Why You Should Celebrate World Vegan Day Even if You Eat Meat

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The Activist for Activists. Author of Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism and What's on Your Sign? How to focus your passion and change the world. Teacher, Psychologist, Environmental Activist, Animal Lover.

Why do you eat meat?

I’ve had the privilege of speaking in college classes about veganism. After I tell the students about my journey to veganism, I ask them why they eat meat.

Usually, there is silence. I simply wait, and often someone will answer with, “Meat tastes good.”

“Meat tastes good.”

The students are usually surprised when I agree. Meat does taste good, although living years without it has eliminated any cravings I had for it. But this question gets the process started in discussing the various reasons people eat meat.

“I’m an athlete, and I need protein.”

Athletes often cite a need for protein as their reason to eat meat. I mention elite vegan athletes such as tennis players Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic, many of the U.S. Women’s soccer team, weightlifter Patrik Baboumian, footballer Colin Kaepernick, and many Tennessee Titans. We talk about how you can get the protein you need for high performance from plants. I encourage them to watch the movie “Game Changers,” which features how professional athletes succeed and thrive on a plant-based diet.

“The government (or my parents) told me it was good for me.”

From the USDA, a plate showing types of food we should eat: fruits, vegetables, gains, protein, and dairy. All our lives, we have been told that we must eat meat to be healthy. When I was a child, the USDA Food Pyramid recommended daily servings of meat and dairy. My parents, teachers, and the government sent me the message that meat was essential to my health.

Lobbyists from the meat and dairy industries influence what the government recommends we eat. That is a dangerous situation. Although an Advisory Committee made up of health and nutrition experts provides input, the suggestions are not always implemented.

The Advisory Committee’s scientific report lumped red meat in with processed meats—stuff like salami and hot dogs—and said that a healthy diet would mean eating “lower” amounts of these foods in order to prevent chronic diseases. By contrast, the final guidelines list red meat alongside seafood, poultry, and other protein sources as elements of a “healthy eating pattern.” – Markham Heid, Time Magazine

The USDA’s current recommendation program, MyPlate.gov, does not include meat as a category, instead grouping meats with other proteins. But it still includes dairy. If you dig into the educational materials, you’ll find they say soy milk is an acceptable substitute for dairy.

Why People Become Vegan

Check out the chart below, and you’ll see that health and weight management are the #1 reasons people choose a vegan diet. This is followed by animal welfare and the environment. All great reasons to eat less meat.

Why people go vegan chart. World Vegan Day.

Source: Health Careers

“A vegan lifestyle prevents a tremendous amount of animal slaughter and suffering. It offers a potent way to shrink our environmental footprint, especially in regard to climate change. And a well-planned vegan diet can fuel the highest levels of fitness, while reducing our risk of various chronic diseases. Plus, the food is insanely delicious and it becomes more widely available every year.” – Erik Marcus, Vegan.com

Advantages of a Vegan Diet For Your Health

We do not need meat and dairy to be healthy. In fact, the opposite is more likely. People who eat meat have higher death rates, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

“There are diets proven to not only prevent and treat but reverse our #1 killer, heart disease, along with other deadly diseases such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Yet doctors get little if any formal nutrition training in medical school, graduating without some of the most powerful tools available to stop the chronic diseases that remain our leading causes of death and disability. Here at NutritionFacts.org, we believe that a significant part of the problem is that individuals who want to make the correct dietary choices for themselves and their families are faced with a deluge of confusing and conflicting nutritional advice.” Dr. Michael Greger

Benefits of a Vegan Diet For The Earth

Eating meat is one of the most significant contributors to climate change. Eating less meat is the single most effective step we can take to reduce our carbon footprint.

Read Erik Marcus’s article about becoming a vegan on his amazing website Vegan.com.

Other Benefits of Reducing Meat Intake

Factory farming of animals is a food justice issue. Like coal plants and hazardous waste sites, factory farms are never located in neighborhoods with high socioeconomic status (SES). Instead, they are placed in low SES areas. That means poor people are subjected to the impact of smell, noise, and water pollution from the factory farms.

Most people don’t want to work in factory farms or slaughterhouses. So the most vulnerable people end up working there and suffering the terrible physical and mental impact of killing thousands of animals a day.

Ways to Celebrate World Vegan Day

Try reducing or eliminating meat in November

If you feel motivated to reduce your meat consumption, try it for November, World Vegan Month. There are excellent resources at Meatless Mondays.

And if you’d like a more structured approach, you can wait until the first of the year and take the Veganuary Challenge. Sign up at the Veganuary website, and you’ll receive meals plans, recipes, coaching emails, and best of all, a community of over a half million people to help you on your journey.

You can even celebrate a vegan Thanksgiving. Check out Grey, the vegan rapper.

Go out for a vegan meal

Your options for local vegan food are better if you are near a large city, but you never know what small communities have to offer. I live in a small town in East Tennessee, and although we don’t have a vegan restaurant, we have multiple places to get vegan options. In Blount county, try Bluetick’s Mediterranean Tofu Bowl and Spaghetti and Meatballs. At Hot Rods, choose from a huge vegan menu. Try a burger, tots, and vegan shake – my favorite.

To locate a vegan-friendly restaurant anywhere in the world, try the Happy Cow app.

Make a vegan meal

When people ask me about going vegan, I point out two things.

First, there are now many excellent options for replacing meat, dairy, and eggs in your grocery store. I confess that I bring vegan dishes to potlucks but don’t tell anyone they are vegan. No one ever realizes. It’s not just tofu anymore.

Second, I recommend that you veganize your favorite meals. If you like breakfast sandwiches, make one from Gardein sausage patties, Just egg, and vegan cheese.

If you love lasagna, try it with vegan cheese. Miyoko’s brand is delicious.

Share a vegan recipe

Vegan corn bread If you make something you love, share it with others. Here is one of my favorite recipes:

The Best Vegan Cornbread

This recipe is from the website Nora Cooks. The Best Vegan Cornbread is easy-to-make and yummy. I like to add frozen corn kernels, too. It is wonderful with beans, greens, and chow chow for a southern-style meal.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup canola oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a 8 x 8 pan, or a 9 inch round cake pan.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder and stir.
Now pour in the almond milk and canola oil. Stir until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Eat junk food

Although a plant-based diet is inherently healthier, it is possible to eat junk food, too. And don’t we all want to do that sometimes? Here is a list of junk food that is vegan:

Cookies: Oreos
Pies: Some Marie Callender and Kroger brand pies.
Chips: Most potato and tortilla chips, Pringles, and Fritos.
Crackers: Wheat Thins and Ritz crackers.
Candy: Dark Chocolate, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, Smarties, BlowPops, and DumDums.

If you are a chocolate fan, you can find delicious vegan milk chocolate. Check out the vegan chocolate guide at Vegan.com.

Make the World a Better Place

Would I be happy if everyone went vegan? Yes, ecstatic. But that is not realistic, so this is my wish. Please reduce the number of animal products in your diet. You will feel better, fewer animals will suffer, and we can start to heal our environment.

Vegan for everything n a red t-shirt

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