Vegetarianism is growing in the world, and more and more people sees the benefits of a plant-based diet. Since I'm a vegetarian myself, I am here showing some information about vegetarianism.

Definitions of the word veg*an

When I write veg*an, I mean everything from lacto-ovo-vegetarians, to vegans or fruitarians. Some people like to call themselves vegetarians, even though they eat fish or poultry. I’m not saying this is wrong, every person has it’s own definitions of the word ”vegetarian”. Here I’ll show you the most common definition of the word.

Lacto-ovo-vegetarian
A person who doesn’t eat meat, fish and poultry, but do eat eggs and dairy products.

Ovo-vegetarian
A person who doesn’t eat meat, fish, poultry and dairy products.

Lacto-vegetarian
A person who doesn’t eat meat, fish poultry and eggs.

Vegan
A person who doesn’t eat meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products. A lot of vegans doesn’t wear leather, wool, or uses anything that comes from animals.

Fruitarian
A vegan who only eats vegetables that doesn’t kill the plants. For example, they don’t eat potatoes, since they have to kill the whole potato to eat it. But they do eat apples, because they don’t have to kill the tree.

Why veg*an?

There are a lot of reasons for going veggie. As many reasons as there are veg*ans. I can’t list them all here, but a few would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Health
One of the most common reasons for going veg*an is health. During the "health-years" (1975-1985), we learned to eat more fibre, to cut down on salt, sugar, fat and coffee (to mention a few things). People also discovered that the meat was full of fat, and it didn’t contain very much fibre. The fibre was in the vegetables, and they didn’t contain very much fat. Later on (when the health-years were over), the British Medical Association has stated that "vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders and gall-stones". Other researches had added lots of other diseases, for example, kidney stones, diabetes, gout, cancer and appendicitis. There is also less chance of getting a bacterial infection such as Salmonella on a meat-free diet. And now when scientists all over the world suspect that diseases such as BSE could affect human health, there is another reason for not eating meat, at least not from the mad cows.

Ethics
Another reason which is probably more common than the health-reason, is the ethic reason. Animals have rights too, they are feeling creatures with complex behaviour patterns and intense bonds to their offspring. They have also a complex nervous system and all the sensory organs necessary for the sensation of pain. That includes fish, as many people think don’t have feelings. Some persons starts to wonder if the plants can feel pain too. Well, they don’t have a complex nervous system nor the sensory organs necessary for feeling pain. And if they really could feel pain, the best thing to do is to become veg*an. Cattle do eat a lot of vegetables. Not as many plants have to die if people become veg*ans. Or you can become a fruitarian, but I strongly recommend you to get more information on that specific form of veg*anism. Anyway, the animals are transported to the slaughter in terrible conditions. Perhaps you’ve seen the pictures of the animal transports in Europe. In that case, you know what I mean. They can travel for days without rest or water, and if they would break a leg or something, they are packed on top of each other. They give them electric shocks to make them move faster into the truck. If they can’t walk, they take a crane and lift the animals in their legs until they break off, and fall into the truck. As a result of this, millions of animals die on the way to slaughter. The slaughter is violent and inhumane. Before that, they are treated like dead objects in the animal farms. They are often robbed of the opportunity to behave in instinctive ways and can be driven insane. I have been at a pig farm, and I have written an article about it. By now, it's only available in Swedish, but if you want to read it, send me an email and I'll translate it for you.

Environment
OK, so what’s my homepage all about? The Environment, right. Even the environment would be better if we became veg*ans. Animal agriculture demands tremendious amounts of fresh water. For example, to produce a pound of wheat requires 25 gallons of water, and to produce a pound of beef requires 390 gallons. It takes less water to produce the food that one vegetarian needs for a year, than it takes to produce the food that a meat-eater needs for a month. The destruction of natural habitants to make room for animal agriculture contributes to the rapid rate of extinction of many plants and animals. Huge amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers are used to grow food for the animals. They contribute to the pollution of the air, land and water, with far-reaching effects. There are also other things with the animal agriculture that pollutes our environment. To transport all this food and animals, a huge amount of fossil fuel is used. A scientist once said "If we continue using the oil as we do today, there will be no more oil on Earth in 40 years".

Human hunger
One of the best reasons (no reasons are the best, they’re all good, but some of them seems better to me than others) to go veg*an, is human hunger in the third world. Anyone that has read some biology, knows the rules of Mother Nature. It takes 10 times more food to feed a human with meat, than it takes to feed him/her with vegetables. So, if we went veg*ans, 10 times as many humans could live their lives without the hunger and misery they have today. I’ve made a small picture for you, to make it easier to follow what I’m saying. The green bottom is the vegetables (100). Then comes some yellow animals (10), and they’re hungry. They eat all the vegetables, they need that to stop the hunger. Then a hungry, red human arrives. To stop her hunger, she needs to eat all the animals. So she does. Then she’s left alone. There’s no more vegetables, and no more animals. That can be explained by this simple fact: Between the layers, 90% of the energy disappears. That means the one on the next layer has to eat 10 pieces of the ones at the lower layer. If the humans were the yellow ones, ten of them could continue living, instead of one.



Economy
Everyone is familiar with the economy problem, if not at your own house, at least in the country you’re living in. A lot of countries have a large national debt. They often have large expenditures going to the hospitals. By eating meat and getting ill (see Health), the expenditures grow. And since meat is way more expensive than veggie food, it also affects your personal economy. For example, 2 pounds of meat costs 50-100 kr in Sweden (1 US Dollar is about 6 - 8 kr), and meat shrinks when you cook it. 2 pounds of lentils or beans costs about 10 kr, and it grows bigger when you cook it. To eat meat is therefore more expensive to yourself and the society, than it is to be a veg*an.

What do I have to eat if I turn veg*an?

Please check out my new recipes page!

The different types of veg*ans need different kinds of food. If you’re planning on becoming a fruitarian, I suggest you talk to someone that already is a fruitarian. You can probably find one at a veggie mailinglist.

If you’re a lacto-ovo, the main thing you have to think of is beans and other vegetables. If you like it, tofu is great, but not necessary. The main bean is the soy-bean, which contains the last 8 amino acids in the protein.

For ovos, it’s the same thing as above, but now you have to make sure you get enough calcium. The easiest way to do this is to eat tofu or other products that contain much calcium. Ask the personal in your nearest health-food store, they know what other things there are at the market.

If you’re a lacto, like me, just think of getting enough vitamins and minerals. Don’t forget to eat your soy products, since you still have to get the last 8 amino acids. Fruit and fresh vegetables are great sources of vitamins and minerals.

Vegans do not have any trouble with their diet, as most people think they have. What they have to think of is to get enough calcium, just like the ovos. Some people say that a vegan can’t get enough vitamin B12, but nothing has been proved yet. We can only establish that people living on a strict vegan diet for many years, without taking any supplements, are as healthy as other veg*ans.

How can I contact other veg*ans?

If you have an email-address, the best thing to do is to join a mailinglist. There are a lot of them, and I’ll give you a link to some of them here. You can also visit a newsgroup, and post your comments or questions there. You’ll probably get lots of answers from other veg*ans around the world.

Another way is to go for a chat over the Net. There are veggie chats available at many places, just pick your favourite!

If you’re just surfing around without email-address, try to find a veg*an site where the owner presents his or her home address. Write to them, and I think they’ll be glad to help you. My address is at the bottom of this page.

Ask friends and people you know if they know anyone that’s veg*an. Keep your eyes and ears open, there are more veg*ans around you than you think.

Links to other veggie sites:

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