Some "Not So Fun" Facts Everyone Should Know

Here's the thing, I know there are countless people who scorn people for choosing to eliminate meat from their diet. I've been the subject of ridicule myself; oftentimes from my own family! What's truly tragic, however, is that most people who criticize vegan or vegetarian diets don't even ask what motive the person had for the diet choice, nor do they realize (or want to admit) how much of a negative impact their meat consumption and animal-product use has. The below list is just a mere glance at a list so long, of reasons to consider reducing/eliminating your meat intake.

• Weight is always an attractive factor of vegan diet touting. It's true that vegans tend to be slimmer (or on their way to being slimmer) than their meat munching counterparts. If you adopt a healthy vegan diet and are at all overweight, it's likely the weight will fall off effortlessly and permanently. Why, you ask? Well, vegan diets include fiber rich foods that make you feel fuller longer. Also, such diets tend to be lower in fat which automatically saves you calories because a gram of carbohydrate or protein has 4 calories while fat (a component of meat that is very prevalent in meat and other animal products) has 9 calories per gram. (It's important to emphasize "healthy" because many vegan foods are not the healthiest[candies, movie theater popcorn..the butter is usually fake, making the snack vegan]. However, it's rather tricky to not eat healthfully as a vegan because those foods that can nourish you, are healthy!)
• Terrifyingly enough, scientists tell us that one out of three children born after 2000 will develop the preventable disease of type 2 diabetes. Sure, a vegan diet might not eliminate the risk 100%, but there's a very good chance it will.
• Switching to a plant-based diets can work wonders for your cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar within weeks.
• Plant foods have anti-disease and aging properties that can allow you to lead a longer and happier life - with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, etc. The average vegetarian, lives ten years longer than meat-eaters.
  
• The pumping of antibiotics into animals is leading to widespread antibiotic resistance.
• ALL food-poisoning (food-borne viruses, antibiotic resistant infections, and bacteria) originate from animals (including spinach, tomatoes, and other crops covered in bacteria which were contaminated by water containing animal fecal matter). Such animal illnesses occur because of unsanitary and cramped conditions that leave animals stressed and susceptible.
  
• Raising animals for food is responsible for 18% of global warming. If every American were to substitute chicken at one meal a week for a vegetarian alternative, the carbon dioxide savings that would result would be equivalent to the removal of more than half a million cars from the roads of the US.
• This disturbs me almost more than any other fact - "If 1 in 10 people around the globe stopped eating animals, it would free up enough food to feed the 1 billion hungry." ("Veganist" by Kathy Freston)
• As for animal suffering, there's no one fact I can say. So many animals suffer so incredibly much for our consumption and use. They are drugged up and manipulated to grow too large for their bodies to support, many animals are dismembered while still alive, animals are put alive into scalding tanks when stunners aren't effective, the list goes on and on and painfully on.
• Find out more for yourself. Watch trailers and documentaries, read books, and research. Don't take my word for it because a choice like this is yours to make.