• many new vegans report feeling a new found mental clarity, more vivid dreams and increased mental stimulation
• many vegans report needing less sleep
• many vegans also report greater ease of waking up and getting out of bed in the morning
• the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras was vegetarian, and until the mid-19th century, people who abstained from meat were known as "Pythagoreans."
• famous followers of Pythagoras' diet included Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, George Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein. The word "vegetarian" was coined in 1847 to give a name to what was then a tiny movement in England
• Researchers from South Hampton University analyzed data on 8,170 participants from the 1970 British Cohort Study and concluded that a higher IQ at age 10 was associated with a 38% increased chance of being vegetarian at age 30. The study included 366 vegetarians, which was 4.5% of the total sample

be leaner, be stronger, be faster

• vegans have lower average blood pressure
• after switching to vegan diets the effects of coronary heart disease, osteoperosis and diabetes can be stopped and even reversed – in most cases, in only a matter of months
• the advances of many cancer cells can be stopped and reversed by sticking to a vegan diet
• vegan athletes report surges in stamina, speed, reflex sharpness, strength and significantly shorter healing times between workouts
• some new vegans report clearer, sharper eyesight
• vegans enjoy healthier skin and hair, especially when vegetable based natural soaps and skin lotions are used – drugstore products contain animal byproducts like tallow and are, much more often than not, tested on animals
• only 2% of vegans are obese, compared to 30% of the general population (over 60% of which are considered overweight)
• vegetarians have a 50% lower risk of developing heart disease than meat eaters
• vegetarians have a 40% lower cancer rate
• vegetarians have the lowest rates of coronary disease
• vegetarians have a fraction of the average heart attack rate
• vegans consume no dietary cholesterol whatsoever
• vegans have significant health advantages over even lacto-ovo vegetarians
• every meat, egg and dairy eater also consumes antibiotics, steroids, saturated fat, cholesterol, feces, uric acid and pus
• vegans – not so much, in fact, not at all

be nourished

 

proper nutrition is easy with a vegan diet, but don't take our word for it.  here's what the physicians committee for responsible medicine has to say:

• nutrition faq
• the protein myt
• the omega myth
• the calcium myth
• iron
• Vitamin B12

be compassionate

• every meat, egg and dairy eater is responsible for the deaths of at least a few thousand animals
• go vegan and not only spare these lives, but you won’t contribute to their miserable existences in factory farms either
• vegans abhor the use of fur in fashion, and cosmetic products tested on animals
• animals on fur farms spend their lives in tiny cages only to be killed by anal or genital electrocution, which causes them to have a heart attack, or by strangulation, beating or being flung against the ground.  Some are skinned alive – an act that has been documented many times by hidden cameras
• animals in the wild may languish for days in traps before they die or are killed, often chewing off their own limbs, in their desperation to escape
• as many as 40% of the baby harp seals killed in the Canadian seal hunt are alive when skinned
• undercover videos have shown dogs and cats being killed for their fur on fur farms, while still wearing their collars – proof that they were someone’s pets
• Canada has not banned the use of dog and cat fur in clothing – do you know what kind of fur lines the hood of your hip new winter jacket? 
• don’t wear fur, leather, wool or silk and cease your contribution to these cruel and needless industries
• millions of animals are tortured and killed in american laboratories every year
• some of this is for drug testing required by the FDA (which is usually ineffectual because of the biological differences between animals and humans)
• most laboratory testing conducted on animals is for cosmetic products
• lab animals include mice, rats, rabbits, birds, cats and dogs (usually from animal shelters, and in some cases bred for testing) and primates
• lists of compassionate products are readily available online, and there are many alternatives to cruelty
• also, if you must have an animal as a pet, adopt one from a shelter

be environmentally conscious

• because of deforestation to create grazing land, each vegetarian saves an acre of trees per year
• a vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day
• a meat eater’s diet requires 4000 gallons of water per day

be one of the resistance

• A PETA fact sheet asserts that 12 million Americans are vegetarians, and 19,000 make the switch every week.  Pamela Rice, author of 101 Reasons Why I'm a Vegetarian, puts the number at 4.5 million, or 2.5 percent of the population, based on recent surveys. Older counts, from 1992, put the number of people who "consider themselves" to be vegetarians at seven percent of the U.S. population, or an impressive 18 million. A 1991 Gallup Poll indicated that 20 percent of the population look for vegetarian menu items when they eat out
• Republicans are slightly more likely to abstain from meat than Democrats (2000 Poll)

be aware of hidden animal ingredients

 

Adrenaline. Afterbirth. Alanine. Albumen. Albumin. Alcloxa. Aldioxa. Aliphatic Alcohol. Allantoin. Alligator Skin. Alpha-Hydroxy Acids. Ambergris. Amino Acids. Aminosuccinate Acid. Angora. Animal Fats, Oils and Hair. Arachidonic Acid. ArachidylProprionate. AsparticAcid. Aminosuccinate Acid.

Bee Pollen. BeeProducts. Beeswax. Benzoic Acid. Beta Carotene. Biotin. Vitamin H. Blood. Boar Bristles. Bone Char. Bone Meal.

Calciferol. Calfskin. Caprylamine Oxide. Capryl Betaine. Caprylic Acid. Caprylic Triglyceride. Carbamide. Carmine. Carminic Acid. Carotene. Casein. Caseinate. Cashmere. Castor. Castoreum. Catgut. Cera Flava. Cerebrosides. Cetyl Alcohol. Cetyl Palmitate. Chitosan. Cholesterin. Cholesterol. Choline Bitartrate. Civet. Cochineal. Cod Liver Oil. Collagen. Colors. Corticosteroid. Cortisone. Corticosteroid. Cysteine, L-Form. Cystine.

Dexpanthenol. Diglycerides. Dimethyl Stearamine. Down. Duodenum Substances. Dyes.

Egg Protein. Elastin. Emu Oil. Ergocalciferol. Ergosterol. Estradiol. Estrogen. Estradiol.

Fats. Fatty Acids. FD&C Colors. Feathers. Fish Liver Oil. Fish Oil. Fish Scales. Fur.

Gel. Gelatin. GlucoseTyrosinase. Glycerides. Glycerin. Glycerol. Glyceryls. Glycreth-26. Guanine.

Hide Glue. Honey. Honeycomb. Horsehair. Hyaluronic Acid. Hydrocortisone. Hydrolyzed Animal Protein.

Imidazolidinyl Urea. Insulin. Isinglass. Isopropyl Lanolate. Isopropyl Myristate. Isopropyl Palmitate.

Keratin. 

Lactic Acid. Lactose. Laneth. Lanogene. Lanolin. Lanolin Acids. Lanolin Alcohol. Lanosterols. Lard. Leather. Lecithin. Linoleic Acid. Lipase. Lipids. Lipoids.

Marine Oil. Methionine. Milk Protein. Mink Oil. Monoglycerides. Musk (Oil). Myristal Ether Sulfate. Myristic Acid. Myristyls.

Natural Sources. Nucleic Acids.

Ocenol. Octyl Dodecanol. Oleic Acid. Oils. Oleths. Oleyl Alcohol. Oleyl Arachidate. Oleyl Imidazoline.  Oleyl Myristate. Oleyl Oleate. Oleyl Stearate.

Palmitamide. Palmitamine. Palmitate. Palmitic Acid. Panthenol. Panthenyl. Pearl Essence. Pepsin. Placenta. Placenta  Polypeptides Protein. Polyglycerol. Polypeptides. Polysorbates. Pristane. Progesterone. Propolis. Provitamin A. Provitamin B-5. Provitamin D-2.

Rennet. Rennin. Resinous Glaze. Ribonucleic Acid. RNA. Royal Jelly.

Sable Brushes. Sea Turtle Oil. Shark Liver Oil  Sheepskin. Shellac. Silk. Silk Powder. Snails. Sodium Caseinate. Sodium Steroyl Lactylate. Sodium Tallowate. Spermaceti. Sperm Oil. Sponge (Luna and Sea). Squalane. Squalene. Stearamide. Stearamine. Stearamine Oxide. Stearates. Stearic Acid. Stearic Hydrazide.  Stearone. Stearoxytrimethylsilane. Stearoyl Lactylic Acid. Stearyl Acetate. Stearyl Alcohol. Sterols. Stearyl Betaine. Stearyl Caprylate. Stearyl Citrate. Stearyldimethyl Amine. Stearyl Glycyrrhetinate. Stearyl Heptanoate. Stearyl Imidazoline. Stearyl Octanoate. Stearyl Stearate. Steroids. Sterols. Sterols. Suede.

Tallow. Tallow Fatty Alcohol. Tallow Acid. Tallow Amide. Tallow Amine. Talloweth-6. Tallow Glycerides. Tallow Imidazoline. Triterpene Alcohols. Turtle Oil. Tyrosine.

Urea.  Uric Acid.

Vitamin A. Vitamin B-Complex Factor. Vitamin B Factor. Vitamin B-12. Vitamin D. Vitamin D-2. Vitamin D-3. Vitamin H.

Wax. Whey. Wool. Wool Fat. Wool Wax.

 

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proof positive:  my personal observations - Trev 

• clarity of mind, increased mental alertness
• heightened emotions and longer, more vivid dreams
• increased mental stamina – I can write for longer than I could before
• increased ability to deal with stress, especially work-related stress (of which I’ve had much lately), although I’ve replaced the work stress with the stress of knowing what’s really going on out there in the world - but that’s what this website is for
• decreased incidents of roadrage – I used to be an aggressive driver who was easily angered, but since going vegan I haven’t felt that rage
• increased patience – sure some of that is attributable to growth in martial arts and buddhism (which is what made me explore veganism in the first place; veganism would likely have led me to buddhism if I hadn’t found it anyway)
• clearer eyesight – not as in near/far sighted, but just clearer vision, less eye fatigue; this one caught me offguard
• clearer, whiter appearing eyes and a healthier looking complexion
• better skin – both from dietary changes and from using soaps made without animal products
• I have experienced a drop in body odour from sweating, so much so that I barely need to wear deodorant – I don’t stink!
• a huge and quite sudden increase in physical stamina – although not a runner, I can run a few km’s, whereas before I was vegan, I’d be winded running only a couple hundred metres
• as a kickboxer, I have been able to train much harder, go more rounds, and extend my workouts past the previous times, very often outpacing my contemporaries
• I have lost at least 8 or 9 lbs, and I thought I didn’t have any to lose!
• I am recovering from heavy workouts in less than half the time I used to – this is with a much lower protein intake, and higher carb intake, all from plants
• I find I can work out heavily on consecutive days without problem
• cuts, bruises, tattoos etc. seem to be healing faster
• I had chronic nasal congestion from as early in my childhood as I can remember until I went vegan – within a month of being vegan I was breathing clearer than I ever had (this is most likely attributable to cutting dairy out)
• I use to get migraines once or twice a month, more so in the spring and fall – not any more – in fact, I haven’t had one since going vegan
• I found out the hard way that even a small amount of dairy, accidentally consumed, will make me very ill for days – it appears I’ve lost my ability to digest lactose completely.  It’s not really a loss, though

What does this all mean?  Not only that a plant-based, whole foods diet is really good for me, but that I was being poisoned and bogged down by all the chemicals and crap in my former diet.  Even my mind was stressed out from dealing with the onslaught of garbage I was forcing it to deal with.  Going vegan has been the most significant and beneficial thing I have ever done for myself (and animals, and the world).  If you’re not vegan, from a personal benefit perspective alone, I can only encourage you to try.  You will likely find similar benefits and possibly many more.