Benefits of Being Vegan Over Vegetarian

Posted by Reilly on March 09, 2023

Growing up, I was never a big meat-eater. For one reason or another, I just didn’t see the appeal of hamburgers and pork chops. When my mom made spaghetti, something that we ate for dinner most Sundays, it became routine for her to make a meatless sauce with mushrooms in place of ground beef. I soon stumbled upon a PETA video about animals used for food and made the decision to go vegetarian at age 12. (Although I didn’t realize that eating sea life is definitely not vegetarian, since fish are sentient.)

It wasn’t until years later that I actually went vegan, and I only wish I had done it sooner. Vegetarians don’t eat any animals, including pigs, chickens, cows, and fish. Vegans, in addition to not eating any animal flesh, don’t consume dairy milk, dairy cheese, eggs, or any other product derived from an animal. Going vegan turned out to be one of the best (and easiest) decisions of my life. So if you’re on the fence about whether or not to go from vegetarian to vegan, do yourself a favor and go for it! Here’s why:

• You’ll fart less.
  Listen, there’s nothing natural about drinking milk from cows. No other species regularly drinks the milk of another species, so why should we? Our bodies know this, especially when they tell us via agonizing stomach pains after eating dairy. IDK about you, but that was my experience before going vegan—never again. Remove dairy from your diet and you’ll notice a significant reduction in gas, stomach pain, and mucus. 🤢

• You’ll save baby cows.
  For humans to get cow’s milk, baby cows must be taken away from their moms. 💔 Male calves are often raised for veal, while female calves end up experiencing the same torturous fate as their mothers. Consuming dairy means supporting both the meat and dairy industries, which abuse and kill cows. No, thank you! Pass the oat milk, please.

• You’ll save baby chicks.
  Male chickens can’t lay eggs, so they’re considered useless to the egg industry. That means THOUSANDS of male chicks are killed every day. 😢 They’re either left to suffocate in trash bags or ground up alive. Who would ever want to support that? Instead, I love a good tofu scramble, and for baking, I swap chicken eggs for flax eggs, which works every time!

© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

• You’ll break out less.
  Dairy can contribute to cancer and acne. My skin definitely cleared up when I ditched dairy for good. Why suffer from annoying zits when you can just swap out the cow’s milk for soy milk?
• You’ll have better health overall.
  If the message hasn’t already been made clear, you don’t need dairy or eggs. In fact, we’re healthier without them! There are plenty of vegan sources of calcium and protein. With more vegans than ever, it just goes to show that this lifestyle is sustainable for many people. We can thrive by leading with compassion when making food choices.

• You’ll be doing the best thing you possibly can for the planet.
  Not only does going vegan help you save nearly 200 animals every year, it’s also the most beneficial thing you can do for the planet. It takes 63 GALLONS of water to produce one glass of cow’s milk. Why are we still doing this, especially with so many vegan milk options available? We do a lot more good than we may realize when ordering a coffee with vegan milk instead of cow’s milk.

• It’s easier than ever.
  Vegan cheese, butter, milk, yogurt, and ice cream will surely satisfy your taste buds—just give them a try! That whole “But I love cheese too much to go vegan” excuse just doesn’t cut it anymore. You just need to find your favorite brands of vegan alternatives by sampling a few to see which ones you enjoy. There are also great egg replacers for all kinds of foods. The options are endless.

So what are you waiting for? GO VEGAN! We’d be happy to help with this, too. ☺️ E-mail [email protected] for support, brand and restaurant recs, recipes, and more!