If you're thinking of jumping on the low-carb diet bandwagon or have already jumped, consider this: new research findings reveal that vegetable-based low-carb diets may be linked with lower overall mortality rates and lower death rates from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The Bangalore Vegan group was started by Mr. Dilip Bafna of Animal Rights Fund, India on April 2008. He had a vision of providing a fertile ground for vegans and non-vegans to come and explore the multifaceted benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

According to the director General of the World Health organization, the biggest threat facing humanity today are climate change, rising of new and old epidemic diseases, hunger, heart diseases, obesity, cancer, auto immune diseases and loss of freshwater.[1] Many people will find it surprising to believe that all these problems can be scientifically and efficiently mitigated if the world adopts a vegan diet.

The Worldwatch institute calculated that the meat and the diary industry combined are one of the most potent contributors of greenhouse gases.[2] In fact, the livestock industry has also been shown to damage the ozone. [3]

Water footprint network found that a mere 3% of total world water is freshwater. It requires ridiculous amounts of water to produce meat and other non-vegan food products. For example, it takes 208 Liters of water to produce just one cup of cow's milk. It requires 200 liters of water to produce one egg. 13,700 liters of water is required to produce just one kilogram of beef! One kilogram of chicken requires 3500+ liters of water to produce. And the above are just global average conservative figures. Now lets compare this with the most water intensive crops - rice and soy. One kilogram of rice requires 3500 liters of water to grow whereas one kilogram of soy requires approximately 1600 liters of water to produce. Compare this to wheat that requires merely 1000 liters of water to produce per kilogram. [4]

Apart from water, on an average, it requires 12 kilograms of grain to produce one kilogram of meat.[5] In fact, 70% of the total food we grow is fed to the animals to get significantly lower quantities of meat.[6] If this food is fed to the hungry, it can solve the world hunger problem 14 times over! [7] 1.4 Billion people can be fed if just the United States of America goes vegan![8] Funneling our precious water and food supply through the poor animals who are artificially brought into this world to meet the demand for our taste for meat in a world where billions are starving and have no access to clean drinking water is irresponsible on many fronts.

Apart from that, the livestock industry is also a major contributor to land pollution. On an average, the same amount of land can feed approximately 20 people on a vegan diet and only 2 people on a meat based diet.[8] Because of this, precious rainforests around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate to meet the sky-rocketing demand for meat and diary around the world. Worldwatch Institute calculated that in order to make just one fast-food hamburger from rain-forest beef, members of 20-30 different plant species, 100 different insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal and reptile species are destroyed – for just ONE hamburger.[9]

We slaughter a hundred billion land and sea animals every year. That's a number the human mind cannot even grasp and comprehend. The oceans are dying because of overfishing and it has been estimated that since 13 of the major 17 world fisheries are dead already, there may be no seafood by 2048. An ocean devoid of fish also absorbs less CO2 thereby worsening global warming. [10][11]

When land animals are kept in an unnatural and unhygienic environment, crammed so that they cannot even move; they physically and mentally break down. This lowers their immunity and they become a breeding ground for pandemic influenza. Its noteworthy that this does not happen for animals in the wild. Before the domestication of horses, there was no common cold! The domestication of cows turned into measles. In the last 150 years measles have killed 250 million people. The domestication of camels turned into small pox. The domestication of pigs turned into whooping cough. The domestication of chickens gave us typhoid. The domestication of ducks gave us influenza. [12] Animal use has costed mankind more lives than all the accidents, natural disasters and wars combined. And it continues to kill people in the form of cancers, auto immune diseases and heart diseases.

Numerous peer-reviewed studies by some of the most prestigious health and scientific bodies around the world have independently linked the consumption of animal protein with various types of cancers and auto-immune diseases and animal fat with heart problems and obesity. In fact, the National Academy of Science concluded that the ideal amount of trans-fat that are only found in animal products and hydrogenated oils humans should consume is zero![13][14][15] The most ambitious health study to date, the China Study, hailed as the "Grand Prix of epidemiology” and the “most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease.”, and has been peer-reviewed multiple times reached the same conclusion. A vegan diet is the most natural diet for humans. [16]

Here is what the American Dietetic Association concluded in their position paper, "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the lifecycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes." Volume 109, Issue 7, Pages 1266-1282 (July 2009) [17]

Evidence is now emerging that a vegan diet can reverse diabetes, certain cancers and heart diseases thereby providing a cheap, drug-free and healthy alternative to millions searching for hope.[13][14][15][16][17]

Another simple way to understand the benefits of a vagan diet for the planet is to imagine you are a car. According to Foodwatch, a vegan would consume the petrol equivalent of driving for 630 Kms per year. Contrast this with 2400 Kms for lacto-vegetarians and 4700 kms for non-vegetarians. [18]

There is no other one single thing we can do today to have such a significant impact on human rights, human health, the planet and most importantly the animals than to adopt a vegan diet.

Many high-performance athletes such as Robert Cheeke - Champion Bodybuilder, Martina Navratilova - Champion Tennis Player, Mac Danzig - Mixed Martial Arts Fighter and many others have gone vegan to improve their performance. Carl Lewis won 9 Olympic Gold Medals on a vegan diet! The list of vegan athletes are everincreasing. In fact, Iron Mike Tyson has also recently reported that he has gone vegan. [19] A vegan diet, as many peer-reviewed studies conclude, is “ideal” for people who seek fitness of both body and mind.

There are four kinds of fats that we can consume:

Great: Omega 3: Found in Flax Seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds etc,
Good: Mono Unsaturated : Found in Avocados, Almonds etc.
Bad: Saturated Fats : Found in Meat and Diary
Killer: Trans-fats : Found only in two places; Animal Products (Meat/Diary) and Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils

It's true that you can occasionally come across an overweight vegan (due to the consumption of hydrogenated vegetable oils), or a lean non-vegan, but on an average, vegan are significantly more leaner than their non-vegan counterparts. A subset of vegan diet, called the RAVE diet can do the trick for people struggling with weight problems. RAVE is an acronym for no Refined foods, no Animal products, no Vegetable oils and no Exceptions.

So yes, a RAVE diet can definitely cut out all the bad and killer fat out of your life and you will notice wonderful results in no time without resorting to any fad crash diets and other unhealthy practices. [20]

Most people become vegan for ethical reasons. Therefore there are two kinds of vegan diets: healthy and unhealthy. While french fries, alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco and oily foods in general are vegan, they are not healthy. As mentioned before, a healthy vegan diet is called a RAVE diet and even if it's not followed to the letter, a conventional vegan diet is any day healthier than a meat and diary based diet. We have a mounting body of evidence today that trans-fat is one of the key reasons to get type II diabetes. Some people have even reported reversal or significant decrease in insulin intake for type I diabetes on a vegan diet low on oils.[22] India is the diabetic capital of the world. This piece of information should be god-send for people dealing with this degenerative disease that can lead to blindness and even amputation in later stages of life. Also, diary has been linked with the damage and/or cancer of the pancreas in men.[21] Women who are raised on diary reach menarche at the age of 12. Vegan babies reach menarche at age 18. Vegan women also hit menopause soon. This immediately shaves of 5-7 years of estrogen exposure thereby reducing the risk of breast cancer in women.[16]

Animal protein found in meat and diary have been linked with various cancers and auto immune diseases like multiple sclerosis.[13][14][15][16][17] Even autistic patients can benefit from a vegan diet free of wheat gluten.[23] High amounts of aluminum artificially added to cheese has also been linked with Alzheimer's.

Animal fat can give atherosclerotic plaques to humans since we are herbivores and not omnivores and they can cause heart diseases.[24][25] It's worth noting that cholesterol is not an essential nutrient, meaning we need not externally supplement it. Our livers produce all the cholesterol we need. Cholesterol is only present in animal products and no plant has ever been shown to contain cholesterol. A healthy vegan diet gives you zero cholesterol thereby eliminating any chance for us to get a heart attacks due to atherosclerotic plaques.

Its true that cancers, auto-immune diseases and obesity can have genetic causes. But genes alone cannot induce these diseases. They need a trigger in the form of animal protein and fats as was found by the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project.[26] The chances of these disease occurring in nature due to genetic causes are statistically insignificant.

Your body will thank you in the long run for adopting a vegan diet. You will feel better, lighter and more upbeat. And of course, stay away from tobacco, alcohol and oily foods.

Nobody can live a long and healthy life on a meat-based diet alone - unless you want to live like the Eskimos who, on an average, live for only 20 years. [27] Even meat-eaters and diary consumers have to eat lentils, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Given the fact that humans are herbivores [24][25] and cow's milk is a complete food for you....only if you are a calf, we actually do not need any alternatives or substitutes. In fact, 60 % of the people cannot even digest cow's milk.[28] When you come to think about it, even cow's dont drink their own milk when they grow up. As stated by the American Dietetic association [17], a vegan diet can furnish us will all the nutrients we need. The complete adequacy of vegetarian diets is now so thoroughly proven and documented that even the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has acknowledged the legitimacy of meatless diets. In an official statement, these representatives of the beef industry declared, “Well planned vegen diets can meet dietary recommendations for essential nutrients.”. That said, honey can be replaced by Agave or Rooh Afza. Many vegans replace paneer with tofu and milk with almond, rice, coconut, or soy milk.

Other than that, no substitutes are required, just a whole food, plant based diet, preferably seasonal, organic and non-genetically modified.

We all know that calcium is required by the body to build bones. The bone strength is dependent upon four factors, namely, genes, diet, exercise and vitamin D. You can be sincere and you can be sincerely wrong. The diary industry all over the world promotes cow's milk as a human food often citing strong bones as a marketing mantra. Well, opinions mean nothing in science. Science tells us that moderate consumption of milk has no effect on bone density whatsoever and that excess consumption of diary can actually weaken the bones.[15] In fact, countries with the highest consumption of diary such as Finland, Sweden, USA and England also have the highest rate of osteoporosis (a disease of weakening of bones) in the exact same sequence.[8][36]

So where do vegans get their calcium? From where any other herbivores do: plants. The green leafy vegetables such as spinach, brusseles sprouts, mustard greens, broccoli, kale etc have more absorbable calcium than cow's milk.[8][29] A well balanced vegan diet can furnish not just calcium and protein but all the other essential nutrients for a healthy human body.[13][14][15][16][17]

Initially, it may seem like a vegan lifestyle is limiting in nature. But a visit to any vegan cooking website such as http://www.vegcooking.com can humble you. Polls show that almost all people eat just 9 types of dishes on a weekly basis in rotation.[30] It's not difficult to learn how to cook any 9 new dishes, let alone vegan dishes. That said, there are hundreds of vegan dishes from any cuisine and country you wish. Most people just drink cow's milk. As a vegan, you tend to drink coconut, rice, hemp, wheat, peanut, soy and almond milk – one type of milk every day of the week! A vegan lifestyle sensitizes your palette and you tend to savor more tastes and even plain rice tastes good after a while. So you rediscover what you have been eating all along in a new light. Once you explore your vegan options, it can actually be a bit overwhelming in a good way.

If you are astute, you can always find a vegan substitute everywhere. For example, there are vegan societies in almost all major cities in the world. In Bangalore, there is a restaurant called Our Native Village that has gone vegan! Also, there are bakeries like Carnival that bakes vegan cakes and pastries. You can eat vegan pizza at Little Italy and mock-meat is available in some hypermarts. Cafe coffee day has a vegan shake now. There are a slew of vegan items to choose from - from toothpastes to soaps and cosmetics. Vicco even writes "vegan" on its toothpaste. We have a range of leather free shoes from Bata. Many other vendors like JuteCottage, Baggit, GoDesign and Reebok have leather free wallets. Vegan chocolates like Bournville and vegan biscuits from Parle like Hide and Seek chocolate chips and Oreo are available in the market. More and more organic shops are opening doors. You can get a range of vegan tea at Infinitea. There are numerous Ayurvedic soaps available in the market that use vegetables as base. Over the last couple of years the choices have multiplied many folds. Becoming a vegan today is easier than we can imagine.

India is one of the best place for vegans. Much of our cuisines are naturally vegan or can be easily veganised upon request. That said, the most difficult aspect of being a vegan is not leaving animal products, but to live with non-vegans. Most people feel judged in the presence of a vegan even if she does nothing to promote it.[31] This leads to some social inconveniences since for many Indians consuming dairy is like breathing and they cannot imagine its even possible to live without cow's milk.

That said, as veganism is gaining grounds and as more people adopt a vegan lifestyle, its getting easier by the day to be accepted as one.

Studies show that fatty foods such as meat and diary is addictive in nature like cocaine.[32] This is because they stimulate and overwhelm the pleasure centers of the brain and can make you crave them. Any addiction can be difficult to beat for most people. This is the reason why most people are vegan due to animal rights reasons as they altruistically put animals first. This gives them the added motivation to be a vegan. I personally do not know anybody who is a vegan for health reasons – not to say there are none.

But habits can be broken and addictions can be overcome. The only thing that can change our lives is a decision. Once you have made the decision to lead a cruelty-free, environment-friendly and humane diet, the key is not to change in one day and not to shoot for perfection. It's easy to fall in the all-or-nothing psychological ploy – since I cannot be perfect, so let me be completely imperfect. First you should cut out meat from the meal and then give your body some time to realize its not getting it anymore. Burn the bridge. Once the body has accepted this, it'll stop craving. Next, add one diary free day to your life per week. Understand that one mistake or occasional indulgences in diary does not do a diet ruin. Once you have 5 diary free days under your belt, then you will find it easy to make the complete transition. Veganism is not about perfection, it's about progress. Take your time and let the cravings die naturally. After you are vegan for 3 months, you will “forget” what meat and diary tastes like.[35] This is because taste has to be continually reinforced to be remembered. If you fail in your first attempt, do not feel guilty or defeated. After a week, try again. Try as many times as it takes to become a vegan. Take support from your local vegan chapter or from the internet. Also, experiment with new dishes at home. [30]

Of course, people who go vegan for Animals drop animal products in virtually one day.

Most people do not become vegan for selfish reasons. The do so because they do not want to support cruelty towards non-human animals. The health and environmental concerns are an aside. Studies show us that people who adopt a vegan diet for altruistic and compassionate reason have a brain map of an empathic person. [33] Such people are also more upbeat and energetic according to some other studies.[34]

Apart from an emotional and spiritual upliftment, its an enlightening experience to see religion, politics, economics and the world in general through the paradigm of veganism.

It can be strange to see how people profess their dedication to reverse climate change and yet continue to eat meat and consume diary. It can be very fascinating to see doctors recommending diary and meat to diabetic, cancer and heart patients. It can be surprising to see human rights activist eat meat and support human rights violation. It touches and changes each and every facet of your perception.

In the words of Dr. Richard Dawkins, "The feeling that members of one's own species deserve special moral consideration as compared with members of other species is old and deep. Killing people outside war is the most seriously-regarded crime ordinarily committed. The only thing more strongly forbidden by our culture is eating people (even if they are already dead). We enjoy eating members of other species, however. Many of us shrink from judicial execution of even the most horrible human criminals, while we cheerfully countenance the shooting without trial of fairly mild animal pests. Indeed we kill members of other harmless species as a means of recreation and amusement. A human foetus, with no more human feeling than an amoeba, enjoys a reverence and legal protection far in excess of those granted to an adult chimpanzee. Yet the chimp feels and thinks and, according to recent experimental evidence, may even be capable of learning a form of human language. The foetus belongs to our own species, and is instantly accorded special privileges and rights because of it. Whether the ethic of 'speciesism', can be put on a logical footing any more sound than that of 'racism', I do not know. What I do know is that it has no proper basis in evolutionary biology."

Sexism, racism, "speciesism"...are all prejudices in different cloaks. There is a sense of completion, satisfaction and achievement in living your values free of prejudices. Like they say, you don't know what feeling healthy truly means unless you are really healthy. The same holds true for veganism too. It's many things rolled into one. It can be a political statement, a lifestyle or a spiritual pursuit or maybe all of them. But most importantly, it's liberating. After all, might is right is a morally bankrupt idea.

My name is Manuj Chandra Sharma. I am an Animal Rights Activist and the co-founder of an organization called Kranti (www.kranti.org) .

[1] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/media/lectures-and-presentations/item/267-flu-factories-tracing-the-origins-of-the-swine-flu-epidemic.html

[2] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/library/fact-files/environmentalism/73-livestock-and-climate-change-world-watch.html

[3] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/research-papers/item/275-meat-contributes-to-ozone-production.html

[4] http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/

[5] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/media/documentaries/item/245-diet-for-a-new-america.html

[6] http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/multimedia/videos/Genetic-engineering-The-worlds-greatest-scam/

[7] http://www.kranti.org/damage/environment.html

[8] http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573247022/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277177039&sr=8-2

[9] http://www.worldwatch.org/node/791

[10] http://endoftheline.com

[11] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061102-seafood-threat.html

[12] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/media/lectures-and-presentations/item/268-pandemic-prevention-bird-flu-and-other-emerging-infectious-diseases.html

[13] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/media/lectures-and-presentations/item/270-latest-in-clinical-nutrition-volume-1.html

[14] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/media/lectures-and-presentations/item/271-latest-in-clinical-nutrition-volume-2.html

[15] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/media/lectures-and-presentations/item/279-latest-in-clinical-nutrition-volume-3.html

[16] http://webarchive.human.cornell.edu/chinaproject/index.html?CFID=109192707&CFTOKEN=22455666&jsessionid=c430570497735e256119

[17] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/research-papers/item/142-advantages-of-a-vegetarian-diet.html

[18] http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5041951&l=88ae3b3790&id=670975394

[19] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan_athletes#Athletes

[20] http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Off-Fat-Genes-Revolutionary/dp/0609809040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277177883&sr=8-1

[21] http://www.cancerproject.org/survival/cancer_facts/prostate_dairy.php

[22] http://www.pcrm.org/health/clinres/diabetes.html

[23] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8869369

[24] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1312295/

[25] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2220599

[26] http://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-Implications/dp/1932100660/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277178391&sr=8-1

[27] http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price5.html

[28] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/research-papers/item/151-60-of-adults-can%5C%27t-digest-milk.html

[29] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/library/fact-files/brochures/88-official-kranti-brochure.html

[30] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/library/books/vegetarianism/78-vegetarian-starter-kit.html

[31] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7052580.ece

[32] http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/28/fatty.foods.brain/

[33] http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0010847

[34] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/health-and-nutrition/item/293-vegetarians-are-more-upbeat-study.html

[35] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/research-papers/item/153-meat-eaters-live-a-lie.html

[36] http://www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/library/fact-files/vegetarianism/52-health-concerns-about-dairy-products.html

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