Olympic skier Seba Johnson has continuously excelled in her career, but as a vegan since birth, she's done it all without meat or dairy in her diet.
Some people are lucky enough to have never eaten an animal product. I was raised vegan from birth and have often been under the impression that there aren't many others like me.
Human Evolution and the Rise of Meat-Heavy Diets
Neal Barnard, talks about humans' early diet, explaining that we “had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet …. [M]eat-eating probably began by scavenging—eating the leftovers that carnivores had left behind.
Contrary to what some people think, veganism is not about living a life that's absolutely 100% free of animal products. Rather, veganism is about minimizing harm to other sentient creatures and avoiding animal products as much as possible.
Anybody can choose to be Vegan for health reasons or commit their entire life to the lifestyle. A vegan diet excludes all food from animals, such as meat, cheese, and eggs. Some vegans also do not eat honey because it comes from bees.
While there is no exact figure for the percentage of vegetarians in the US as of 2023, data from various sources suggest a significant increase in the number of people adopting a vegan lifestyle. According to a recent survey, about 5% of Americans consider themselves vegetarians, and 3% consider themselves vegans.
Remember, a vegan diet is not inherently healthy- what we can take away is that incorporating a robust variety of plant-based foods into the diet while avoiding processed foods and processed meats is the key to optimizing health benefits- whether or not you chose to eat meat.
Level 4 vegan
Level 4 vegans are incredibly committed to veganism, and follow a strict dietary regime. A level 4 vegan's diet is likely to contain more fruits, vegetables and nuts. Level 4 vegans will often only eat out at vegan restaurants, or if that is not an available option they will only choose a vegan option.
Put simply, yes. It's something people ALWAYS ask me when they find out I'm in a relationship – 'is he vegan/do you cook vegan together/do you eat vegan at home' etc.
Fruitarianism is more restrictive than veganism or raw veganism, as a subset of both. Maintaining this diet over a long period can result in dangerous deficiencies, a risk that many fruitarians try to ward off through nutritional testing and vitamin injections.
China's vegan and plant-based protein industry is growing fast, and this lifestyle is becoming increasingly popular around the country. Veganism statistics China shows the trend being adopted at a rapid rate: 5% of China's population are vegans.
Gen Z is often considered to be more environmentally conscious than older generations, but that's not the main reason they adopt a vegan diet. Instead, 52% of Gen Z vegans say they went vegan for the health benefits.
They're each just slightly less likely to say they regularly eat plant-based meat and drink plant-based beverages regularly (15% of Gen Z and 18% of Millennials). But when it comes to just eating plant-based meat, only 6% of Gen Z are regularly choosing this option, compared to 12% of Millennials.
'Children can be safely raised as vegans, as long as the parents are very well informed on meeting nutritional requirements with a vegan diet, which is trickier than meeting requirements for adults following a vegan diet. '
Like all mammals, a human mother produces milk for the sole purpose of nourishing her baby. So for vegan moms and their babies, there's no moral contradiction in breastfeeding.
Most condoms are made from latex, which is a plant-based product. However, some latex condoms are made smooth by resting in a bath of casein (a milk byproduct), which makes them non-vegan, integrative gynecologist Shawn Tassone, M.D., Ph. D., explains.
Mark 7 – Jesus declares all foods clean
Most Christians maintain that Jesus's teaching in Mark 7 demonstrates that Christians can eat whatever they want, that dietary choices are a matter of "Christian liberty", and that therefore vegetarianism or veganism could never be obligatory for Christians.
There are many different ways to be a 'part-time' vegan; eating only plant-based foods at home but having flexibility when eating out, eating plant-based during the week but changing it up at the weekends… both of these are examples of 'flexitarian' eating, or 'part-time' plant-based.
There are 2.5 million vegans in Japan. 124.90 million: The projected Japanese population by the end of 2022. 2.1% of the Japanese population are vegan. The plant-based food market was worth 24.6 billion Japanese yen in 2021.
Honey is by definition not vegan, since it a bee product, and bees are animals. Here's a nuanced article about how the ethical issues surrounding this sweetener fit into the broader concept of vegan living.
One of the earliest followers of what we now consider a vegan diet was Arab philosopher and poet Al-Maʿarri who abstained from animal products for his health and beliefs on the transmigration of souls and animal welfare.
Hindu and Buddhism
Both of these traditions emphasize the importance of nonviolence and compassion towards all living beings, and this commitment to ethical conduct has led many followers to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet. In Hinduism, the concept of ahimsa, or nonviolence, is a central tenet of the faith.
A study by Oxford University discovered that plant-based eating is actually the most affordable diet. It also found that a vegan diet reduced food costs by up to one-third due to the use of whole foods over meat and meat replacements.
Not only can humans obtain all the necessary protein and nutrients from a no meat diet, but there are a plethora of health benefits associated with offsetting meat intake with plant-based foods.