Just five years ago, the word “vegan” was relatively unknown, but today the trend in eating a diet completely free of animal products has become incredibly popular and we’re starting to see more and more vegan food in our stores and on our menus. If you ask 10 vegans why they chose to give up animal products you’ll likely get 10 different answers.
Like any dietary choice, everyone chooses what to eat for different reasons. In this article, we’ll talk about some of the pros and cons of a vegan diet to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
First, a Word On “The Game Changers”
You may be here after seeing, or hearing about, a documentary called The Game Changers, produced by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger on vegan athletes. If you want to read up about this documentary seriously, I recommend this link here which covers the documentary in great detail, [link: www.biolayne.com/articles/research/the-game-changers-review-a-scientific-analysis/] but essentially, this is a documentary you should take with a huge grain of salt, just like all the other food documentaries you’ve likely seen over the years.
Pros and Cons of a Vegan Diet
Now let’s take a look at the pros and cons of a vegan diet. We’ll start with the cons and move into the pros.
Cons
- If you love meat, you’ll find it hard to give it up permanently.
- If you don’t live in a city, finding vegan to-go food is a nightmare. In most small towns/cities even finding vegetarian options can be difficult, so if you’re someone who travels often and has to eat whatever is available, it’s not going to be easy to go vegan (but not impossible).
- The jury is still out on whether or not you can get a complete (balanced) diet on a vegan diet. It is possible, but many vegans aren’t watching what they’re eating throughout the day to check they are getting the right nutrients and enough protein.
Pros
- If you feel guilty for eating animals and contributing to poor welfare standards, you will feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.
- A vegan diet will help you make better choices, if you stick to it. Finding vegan junk food is often a test, so you’ll eat healthily more often than you eat badly, as long as you don’t eat chips all day.
- You can pretty much eat as much as you want. If you’re eating a clean diet of healthy grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes, you can eat a lot of food in a day and (typically) not put on extra weight because the food is lower in calories.
Is Veganism the Only Way to Get Healthy?
No, absolutely not. There are numerous different ways to get healthy and lose weight, and you don’t have to go vegan to do so. The key to being healthy is to have as much fresh, unprocessed food in your diet as possible, so what you’re eating doesn’t have hidden sugar, salt, fats, and oils. The key to a healthy diet is finding healthy foods you love and enjoy and can eat regularly, so choose a healthy diet that works for you and stick to it.