Just 6 Benefits of Going Vegan

There are so many benefits to going vegan. Have you heard the rumours that going vegan could change your life in a positive way? That it can actually help you feel more comfortable in your natural body? Even if you’re simply looking to reduce the cost of your food shopping bill (yes, reduce) veganism could be a great choice for you.

Thousands of people in the U.K. claim to be vegan, and although the term is still scorned by many and hugely misunderstood by most, things are definitely improving for anyone interested in the vegan lifestyle. Regardless of what others think or do, all that really matters is whether or not it works for you. Read on to discover just six benefits of going vegan.

Since eating a predominantly plant based diet, we have discovered an obscene number of benefits to going vegan, many of which we never anticipated happening and every single one an added bonus to our lives.

It is often thought that veganism will take away from your life; from malnutrition and illness to difficulty finding food you can actually enjoy. Luckily, the reality is nothing like this.

A plant based diet can improve so much in your life and we would even go so far as to say, be the answer you never even knew you were looking for. Well, that’s our experience of veganism. Continue reading to learn more.

What are the Benefits of Going Vegan?

So if you are tempted by veganism, want to reduce your animal produce intake or just simply feel healthier, be inspired to give it a go this Veganuary with these top six benefits of going vegan.

1. Eating Vegan Costs Less

Since we first started eating more plant based food and less animal products, we have saved money on our food shopping bill. Yes, plant based milks are dearer than the cheapest cows milk and yes, vegan products such as sausages, burgers and the like are dearer than the cheapest meat products.

However, overall, a meal made from plant based ingredients is far less cheaper than a meal made from animal products. We have calculated that we spend around £80 less a month on food shopping since choosing to eat a vegan diet.

To really help keep the costs of your food shopping down, we recommend you buy more fresh fruit and vegetables and make as much as you can from scratch.

Choose chopped tomatoes over jars of pre-made sauce, opt for beans and lentils over meat and fish, and remember to grab your loose, fresh vegetables seasonally for the most cost effective nutrition.

Search out the fruit and vegetables grown in the U.K. when you shop. These products will have travelled less so will have a much lower price tag typically (not to mention a more eco friendly footprint too).

Purchasing food in this way will also help you support a local business and local crops; it’s a win-win.

Tempted to try growing some of your own food? You may also like these 13 Unexpected Benefits of Gardening.

2. Vegan Food Helps You Feel Better in Your Body

Obesity in the U.K. is rising as more and more of us choose to live sedentary lifestyles, drive more and walk less, and eat products full of ingredients that aren’t very food-like. One of the best things we found about starting a vegan diet, was how difficult it was to hold onto any stubborn fat stores that we weren’t comfortable with.

Whilst all body types are different, and body comfort will look and feel different to each of us, it makes sense that as you start to reduce the amount of fatty products you eat, your overall body fat will alter to a healthy balance that’s right for you.

Animal products are full of fat, as well as other ‘ingredients’ that could cause weight increase, like hormones and chemicals that are fed to livestock to deliberately increase their weight and therefore yield. Yuck, right?

However, when you switch to eating predominantly vegetables, beans, lentils, fruit and other plant based ingredients, fat healthily and naturally gets stored where and when it is needed only. In fact, the hardest part about going vegan for some people can be to eat enough food to keep them satisfied!

Studies have shown that in the first three hours after a meal, the body burns calories faster on a vegan diet than on a meat-based diet. You are likely to find yourself eating larger quantities of food that are really good for your body. In our experience, this was a healthy and natural way to maintain a weight that felt great.

Whilst your personal experience with food is important, we have found that we no longer count calories, limit portions or worry about our daily intake of food. If it’s all plant-based, we say, eat til you heart is content!

Need some vegan food inspiration? Check out our latest Vegan Recipes.

3. A Vegan Diet Helps The Environment

In a critical time for the environment and overall health of our planet, one of the biggest ways to positively impact the situation is actually to choose a vegan lifestyle.

As fewer people consume meat and animal products, they place less demand on the industries that provide these food types. Livestock is bred based on demand and one of the reasons why our current meat and dairy industries are so vile is because of the large consumer market that drives it. 

Our current farming systems use huge quantities of water and other energy sources to maintain these super high consumer demands. By reducing your personal demand for meat and dairy, or by going fully vegan, your carbon footprint naturally reduces.

Cowspiracy:

Did you know it takes 4,000 gallons of water to produce a day’s worth of food for a meat eater, but only takes 300 gallons for a vegan? And it’s not only the planet’s water resources that can benefit from more vegan eaters.

Natural habitats are often destroyed to support large scale farming and farming waste can easily contaminate local areas due to sheer volume and cost-cutting methods.

If you want to be part of the solution, not the problem, for the environment, one of the best things you can do is try eating vegan. 

You may also like these 31 Easy Plastic Free Swaps to Beat Plastic Pollution.

4. Living Vegan Can Actually Improve Mental Health

Mental health is a pretty controversial subject, one that luckily is growing huge momentum and interest which is of benefit to us all. However, it is still challenging to discuss many aspects of mental health without coming under attack.

We are strong believers in mental and physical health being directly linked to what we consume and have noticed increased mental health and clarity since choosing to eat a predominantly plant based diet. And is it any wonder?

The more we think about it the more we’re sure that we can think more clearly because our bodies are also clearer. We’ve gotten rid of excess hormones and other chemicals that we’d been unknowingly topping up for years and replaced it replaced them with fresh, natural products that more often than not come straight out of the ground.

Instead of consuming things that have been dead for quite some time and are effectively rotting by the time they reach the dinner plate, fruits and vegetables can be chosen fresh and local and contain a kind of living energy.

If you struggle with general mental wellness, try simplifying your diet by removing man-made, toxic foods and replacing them with natural, chemical-free foods. It’s not necessarily the whole answer, but in our experience, it can really help.

You may also like these 7 Natural Health Remedies.

5. Improve Your Physical Health By Going Vegan

Another super controversial topic when it comes to the benefits of going vegan is that surrounding terminal illnesses such as cancer and the positive effect a plant based diet can have.

Studies have proven that vegans have lower rates of cancer, obesity, diabetes, and many other serious conditions. After just a couple of months, it’s been proven that a vegan diet can cause cancer preventing genes to turn on, and cancer causing genes to turn off.

When we first read research like this 2 years ago, we were shocked there wasn’t more awareness of this quite literally live-saving information. Why weren’t more people aware? Why weren’t more people talking about it?

There are many theories that aim to explain this general blindness to the cures for some of our most common placed illnesses that we won’t dive into here, but if you are keen to learn more, we highly recommend the following:

Forks over Knives:

Get first hand advice from a Professional Nutritionist in the U.K. who practices a vegan diet.

6. Help Prevent World Hunger By Going Vegan

What? How can changing what I eat help other people to avoid hunger? Madness, right? Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge that the food consumed by the world’s cattle is equal to the calorific needs of 8.7 billion people. That’s greater than the entire human population.

Theoretically, if everyone began eating vegan, we could cure world hunger. Similarly to the serious illness benefit above, we were stunned that we had not known this incredible benefit of going vegan before. Do we really have a way to avoid world hunger and yet we’re not changing to achieve it?

Theoretically, there is enough food to go round if everyone eats their fair share, not an excessive share. Studies discuss in detail how starving children in countries worldwide don’t have access to the land that should be available for them and their families to grow crops for food.

Instead, this local land is farmed for the excessive amount of livestock that is needed to feed ‘developed’ areas.

We feel it’s rather sad that more people don’t know how their own food choices can impact the availability of food in another part of the world, so please share this information with someone considering veganism today.

Are There More Benefits of Going Vegan?

Absolutely. Notice that within just these six benefits of going vegan, we didn’t need to mention animal cruelty. Clearly, animal welfare is a huge benefit to going vegan, as is consuming less hormones and chemicals, and being a better world citizen in general.

Although we are conscious of the fact that eating vegan helps to save the lives of severely mistreated animals, animal cruelty is not the reason we were tempted by veganism, nor is it the sole reason we stick to this lifestyle.

There are of course many huge benefits to the welfare of animals around the world, and many more benefits to our own welfare too that can be achieved by choosing a vegan diet.

We recommend you explore all the advantages by watching the documentaries included above or by doing further reading with these interesting and thought-provoking books.

Food as Medicine Books

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We want to reiterate that being vegan isn’t just about animals. It’s about so much more and you would be doing yourself a huge injustice to assume that all vegans are so because they want to save more animals.

Next time you meet someone who prefers to eat vegan or who lives a plant based lifestyle, ask them why and the benefits they’ve enjoyed. You’ll be amazed to learn the multitude of reasons and the never ending benefits veganism can offer.

You may also like our Preferred Vegan Products Page.

Ultimately the following quote sums up veganism for us perfectly:

I decided to pick the diet that I thought would maximise my chances of long-term survival – Al Gore on becoming vegan.

Perhaps you can’t change your habits overnight, perhaps you can. The journey is personal. If you would like some support, we can provide it to anyone transitioning to a vegan or plant-based lifestyle.

Subscribe to this blog for vegan recipe ideas or follow us on Facebook.

Going Vegan

Whether veganism is or isn’t for you, there is no denying it is the best decision for our planet, so if you can’t quit animal products, start by trying to reduce your meat and dairy intake.

The world really does provide enough for us all and no one company, industry, or collection of people should benefit to the detriment of others. When there are so many hugely impactive benefits of going vegan, surely it would be rude not to give it a go.

Eating vegan will have tremendously positive effects on you and even more profoundly positive effects on the world around you.

If you have a great book or film on the benefits of going vegan, please let us know in the comments below. Feel free to leave us your questions or to reach out to us for vegan meal inspiration too.