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| Detox and Cleanse Health Articles » Vegan-and-vegetarian » The Vegan Diet
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To define a Vegan, I would have to say it is someone who doesn't eat anything that has come, or is derived from an animal, insect fish or anything else that has life. This includes refraining from meat (including fish), eggs, dairy, honey and all products containing ingredients derived from animals such as gelatine.
As a basic rule, if you, or someone else had to chase it, if it has eyes or legs, then a Vegan will not eat it.
This may seem odd to those who enjoy indulging in hamburgers for breakfast and pork chops for lunch, but the Vegan's have their reasons. Although the health reasons supporting the diet are abundant (see Vegetarianism), most Vegan's choose this diet because of spiritual of philosophical reasons. I have heard countless stories of people who could not stand to eat meat after they learnt of the cruel way that the animals are treated through their lives as cattle and poultry. Many spiritual groups (including many Buddhists, and the Dalai Lama) also advocate a Vegetarian or Vegan diet to encourage compassion and thoughtfulness. Most religions advocate "what goes around, comes around", "do unto others as you should have them do unto you", "karma", "thou shall not kill". The theory goes, that is you buy meat, then an animal has to be killed, and that makes the buyer partly responsible.
Many people are afraid that if they become vegan or vegetarian they will miss out on the all important "protein". But more people in the modern world get sick from too much protein than not enough. It seems the meat industry has brainwashed the people into thinking you can only get protein from meat. But in reality, almost everything you eat has protein in it, even watermelon. For a list of vegetarian high protein foods there is a great vegetarian resource here.
There is also a lot of research at the moment, not only stating that the vegan diet is good for you, but also saying it can be more effective at managing and even curing sickness. For example the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently conducted a study into treating type 2 diabetes with a low fat vegan diet. Their results were amazing. They found that the diet was more effective than the one currently recommended by the diabetes association in America. There is also a lot of evidence that foods found commonly in the vegan diet, such as fruit and vegetables are effective at preventing cancer (see www.cancerproject.org). Another point to note is that heart disease is one of the major killers in the modern world, and most of the heart disease cases are caused by high cholesterol, which is absent from a Vegan diet and high in a meat based diet. The first thing a doctor tells someone who just had bypass surgery is "cutback on meat". Why not just stop eating it in the first place and then avoid heart problems altogether.
Another big killer in the modern world is bowel cancer, another byproduct of eating a diet rich in meat and low in high fibre fruits and vegetables. There is more information and facts on cancer here and some great cancer fighting vegetarian recipes.
There are also some great vegan and vegetarian recipes here.
Food for thought! If you still have doubts then check out the list of famous vegetarians below. I'd like to comment that Einstein was a Vegetarian, certainly no sandwiches short on that picnic!
(see http://al.godsdirectcontact.org.tw/vg-vip for more famous Vegetarians)
Vegetarian and Vegan Elite of the World : Philosophers, Spiritual Leaders Dalai Lama of Tibet - His Holiness the XIV (Tibetan spiritual leader), Paramahansa Yogananda (Indian Spiritual Teacher), Socrates (Greek philosopher), Jesus Christ & early Christians, Confucius (Chinese philosopher), Shakyamuni Buddha, Lao Tzu (Chinese Philosopher), St. Francis of Assisi (Italian Christian Saint), Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist monk\writer), Yogi Maharishi Mahesh (Indian writer, philosopher, leader of Transcendental Meditation), Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian philosopher), Pythagoras (Greek mathematician/philosopher), Zoroaster (Iranian - Founder of Zoroastrianism), Etc. Writers, Artists & Painters Leonardo Da Vinci (Italian painter), Ralph Waldo Emerson (US essayist, and poet), George Bernard Shaw (Irish writer), John Robbins (US writer), Mark Twain (US writer), Albert Schweitzer (German philosopher, physician, musician), Plutarch (Greek writer), Voltaire (French writer), Etc. Scientists, Inventors & Engineers Charles Darwin (British naturalist), Albert Einstein (German Scientist), Thomas Edison (US scientist/inventor), Sir Isaac Newton (British scientist), Nikola Tesla (Croatian scientist/inventor), Henry Ford (US Founder of Ford Motors), Etc. Politicians, Statespersons and Activists Susan B. Anthony (US leader of Woman's Suffrage movement), Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Civil Rights leader), Coretta Scott King (American Civil Rights activist and leader, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), President Janez Drnovsek of Slovenia, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalem (President of India), Dr. Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister of India), Dennis J. Kucinich (US Congressman), Etc. Actors, Film stars & TV Stars Pamela Anderson (US actress), Ashley Judd (US actress), Brigitte Bardot (French actress), John Cleese (British actor), David Duchovny (US actor), Danny Devito (US actor), Cameron Diaz (US actress), Richard Gere (US actor), Daryl Hannah (US actress), Dustin Hoffman (US actor), Katie Holmes (US actress), Steve Martin (US actor),Demi Moore (US actress), Ian McKellen (British actor), Tobey Maguire (US actor), Paul Newman (US actor), Brad Pitt (US actor), Gwyneth Paltrow (US actress), Joaquin Phoenix (US actor), Steven Seagal (US actor), Brooke Shields (US model/actress), Jerry Seinfeld (US actor), Naomi Watts (US actress), Kate Winslet (British actress), Etc. Pop stars & Musicians Joan Baez (US folk singer), George Harrison (British musician, member of the Beatles), Paul McCartney (British musician, member of the Beatles), Ringo Starr (British musician, member of the Beatles), Bob Dylan (US musician), Michael Jackson (US pop star), Morrissey (British singer), Olivia Newton John (British-Australian singer), Sinead O'Connor (Irish singer), Pink (US singer), Prince (US pop star),Justin Timberlake (US pop singer), Tina Turner (US pop star), Shania Twain (Canadian singer),Vanessa Williams (US pop singer), Etc. Sports Personalities Billie Jean King (US Tennis champion), Bill Walton (US Basketball player), Carl Lewis (US 9-time Olympic Gold-Medalist in Track & Field), Edwin C. Moses (US 2-time Gold-Medalist in Track & Field), Elena Walendzik (German Boxing champion), Alexander Dargatz (German Athlete, Body-building champion, physician), Etc. Models Christie Brinkley (US supermodel), Christy Turlington (US supermodel), Etc. And the list goes on.http://AL.Godsdirectcontact.org.tw/vg-vip
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