Can Veganism Weigh in on the Obesity Epidemic?

Earlier in the semester,  seven of us embarked on a journey to tackle the issue of obesity in the United States. At our deliberation event, I noted that many of us had personal ties to the obesity issue- we ourselves had struggled with our weight, or had had a family member deal with the matter. Overall, Obesity is a hard hitting, complex topic with no one clear solution or singular cause. With no coincidence, many Vegans believe that a plant-based diet can significantly aid in weight loss.

However, there is much debate as to what specific effect Veganism has on a person's weight. Some believe that omnivorous diets are more conducive to weight loss, and some believe that meat, dairy, and eggs have no effect on someone's mass. With that being said, how can someone seeking to lose weight know if a vegan diet may suit them?

Unfortunately, the answer is complex. Research done by Barnard et al. suggests that vegan diets are better than omnivorous diets for weight loss. However, this research is correlational, not causational. Thus, how can we know if it is the vegan diet itself that is causing the weight loss, or if the lifestyle choices that a vegan is more likely to have are responsible (e.g, Vegans could be more likely to be active). To answer this question, we have to consider exactly what might be causing a vegan diet to be better for weight loss.

People may assume that the reason Vegans lose more weight is because they are constantly hungry and calorie-deprived. While this may be true for some, evidence suggests that the vegan foods themselves may be contributing to this effect. On average, meat and dairy products are much more calorie-dense than most vegan foods. Thus, if person X consumes the same volume of vegan foods as person Y consumes of omnivorous foods, both people will feel equally full, but person X will have consumed a smaller amount of calories. Furthermore, research done by Vergnaud et al. suggests that meat may cause weight gain even when controlled for caloric intake!

However, while it might be acceptable to conclude that vegan diets are on average better for weight loss than omnivorous diets, there are still a few concerns that should be raised in regards to these conclusions. Those who are vegan are more likely to be health-conscious, but if a massive number of people (particularly obese people) were to immediately switch to veganism, they could still find plenty of unhealthy foods to eat. Candy, chips, soda, and french fries are just a sample of the array of unhealthy vegan foods out there. It seems as if a switch to veganism would help with weight loss, but still- discipline and further smart food choices still need to be made if someone wants to reverse their obesity.

An example of Vegan Junk Food

In my opinion, Veganism should be promoted as an avenue for weight loss, but not as a "magic" solution. Veganism by itself will not lead to weight loss. Veganism in combination with healthy food choices, an active lifestyle, and good sleep will all contribute to weight loss. There will always be plenty of skinny omnivores, and plenty of overweight Vegans. Overall, recognizing that weight loss is a complex issue that does not have a single solution is the most important factor in moving forward with the obesity epidemic.

The first couple of months I went Vegan, I actually gained a bit of weight. Since I had just converted, I wanted to make myself comfortable by constantly gorging on unhealthy foods- I didn't want to hate everything I ate and immediately switch back. Eventually, I transitioned to a much healthier diet and I have since lost the weight. The Penn State Dining Commons make it especially easy for Vegans to lose weight, considering that all of the junk food and deserts they offer aren't vegan.

As always, thanks for reading. In the comments, I'd love to know if anyone knows anyone who went Vegan to lose weight- I love hearing stories!

Photo credit to Kelly Sue DeConnick 

Are You a Rapist? (WARNING: Graphic Content)

No, you're not a rapist. That was clickbait. But still, there is a point to be made here. Read the rest of my post to find out what.

I might stir a bit of controversy with this post, considering the edgy title. However, I urge you to stick with me for a little bit. Today we're going to dive into a reason to go Vegan that Vegans are most stereotypically known for: ethics.

To clarify: this post is not an opinion piece on whether killing and eating animals is morally right or wrong. I don't believe in forcing my opinion on other people, and neither do I believe that being Vegan for ethical purposes makes me or anyone else a better person. Rather, today I'm going to go over the lesser-known facts about the animal products industry that prompts vegetarians to go vegan. 

While people become vegetarians for many different reasons, there are a decent amount that make the switch for ethical reasons: they don't believe in harming animals. To them, to be vegetarian is to completely stop animal suffering; "after all, cows like being milked, and chickens don't mind having their eggs taken!"

There's nothing blatantly wrong with this statement. Yes, if done correctly, milking a cow will not hurt it, and chickens normally won't mind having their eggs taken from them. However, people don't realize that the majority dairy cows and chickens raised for eggs live through awful conditions. Here is the average life of a dairy cow (Courtesy of Free From Harm):

• Born 
• Since they aren't male, they are kept to be raised to produce milk
• They are forced to live in extremely confined spaces
• Once they reach the appropriate age, they are forcibly impregnated (raped) in order to become pregnant
• Once they give birth, their calves are immediately taken away from them, and put into the veal industry to be slaughtered
• Once the dairy cow can no longer produce milk, there is a 1 in 3 chance that it will be slaughtered and turned into meat 

Here how an egg "factory" normally operates (Courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals): 

• Chicks are born in large incubators 
• Baby chicks are put onto conveyor belts, where workers separate the males and the females
• The females are kept to produce eggs
• The males are either thrown into a blender alive, or thrown into a trash bag to suffocate.
• The females are put into tiny cages, often stacked on top of one another (you can imagine why it would suck to be on the bottom of the stack)
• Their beaks are cut off with a hot blade as to prevent the chickens from pecking one another to death 
• Because chickens are engineered to produce more eggs than they would naturally, many of the chickens at a fraction of what their lifespan could be 

Obviously, there are humane ways to produce dairy and eggs (assuming you are willing to sacrifice efficiency). But unfortunately, most large food corporations operate their factories under these conditions. 

You may find it surprising just how many companies put on a facade by claiming they produce dairy and eggs "humanely." This Washington Post article details how Whole Foods- who touts themselves as sourcing from "humane" farms, actually doesn't follow their own "5-step" humanity-guarantee system. Coincidentally, the farms that they film advertisements have humane practices, but every single other farm they operate is likely no better than any other. 

Overall, I think its important to recognize that just because the animal doesn't have to be killed to make the product, does not mean that the product was made humanely. Countless times, people have told me, "but Jesse, cows need to be milked, or they'll have problems!" Yea, that's true. Except, that wouldn't be a problem if the cows weren't raped! If two cows had consensual sex and the mother gave birth, the calf would be the one drinking the milk, not us. Critical thinking is always a valuable skill, especially when it comes to information about the animal products industry.

If you're at all interested in making a change to your diet for ethical reasons, I implore you to watch the video above. It is extremely graphic, but it is an important video to watch. 

Addressing the Critics

UPDATE: This post is acting weird. Its deciding to be in different fonts throughout for some unknown reason. I wasn't able to fix this. 

As many of us have witnessed in the current political climate, the ability to interpret facts, and statistics correctly is crucial to having accurate opinions. Furthermore, the ability to sniff out those who deliberately misinterpret or overgeneralize information is essential to aligning one's opinions and beliefs most closely with the truth.

Before I decided to go vegan, I spent about a month on the fence between omnivore-ism and Veganism. For every proposed benefit to Veganism, whether it be the environmental, health, or ethical, there is always a backlash- people argue that the benefits don't exist. So, it took me a while to decide which side I agreed with. In the end, I went vegan, but it wasn't before a long time of looking at and evaluating research. Today, I'm going to offer a response to common arguments against Veganism, and in the process, show how deceptive some anti-vegan and anti-vegetarian proponents can be. (This isn't to say that vegans can't be deceptive ;) ) To do this, I will dissect an article I found online from www.sciencealert.com

Without further ado, let's summarize the article.

Article Summary
The article, "Vegetarian and 'healthy' diets may actually be worse for the environment, study finds." They begin by citing recent research from Carnegie Mellon that suggests that adopting the USDA's current recommendation- that people eat more "fruits, vegetables, dairy, and seafood"- "may be worse for the environment than what Americans currently eat."  

They go on to quote a researcher Paul Fischbeck who says, "Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken."

They finish their argument by claiming that if you switch to a vegetable-based (not plant-based, mind you) diet off of a meat-based diet, you will have to consume a higher mass of vegetables than you would of meat, considering that vegetables have a much lower caloric density. They thus make the conclusion that you will end up using more resources on a vegetable-based diet. 

My Thoughts On The Article
I apologize if my rebuttals to this article are a little too harsh. I don't mean to be excessively abrasive. I am very passionate about this topic, so I will try to keep myself under control and remain objective. 

To begin, they contradict themselves at the start of the article! They claim in the title that vegetarian diets are worse than the typical American diet for the environment. However, they cite research that suggests that a diet including FISH is worse for the environment. Those who eat fish are NOT vegetarian. They are pescatarian. 

Secondly, their claim that common vegetables require resources per calorie than meat may be true, but this doesn't mean that a plant-based diet is worse for the environment, and here's why: 
A better measure of a food's environmental impact is its resources per gram, not per calorie. This is because people don't feel full based on the amount of calories they've eaten; rather, they feel full based on the mass of food they've eaten. Therefore, if people switch to a plant-based diet and thus demand more, for example, cucumbers and less chicken, the mass of chicken they consume will be replaced by the same mass of cucumbers, not the same amount of calories of each. Thus, they cannot make the conclusion that plant-based diets are worse for the environment based on its "resources needed per calorie." 
                                      

Moreover, they keep making the assumption that a Vegetarian diet is equivalent to a vegetable-based diet. They use this equation in combination with their "Vegetables are worse for the environment than meat" argument to stamp vegetarian diets as harmful. To be clear, a vegetable-based diet is a diet that consists mainly of vegetables. It doesn't take a nutritionist to know that if you only eat vegetables, you won't get enough protein, fat, or even carbohydrates. You must also incorporate legumes (beans), nuts, seeds, etc to be healthy. A vegetarian diet can include all of these things- not just vegetables! They don't provide any evidence in the article that legumes, seeds, or nuts are bad for the environment. So, even if the production of vegetables WAS bad for their environment, their decision to equate vegetarian to vegetable-based diets in this article doesn't prove that vegetarian diets are bad for the environment. 

To conclude, I'd like to disclaim that I don't think ALL vegan diets are good for the environment. There are certain vegan foods, such as almonds, that can drain resources almost as quickly as animal products can. However, I think that there is evidence suggesting that a proper vegan diet is optimal for minimizing environmental impact. 

Let me know what you think in the comments down below. 

Image courtesy of VeganStreet.com 

Veganism Sounds Great, But...

In my first post, I discussed how Veganism can have a positive environmental impact. That will take up the majority of my blog posts; however, today I'd like to bring up a controversial question that I feel I must address before continuing further along with my blog:

"I understand that Veganism has a positive environmental impact, but won't I be giving up health and happiness once I give up animal products?" 

In my opinion, the answer is no. However, I recognize that everyone is different: depending on someone's genetics, digestive system, and food preferences, Veganism might make little to no sense for them. That's perfectly fine. But I'd like to argue that for the large majority of people, not only is a Vegan diet more healthy than an omnivorous diet; but also, it doesn't have to be restrictive as many people would believe.

To begin, I'll list two common health problems and explain why Vegan diets help cure them:

Heart Disease

Heart disease- the U.S's #1 killer according to the CDC- has several risk factors, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes (NIH). Considering that Vegans literally consume no dietary LDL cholesterol (that's the bad type of cholesterol found in meat, dairy, and eggs), they have a much lower average serum cholesterol level than omnivores, pescatarians, and even vegetarians according to this study (M Thorogood et al.). Additionally, vegan and vegetarian diets have been linked through causational research to lower blood pressure, and even lower risk for diabetes (S. Tonstad et al.).

Overall, Veganism does reduce heart disease risk through the reduction of a variety of risk factors. The American Dietetic Association  released a statement claiming just that, and even went on to state that Vegan diets are suitable and healthful for any and all stages of life. In my opinion, we shouldn't be seeking a health equilibrium through cholesterol-lowering and blood pressure-lowering medications; rather, we should be focusing on diet changes to help eliminate heart disease risk. 

Cancer

Coming in a close second in the list of the U.S.'s top killers, Cancer is more of a "black-box" than heart disease in terms of how much science has revealed about it. However, as you might predict, research suggests that a Vegan diet can reduce risk of certain cancers. (Here and Here are two more experiments demonstrating this)  This isn't to say that being Vegan will stop you from getting cancer. Genetics, lifestyle choices, and chance can override diet any day of the week. Nonetheless, vegan diets can definitely lessen the chance. 

While I do hold the opinion that Veganism can increase overall health; I know that this isn't a black and white issue: some of the studies I've linked today are correlational, not causational. In other words, a lot of research still has to be done to confirm or debunk the benefits of Veganism. Let me know what you think in the comments! Do you believe the evidence I've presented is BS, or do you believe in the power of plants? (Don't be afraid either way to express your opinion)

With that in mind, let's discuss the "restrictiveness" myth. Many people think that going Vegan means you sacrifice the joy of eating. While I wouldn't say that it's easy to have an enjoyable vegan diet; it's definitely doable. There are several awesome Vegan restaurants in State College including Café Verve. I particularly enjoy Café Verve because they have very realistically tasting faux-meats. Vegans can still have many types of candy, chips, doughnuts, milks, ice-creams (Cashew and Soy Milk Ice Cream DO taste good ;) ), and faux-meats. I find that faux-meats taste almost indistinguishable from the real thing, especially if they're soy-based. 

In summary, don't buy into the myth that Veganism sacrifices health and happiness simply for an activist cause. If planned correctly, a plant-based diet can be fun and sustainable. 

Again, let me know what you think! Have you had good/bad experiences with faux meats? Have you ever tried a vegan or vegetarian diet but fallen off the wagon?

Image Source: Public Domain Pictures

Veganism: Annoying or Helpful?

Veganism- stereotypically viewed as a cult of hippies that prance around, kiss pigs, and punch omnivores. But as we know, stereotypes can almost never paint an accurate picture. With that in mind- let's explore the meatless, dairy-less, and egg-less phenomenon that is Veganism.

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a YouTube channel called "VeganGains," created by Richard Burgess. The channel attracts a great deal of controversy: Richard constantly argues that bodybuilders should go vegan for athletic performance. His videos are scientifically informed, smart, and make a lot of sense.  If you read my passion blog from last semester, you'd know how much into fitness I am- and thus how much persuasive effect the videos had.

Besides discussing the effect of a Vegan diet on athletic performance, Richard also talked about how much it can alleviate environmental stress and damage. This piqued my interest, as I had always thought that people would only convert to Veganism for ethics and health. So, I decided to do some research on the environmental impact of the animal products industry. After reading some studies, articles, and journals, I quickly made the switch to a Vegan diet. In this blog, I will be discussing how a Vegan diet OR a diet low in animal products can help the environment. In today's post, I'll lay out some basic facts and figures.

Before I begin, however, I'd like to make something clear: I don't view my Vegan diet as a moral high ground. Veganism suits my beliefs and lifestyle best; however, I understand that it doesn't for many others. The purpose of this blog isn't to give a "F*** you" to anyone who isn't Vegan; rather, it's to provide information so that readers can see if this diet suits them.

With that being said, let's get into some facts. First and foremost, the most harmful effect of the animal products industry on the environment comes from greenhouse gas emissions. According to HSUS, the animal product industry produces  9 % of human-emitted CO2 emissions, 37% of methane emissions (which is 20 times more conducive to global warming than CO2), and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions (which is 300 times more conducive).

Additionally, the industry perpetuates deforestation and desertification, which, according to TeraPass, can further facilitate global warming, as less plant mass is available to absorb volatile CO2. With all taken into account, the animal products industry accounts for 51% of all total greenhouse gas emissions according to this report by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang.

Vegans often hear the counterargument that soy agriculture causes significant deforestation, thus having a plant-based diet high in soy causes as much harm as an omnivorous diet. However, according to Gentle World, only 15% of all soy is farmed for human consumption. The other 85% is grown for animal feed!  So, not only do the animals themselves directly cause climate change through methane production (farts); the food grown to feed the animals do too!

There are certain activities that harm the environment that can't be avoided; driving, air travel, to name a few. Veganism, on the other hand, can be adopted by almost anyone. Also unlike these other activities, Veganism has a positive impact on an individual's life (I will explore those benefits in a future post).

Furthermore, since I went Vegan, I've noticed that many people perceive my diet change as me joining a cult, rather than a decision I've made to better my health, my conscience, and the environment. Regardless of whether you agree with my points, keep in mind that Vegans aren't crazy hippies; in reality, they're people making a reasonable and selfless decision.

Please- if you've read this far, please give me your thoughts! I'm curious to know if any of you are vegan, vegetarian, if you agree with me, disagree with me, or if you hate me. Either way, give me your thoughts!

Vegan quote of the week:
“I noted with horror the striking similarities between what the Nazis did to my family and my people, and what we do to animals we raise for food: the branding or tattooing of serial numbers to identify victims, the use of cattle cars to transport victims to their death, the crowded housing of victims in wood crates, the arbitrary designation of who lives and who dies — the Christian lives, the Jew dies; the dog lives, the pig dies.”  -Alex Hershaft, Holocaust Survivor, 2016

http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/farm/hsus-fact-sheet-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-animal-agriculture.pdf

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294

https://www.terrapass.com/livestock-responsible-for-51-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions

http://gentleworld.org/as-we-soy-so-shall-we-reap/