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Vegans - Ultimate Vegetarians
The Vegan Society was founded in november 1944. The word vegan derived from the word vegetarian.
Founder Donald Watson was a conscientious objector who wanted to eradicate all forms of animal exploitation for food, clothing, cosmetics or any other purpose.
Celebrity vegans include Brian Adams (musician), Joaquin Phoenix (Actor), Carl Lewis (Athlete), Pat Reeves (powerlifter), Martin Shaw (Actor), Sally Eastell (Olympic runner), Judith Shakeshaft (Champion mountain biker and runner), Sophie Ward (Actress), Chrissie Hynde (Musician), Alicia Silverstone (Actress).
Honorary patrons include Benjamin Zephaniah (Poet), Maneka Gandi (Politician), Moby (Musician), Wendy Turner-Webster (TV Presenter).
"The animals you eat are not those
who devour others, you do not
eat the carnivorous beasts, you take them as your
pattern. You only hunger after sweet and gentle
creatures who harm no-one, which follow you, serve
you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their
service."
John Jacques Rousseau, Philosopher
Veganism is a philosophy based on respect and compassion. Vegan means friends of animals.
Veganism is based upon a set of ethics that focus upon the belief that it is not morally right to use and kill animals therefore a vegan does not eat any animal produce of any kind.
This food pyramid shows clearly the basic food groups to a vegan diet.
The vegan lifestyle is the ultimate aim for all vegetarians, ideally. However, you can become a vegetarian today and make a dramatic impact on this world that often shows no respect or consideration for the suffering of animals. Most people will make their own personal choice on their lifestyle and that of their families, but as with other important life issues, sometimes it is better to make changes in stages and once comfortable with that change then another progressive step, i.e. towards a vegan lifestyle, can be achieved. However, there are people who may not become vegan but are happy to live a vegetarian lifestyle, when this excludes dairy produce and eggs, this is a wonderful change to make regarding diet, health and the saving of many animals, who obviously suffer daily to produce these foods. As is well documentated, soya products are nutritious and taste great, and are far better for your health than dairy, as is becoming widely recognised, eggs can be eliminated from the diet and for baking, vegan egg replacer, can be bought easily. One very serious concern for people thinking of becoming vegetarian or vegan relates to pregnancy and the developing baby. The American dietetic association says that a well-planned vegan diet is "appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy and lactation." They suggest though that vegan mothers supplement their diets with iron, vitamin D and vitamin B12.
The question, "would we be overrun by animals if we stopped eating meat?". The answer is NO, obviously change would occur gradually, in progressive steps. The world would not become vegetarian overnight, but it is definitely possible that we, as human beings could all become vegetarians and the changes that would be implemented regarding farming animals etc, would be overseen by caring people who had the best interests of the animals at heart. This would be an easy solution because as we know there is so much intensive farming and over breeding of animals for human food consumption that this could be reversed with no problem.
It is up to the human race to determine what kind of world we want to live in and raise our children in. It is not enough to have an idealistic vision of a compassionate and peaceful world unless we take practical action today to become vegetarian, this is essential to solving the world's worst problems, and then looking towards a vegan lifestyle would be the only way we could live in a compassionate and peaceful world, unless these steps are taken there can be no compassionate and peaceful world. We human and non-human species inhabit this world together along with the rainforests, jungles, the mountains and the ice flows. Unless we work together at keeping a balance of nature and stop polluting and destroying animal habitats and the large expanses of wild environments, the rest of the planetary systems will become out of balance and perish.
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Becoming Vegan
