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Levi Thompson

RC1000

April 1st, 2019

Jessica Blackburn

Is a Vegan Diet Truly the Healthiest Diet?

It seems that recently the rise of veganism has taken over America in some form of

counter to the health crisis that has plagued the early 2000s. America has always been one of the

most unhealthy countries in the world, but while the trend of veganism begins to rise, America is

finding its footing. Restaurants are swapping out fryers and finding easy to prepare meals that

require no animals being harmed to put the food on the table. It all sounds easy on paper, and any

vegan can tell whoever that they’re living their best life since the transition. A vegan that I know

personally has stated that she’s lost weight, her skin is clearer, she has more natural energy, and

even forgot what made meat taste so good. When speaking to the other side, they will tell the

exact opposite, they say that our ancestors have eaten meat for their entire existence, and meat is

necessary to provide your body with natural nutrients that can’t be provided with any other type

of food. My grandfather has always had this to say about eating meat, “If we weren’t supposed to

eat the animals, then they wouldn’t be there.” So you can interpret that however you want.

When thinking of the beginning of veganism, many would think this is a recent trend that

has taken over with the transitioning world we have today, however as early as 500 BCE,

Pythagoras would write about being animal friendly, and treating them as equals. Around the

same time, Siddhartha Gautama, better known as Buddha, was spreading his thoughts on
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vegetarian dieting. While the two never mentioned cutting out all animal products, they set the

scene for others in more modern times. Fast forwarding to 1806, Dr. William Lambe and Percy

Bysshe Shelley recommend to cut eggs and dairy out of their diets, mostly for ethical reasons.

The trend did not gain steam until the year 1944, when Donald Watson met with five others who

lived animal free diets, and first coined the term ‘vegans’. They were met with a lot of

opposition, since they didn’t really have the facts to support their claims. The ethical based

argument could only take them so far, and research didn’t follow until much later.

When science began to catch up with understanding veganism, the research began. The

focus was purely “Can you survive with cutting out all animal related products.” And scientist

immediately saw that the iron deficiency is the largest problem. Heme iron is only able to be

ingested by eating animal meat. The iron received from eating plants are a different kind of iron,

titled non-heme iron. The non-heme iron isn’t absorbed as easily by the human body, and doesn’t

provide the recommended amount that a healthy diet would need. Vegans would need to go out

of their way to ingest enough non-heme iron to maintain the healthy balance. Special iron rich

plants include spinach, dried fruit, and many assorted nuts. An iron deficiency in the body can

lead to tiredness, headaches, and heart palpitations. At During the 1950’s this was an issue, but

with modern medicine we have pills and vitamins that can boost iron levels in the body.

While researchers noticed that iron was the key nutrient a vegan diet was missing, that

would only be the beginning, as omega-3 fatty acids would be on the research table next. During

the 1950’s not much was known about the acids, and many people thought for them to be

negative. The words “fatty” and “acid” were two words that have a negative connotation when it

comes to eating. However due to the research by George and Mildred Burr, the acids were

discovered to be healthy for the heart and a requirement for a balanced diet. Omega-3 acids are
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mostly prominent in fish, which is a large contributor to a Japanese diet. When looking at life

expectancy around the world, Japan ranks as the highest by a large margin.(CIA) This can be

mainly attributed to the amount of seafood that is consumed on a daily basis. Fish is known to

lower cholesterol, and provide equal amounts of protein to other meats. When vegans are

approached with the question “If you had to consume one type of meat, which would it be?” An

overwhelming amount say they would choose seafood for two reasons. The first being that

seafood provides the most amount of benefits without the negatives that come from other meats,

like beef. Another reason is that many vegans feel less concerned with the ethical consumption

of fish when compared to pigs, or cows. Another reason for this choice is the lack of climate

effect by the fishing industry.

Climate change has been a major point of discussion through the 2000’s. From politicians

to farmers, everyone has an opinion on climate change and what they would do to correct the

way our future is headed towards. One major talking point is to reduce the carbon dioxide being

put into the atmosphere thanks to the meat industry. The three largest gasses that are responsible

for global warming are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. All three of these gasses can

be severely reduced by veganism. “One meat based diet is responsible for 1.5 tons of carbon

dioxide emission.” (Lowry) The word ‘ton’ probably scares the reader; carbon dioxide is the

least of the “evil gasses” as the other two are much more useful when trapping heat inside the

earth’s atmosphere. “Methane is 20 times better at trapping heat inside the earth's atmosphere.

The largest methane producers in the world are meat farms, specifically cows. 110 kilograms are

produced by one cow every year, which is as much methane as 74 pigs.” (Lowry) Solutions

aren’t as easy as they seem. We simply can’t just get rid of all the cows in the world. Even if

meat processing plants were shut down, methane would still be produced at a rate that isn’t
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balanced enough for the stabilization of earth. Scientist are scrambling for answers, and yet

methane is not the most our worries. Nitrous Oxide is the worst of our greenhouse gases. Nitrous

is a whopping 300 times better at trapping heat than Carbon Dioxide, which puts the meat

business in serious trouble, considering that meat, egg and dairy industries produce sixty-five

percent of the Nitrous Oxide in the world. The solution to our nitrous oxide problem seems much

more defined than methane or carbon, if we could remove sixty-five percent of the earth’s “silent

killer” then why would we sit on it?

Another large contributor to the meat industry is the use of water. Only about three

percent of our water is drinkable, and nearly half of the drinkable water in America is used to

raise animals for the purpose of food. It takes 2,400 gallons of water to raise one pound of beef.

You would save more water by not taking a shower for six months. This relates to the early

paragraph however, and how are we supposed to stop this? If the processing plants were all shut

down then these animals would still be free range animals, which would still pollute our fresh

waterways. Luckily, it seems we are getting closer to an age where we can take water from the

frozen ice caps and be able to use it in a beneficial matter however; many have argued that this is

a negative to the animals who rely on the ice caps for survival. It’s a coin where no matter what

side you sit on, there will always be heavy pros and cons.

One benefit of the meat industry is the effect on the economy, and how many American

jobs are provided. The United States meat industry produces 1.02 trillion dollars in total

economic output per year, making it 5 percent of the total economic GDP for the nation. If we

were to shut down the meat industry, that would leave a considerable hole to fill in our economic

stability. “Many other countries rely on the United States to provide their meat shipments. Last

year alone the united states shipped over 1.3 million metric tons of beef alone across the world,
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with 2.45 million metric tons of pork, and a staggering 3.7 million tons of poultry which totals to

over 7.4 million tons of meat used only for the purpose of shipping and not for american

consumption.” (Deckers) This is a booming industry that would affect the entire planet if

America suddenly decided to “go green”. Economist believe there isn’t an industry in America

today that could make up for the profits that losing the meat industry would bring.

When speaking on meat, the physical benefits still have not been replicated by any kind

of supplement or substitute. In moderation, meat can be the most beneficial to overall growth of

the human body. A 3oz serving of meat is around 200 calories, and provides all nine essential

amino acids, and the daily intake of iron, magnesium, zinc, riboflavin and many more, making it

the “complete” protein. Taking such a large part of the daily diet out of your life will require

changes in not only the body, but also the paycheck. No matter how much a vegan says the diet

has helped their life, they will always complain about the larger amount of money they must

spend to uphold the diet. When observing any restaurants menu, if there is a vegan section, you

will find the largest prices there. This can be attributed to the number of ingredients, or rarity of

ingredients that are involved in the dish. Retailers are constantly debating on how much they

should sell their craft to make a profit, and when dealing with expensive ingredients, such as

many vegan options, the owner must sell the dish at a high price to feel justified keeping it on the

menu. When making the decision to switch away from meat, always do research to know how

your grocery bill will be inflated by the addition of supplements.

In conclusion, veganism is a transforming movement that still has some bumps to flatten

out. Climate wise, it is simple to see that veganism is the best way to make sure our environment

is able to prosper at its purest form. When it comes to strictly dietary needs, meat is still a

necessary addition to maintain a healthy growth pattern. If you are a vegan for ethical reasons,
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that is a fully acceptable reason, and with how advanced we are when it comes to dietary needs, a

vegan lifestyle is more attainable than ever, as long as a hefty grocery bill isn’t an issue to the

consumer.
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Bibliography

Deckers, Jan. “Might a Vegan Diet Be Healthy, or Even Healthier?” Current Neurology
and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970

This link is a medical journal, and a very long one at that. It’s a lot to read through, but it
can all be summed up in the conclusion at the bottom. This was written a long time ago, but the
points being made still stand when considering diets today. Veganism has changed a lot since
1970, so some of the points to be against a vegan diet have became obsolete. Even with its age,
this article supports veganism however, which I think shows that with today’s supplements a
vegan diet can be beneficial to the person who understands what they have to do to receive all
their daily nutritional needs.The journal sometimes tries to go too into the scientific aspects of it,
which makes it hard for me to differentiate everything and form opinions. I think this will have
to be a link that I read more into so I’m able to use it properly.

“Going Vegan Isn't the Most Sustainable Option for Humanity.” PBS, Public Broadcasting
Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/going-vegan-isnt-actually-th/.

The link here doesn’t speak about veganism on the body, but veganism on the farming
industry and the sustainability on the world. Many different diets were ran through a simulation,
including vegan, vegetarian,and omnivorous to see which would be the most sustainable in the
long run to Americans. They found the carrying capacity, or the size of the population that can
be supported, of each of the diets and found that the vegan diet had the lowest number. A vegan
diet can only feed 735 million people while vegetarian supports 807 million and the omnivorous
diet ranks the highest. This shows that veganism will be difficult to maintain, especially with
crop seasons, as vegan diets are the only diets that cannot benefit from perennial cropland use.
Meaning that seasonal crops are the only way a vegan diet will be obtainable, which in turn
makes it difficult to provide the food year round.

“If You're Thinking of Going Vegan for Health Reasons, Here's What You Should Know.”
Cooking Light, www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/is-veganism-healthy.
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So the best way to make a strong argumentative essay is to take both sides into the
equation. I noticed that when I first began to gather sources, a lot were already agreeing with one
side of the argument. I was searching for something that would try to support the other half of
this argument and I think that this website does a strong job. It not only focuses on the diet, but
also the expenses that will come with the change. A vegan diet will probably be a little more
expensive, since a majority of the items have been specially made to fit the diet, but shopping in
bulk and being smart about purchases can help. The website also explains some of the mistakes
people make when they decide to make the switch, including nutrients that are difficult to come
by, and how they can be taken. The website also doesn’t try to bombard you with facts, or why
this is good for the environment. It just provides an option for someone who is trying to change it
up, which gives this an easy read.

Kelly, Diana. “Vegetarian: Is It Better Than Eating Meat?” WebMD, WebMD,

The reason I chose this article is because of the factual support it brings to the discussion.
It is from the webpage WebMD, which focuses mainly on facts and not necessarily writing a
good article. I could read blog post all day and still not really know the ins and outs of a vegan
diet, but with this medical text I learn that a vegan diet must also focus on moderation and still
having a balanced diet of all required nutrients. Even things that people consider healthy, like
fruits, can be detrimental if eaten in a large amount with no other foods to balance it out. Kelly
says that the benefits of seafood and other meats are something that the body needs, so she
believes a diet with meat included can be overall more beneficial to the eater. I enjoy that Kelly
states that she eats meat, but she is still able to explain why veganism can be a good thing.

Lowry, Brad. “ Veganism & The Environment: by the Numbers.” Veganism & the
Environment By the Numbers Infographic, www.culinaryschools.org/yum/vegetables/.
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This page doesn’t have any articles or someone providing their insights on what it did to
their body. This link only provides short and easy to read and understandable facts. I like the way
this is being presented, as it is easy to just accept what the page is presenting and not having to
sort by writing bias. I believe that it is always impossible to write something and it not be biased,
so when facts are presented without any commentary added in, it shows everything an unbiased
reader can get and they form opinions on their own. It’s hard to look at these long lists of facts
and just believe what they are telling you, but I think this chart is providing all facts and having
their sources present. The only problem is, that these sources are all listed at the bottom in a big
cluster, and not listed after each fact. This will cause readers to have to shift through each link
when figuring out which site presents what fact. Some facts might even be exaggerated or
straight up false, and can be hidden by the fact that all sources are presented in a big list at the
end.