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So why would anyone want to go veggie or vegan? Why are sales of veggie food increasing year after year? Many people seem to be making the step and more and more alternative firms are chasing the lucrative veggie market.

There are many reasons why people make the change. Here are just some of them.

Health Issues. We all know that steroids, antibiotics,  growth hormones & other chemicals are bad for our health and the environment. Force feeding these into factory farmed animals is purely done to make the animals grow bigger & quicker for better profits. If we then feed this product to humans we get problems with our health. It is claimed that 80%+ of the deaths in the developed countries are caused by our diet of animal products. The US authorities have now discovered that diseases such a colon cancer can be stopped by removing animal products from our diet. Sadly factory farming is causing many other diseases including Asian bird flu, BSE, foot and mouth and creating problems with our immune systems due to the overuse of antibiotics. One of the major gains of going veggie is the reported health benefits & energy level increase by many new veggie and vegan people. A veggie/vegan diet is much more acceptable to the human digestive system and the health gains are amazing.

Cruelty Issues. The idea that animals are abused, kept in poor conditions & slaughtered in a very barbaric fashion horrifies many people. Constantly many companies are exposed by animal welfare organisations as not treating animals within legal guide lines. The myth that animals live out their live in full, contented and happy seems to be fading. The truth is dairy cows are kept in a false state of pregnancy to provide milk all year round. Baby chicks are thrown into a "chipper" if born the wrong sex. Chickens are stuck in small cages & force fed until the day of slaughter. Slaughter houses don't always do the job right leaving animals in terrible pain as they die slowly. "Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they're
only animals." -Theodor Adorno

Spiritual Issues. The basis of most religions is to help all sentient beings to have the best life possible. There is much recent scientific proof that animals are sentient beings and most religions now recognise this fact. Pope John Paul the 2nd stated that “the animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren.” He went on to say that all animals are “fruit of the creative action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect” and that they are “as near to God as men are.” 

Nutritional Issues. Animals that eat raw meat naturally rip the meat off their pray and swallow it in large chunks. Their digestive system then releases large amounts of digestive acids to process the raw meat. Humans do it the hard way by cooking the meat, killing off most of the nutrients. We do not have the capacity to produce large amounts of acids and the body then holds onto the meat until it is forced out of the body by other foods. This causes major problems as rotting meat is stored for long periods of time. This is why many people feel very tired after a large Sunday roast as the body needs to shut down to try to digest the dead animal protein. It is now realised that all of our nutritional needs can be found in a good veggie/vegan diet.

Environmental Issues. It takes up to 8 times more food to feed an animal to feed humans than if we feed the humans direct. It also takes many more times worth of water to do this and all the time we are adding chemicals into the system, cutting down rain forests to house the animals and at the same time people are starving to death around the world due to a lack of food. Animal farming poisons the earth, destroys essential forests and allows millions of children and adults to die of hunger each year.

The Alternative is a Veggie or Vegan lifestyle. with a little work its not difficult and anyone can do it. The best way is to talk to others who have done it and take it step by step. you will be surprised at how helpful others can be and there is a massive amount of support. check out the Veggie & Vegan section in our forum or take a look at the useful links below.

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