a more natural, shiny and healthy appearance. Think of your skin like a plant, if you give it fresh water every day it receives all the nutrients it needs to produce green leaves and flowers. But if you give it dirty water sparingly the plant will not look as healthy.

A raw food diet can also control blood sugar and blood cholesterol levels. It can give you pain-free joints, boost your immune system, give you better sleep patterns and grant you unbelievable energy. One of the reasons for the increase in energy is because your body requires 4 times less energy to digest raw foods rather than processed food. Now you know why you feel so tired after having an unhealthy meal.

There are about 8 and a half million vegans in the United States. These people are not tree hugging hippies. They’re just regular people who want to live a healthier lifestyle. But living the vegan lifestyle is about so much more than just being healthy. It’s about being compassionate to animals and to mother Earth as well.

A vegan diet consists of fruits, vegetables and legumes, but does not consist of animals nor animal products. This includes chicken and fish. Vegans also don’t have dairy products like milk, cheese and butter and do not eat eggs either. So not only do vegans not eat animals, but products derived from animals either.

But being a vegan is more than just not eating meat nor other animal derived foods. It’s also about avoiding wearing leather or other products made from animals. Not only that, but vegans also go to great lengths to avoid products that were tested on animals. Basically, the goal is to have a cruelty-free lifestyle for animals.

Since vegans avoid meat and dairy, you could imagine how healthy this lifestyle can be. The benefits include decreasing the risk of cancer, heart attacks and lowering obesity levels.

But this kind of diet is not just good for you but it’s also good for the environment. Livestock production generates more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation combined. It has been said that the true solution to global warming is adopting the vegan lifestyle.