Alyssa Pruitt

ProfessorJoshi

PreEnglish

30July2017

Isaplantbaseddietlogical?

Throughoutmostofmylife,Ithoughteatinganimalproductswasanormalandrequired

wayofeating.Ineverknewpeoplereallydidnteatanyanimalproductsatall,andiftheydidnt

Iassumedtheyjustdidnteatmeat.However,onedayasIstumbledacrossavideoabout

veganismandIlearnedsomuch.Notonlyisaplantbaseddietveryhealthyforyou,itisbetter

fortheenvironment.Alongwiththis,animalsarenottorturedorkilledforamealwhenyoulive

onaplantbaseddiet.Mostpeoplethinktheonlyindustrydestructivetoanimalsisthemeat

industry,howeverthedairyindustryisjustasbad,ifnotworse.Peoplewhoeataplantbaseddiet

lowertheirhealthrisks,causelessimpactontheenvironment,andsupportanimalsrights.

Aplantbaseddiethasmanyhealthbenefits.Wheneatingaplantbaseddietyouare

decreasingtherisksofdiabetesandotherdiseases.Astudyexperimentedinacaseinvolving

individualswithtype2diabetes.Thecasewastryingtodetermineifaplantbaseddietlowered

therisksofhavingtype2diabetes:W
esoughttoinvestigatewhetheralowfatvegandiet

improvesglycemiccontrolandcardiovascularriskfactorsinindividualswithtype2

diabetes(Barnard).So,thetestwastoseeifaeatingnoanimalproductsreallydidbenefitan

individualshealth,especiallythosewithhealthissuesalready.Thetestwasbetweenavegan

plantbaseddietandadietfollowedbytheAmericanDiabetesAssociation.Overall,bothdiets

didimprovetheconditionsofhavingdiabetes,howeverthevegandietshowedbetterresults:
BothalowfatvegandietandadietbasedonADAguidelinesimprovedglycemicandlipid

controlintype2diabeticpatients.Theseimprovementsweregreaterwithalowfatvegan

diet(Barnard).Accordingtothisexperiment,adaptingtoavegandietimprovedanindividual

strugglingwithdiabetesgethealthierandloseweight.Aplantbaseddietdoesntjusthelpthose

whoarealreadydiagnosedwithhealthproblems.Thosewhoadapttoaplantbaseddietlower

healthrisksingeneral.Forexample,anallplantdietreducestheriskofstrokesandcoronary

arterydisease:ahighconsumptionofplantbasedfoodssuchasfruitandvegetables,nuts,and

wholegrainsisassociatedwithasignificantlylowerriskofcoronaryarterydiseaseand

stroke(Hu).Overall,aplantbaseddietisabeneficialdiettowardsyourhealth,lowering

diseasesrisksandlosingormaintainingweight.

Anotherreasonaplantbaseddietisbeneficialisthelessenedimpactontheenvironment.

Inordertoeatanimalproducts,animalsmusthaveenoughspaceandwaterwhileinfactory

farms.Sowithhigherdemandofanimalproductscomesahigherimpactsontheenvironment:

Withinthesamemethodofproduction,agreaterconsumptionofanimalproductstranslatestoa

greaterimpactontheenvironment.(Villarroel).Acasestudyinvestigatedtheimpactonthe

environmentcausedbyaomnivorousdietandavegandiet.Thetestwastoseewhichdietcaused

themostdamageontheplanet.Theomnivorousdietwasbasedontheuseofconventional

farmingandagriculture,whereasthevegandietwasbasedonorganicitems.Theresults

indicatedthatanomnivorousdiethadamuchgreaterimpactthanthevegandiet:thenormal

dietbasedonproductsfromchemicalconventionalagricultureandconventionalfarming

(NORMINT)turnsouttohavethegreatestenvironmentalimpact,whereasthevegandietbased

onorganicproducts(VEGANBIO)turnsouttohavethesmallestenvironmental
impact(Baroni).Notonlydoesananimalbaseddietcauseenvironmentalproblemsduetousing

tremendousamountsoflandforfarming,butitalsousedalargeamountofwater.Theamountof

waterusedforanimalagricultureismorethanthreefourthstheamountofwaterneededfor

industryanddomesticuse:Animalfarmingandagricultureareresponsiblefor70%of

freshwaterconsumptionontheplanet,whereasonly22%ofwaterisusedbyindustryand8%is

usedfordomesticpurposes(Baroni).Ananimalbaseddietalsoincreasestheamountof

pesticides.Alsotheamountofenergyrequiredwasfargreaterthantheamountneededfora

plantbaseddiet.Ananimalbaseddiethasprovedtorequiremoreresourcesthanneededfora

vegandiet:...forthecombineddifferentialproductionof11fooditemsforwhichconsumption

differsamongvegetariansandnonvegetarians,thenonvegetariandietrequired2.9timesmore

water,2.5timesmoreprimaryenergy,13timesmorefertilizer,and1.4timesmorepesticides

thandidthevegetariandiet(Marlow).Theamountofdamagecausedbyeatingananimalbased

dietiswaygreaterthanthoseeatingaplantbaseddiet.Aplantbaseddietwoulddecreasethe

environmentalissuescausedbytheanimalagricultureindustry.

Avegandietalsosupportsanimalsrights.Animalsaretreatedveryinhumaneinfactory

farms.AlargeportionofthefarmanimalslivingintheU.S.areraisedinfactoryfarms(Farm

AnimalWelfare).Theanimalsarenotgivengoodlivingconditionsandusuallydealwithhigh

levelsofstressbeforetheyareslaughtered.Averybigfactorofstressfortheanimalsisthe

transportationtothefactoryfarms.Theanimalstransportedarenotgivenenoughwater,struggle

withharshweatherconditions,andareputatriskforhealthproblems:A
shortlistofthe

stressorsexperiencedduringtransportincludesheat,inanition,dehydration,painandtrauma,

cold,motionsicknessandfear(Villarroel).Animalsarealsotreatedpoorlyinthefactory.Many
animalsaremutilatedinordertogrowlargerandproducemorethannormaltoincreasethe

productionofanimalproducts,causingseverehealthissues:Mostfactoryfarmedanimalshave

beengeneticallymanipulatedtogrowlargerortoproducemoremilkoreggsthantheynaturally

would.Somechickensgrowsounnaturallylargethattheirlegscannotsupporttheiroutsized

bodies,andtheysufferfromstarvationordehydrationwhentheycantwalktoreachfoodand

water(PETA).Inorderfortheanimalstogrowfastertheyaregivenantibiotics.Notonlydoes

thisaffectthelifeoftheanimalbutalsohumans.Whengivinganimalsantibiotics,theantibiotics

cancausehumanstogetinfectedbyantibioticresistantbacteria.Also,theanimalsaregivenvery

littlespacetolivewhentheyrebroughttothefactoryfarms.Thecagesorspacegiventothem

areusuallywaytoosmallcausingthemtobecrampedandunabletomove.Whenindividuals

choosetoeataplantbaseddiettheyarechoosingnottotakepartinanindustrythatcausing

deathandinhumanetreatmenttoanimals.

Thereisalargeamountofevidenceshowingthebenefitsofaplantbaseddiet.A

plantbaseddietisahealthierchoicewhencomparedtoadietrevolvingaroundanimalproducts.

Aplantbaseddietwillbenefithumans,animals,andtheenvironment.Researchshowsavegan

dietlowershealthrisks,reducesenvironmentaldamage,anddoesnotsupporttheinhuman

treatmenttoanimalsthatliveinfactoryfarms.Overall,aplantbaseddietisasustainableand

logicaldietforanyindividual.

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