My thoughts on Veganism (You may be surprised...)

I believe that veganism has a decent amount of credit to its name. Of course, I do not support vegan activists who terrorize restaurants and provide no contribution to society. However, the idea of veganism, or abstaining from the consumption of animal products, can be beneficial. I also believe that more people should be employing plant based diets both for health reasons and progress in the gym.

Meat has been eaten by humans for as long as humans have existed. I am not against meat consumption. What I am against is large, industrialized meat production. These large corporations are not the most moral or ethical companies and they do not treat their animals with very much respect. I encourage you to watch documentaries about how meat is actually produced on a large scale. What these companies do is very disgusting in my opinion, and I think people should refrain from purchasing their products and supporting them. I am in favor of smaller, localized industries and farms which treat their animals with respect ie. think free range chicken meat production. I obviously do think that cutting meats outright is a viable option for most meat-eaters nowadays, and it is not a practical and foreseeable solution. 

As far as health benefits to eating meat, there are a few. Namely, a increase in iron levels in the body. However, studies generally show that meat should only be consumed 2-3 times PER WEEK (as stated in this Harvard article). Also, these meats should be more fish and less red meats, as red meats are shown to cause significant health problems when eaten outside of moderation (reference). As a result, even if you choose to eat meat, it should be consumed in moderation and the bulk of your diet should still consist of vegetarian meals.

I do not advocate for vegetarian diets for environmental reasons. The evidence and reasoning employed by vegans and climate change activists as to why eating less meat will save the planning is dodgy at best. Animal production still utilizes valuable land and their manure is used as plant fertilizers. In all, I think both vegetarian and meat products both positively and negatively impact the environment, so switching between one-another will not miraculously save the planet.

I am a huge fan of milk, eggs and honey. These non-meat animal products are vital both for health and for gains in the gym. Eggs and honey can largely be consumed without any adverse health effects, and they taste friggin delicious. The benefits of eggs are described in this study. With milk, caution must be taken. A large population of people are lactose intolerant (68% of people have lactose malabsorption), and milk is infamous for creating gut and health problems when consumed frequently. In saying this, the science clearly shows that milk reduces the chance of type 2 diabetes as well as benefits to bone health, as shown in this study. Therefore, if you are not lactose intolerant to a large degree, milk should be consumed in my opinion.

The benefits of plants and plant-based foods is well known. I'm not even going to bother with citing any studies; we know that the root cause for rising obesity in this day and age IS a lack of plant-based, nutritional food in Western diets. Even with completely vegan diets, eating enough protein is NOT a problem. With beans, lentils, tofu etc, is is easy for you to consume the adequate amount of protein to recover from workouts and build muscle (this is explained well in Alex Leonidas's video). 

All in all, I am a fan of veganism. However, for most people, I would recommend either going vegetarian OR reducing meat consumption to only 2-3 meals a week for optimal health, gains and life!

- Hawtsauce