Veganism

Obviously, there is very little reference to this more recent diet fad/phenomenon (depending on who you talk to) in any of the books I have for this project. However, I found one teeeeeeensy little part in You're the Doctor by Victor Heiser regarding veganism. It might be a little contrived, but stick with me here.

To start, here is the quote from Heiser that ignited this whole post:

"They claim they are vegetarians, but in all my travels I have never met a hundred-per-center. Invariably when I ask,

'Do you drink milk?'

'Oh, yes," comes the answer.
'And do you eat eggs?'
'Why, certainly.'
'Then you aren't true vegetarians,' I assure them."

Well Dr. Heiser, you have never met a vegan.

To us nowadays, the separation between vegetarian, pescatarian, and vegan is obvious, but back in 1939, the term vegan hadn't even been coined yet.  Actually, in looking up the history of veganism, it was hard to separate it from vegetarianism in its early days.

According to an article in TIME from 2008, vegetarianism dates back to early East Asian and Mediterranean cultures, and is first mentioned historically in 500 BCE by Pythagoras (the triangle theory guy, also known as a Greek philosopher).  His message, similar to that found in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism was about the morals of inflicting pain on others, including animals, rather than not eating meat for health reasons. Today, people are vegan for a variety of reasons, which I will get into later.

Heiser mentions vegetarianism when he discusses eating a balanced diet.  For example, he says why eat a "bale of hay," (referring to an infinite list of vegetables) to get enough "meat" protein when one can just eat "a thimbleful" of meat. And why eat pounds of meat to get vitamins, when a "few leaves of lettuce will furnish essential salts and minerals."  In other words, eat in M-O-D-E-R-A-T-I-O-N. Unless you're a vegan, in which case try to maintain as balanced a diet as possible.

The religious promotion of vegetarianism has some threads in the west, although not nearly as many in the east.  Apparently the Ephrata Cloister, a religious group in Pennsylvania advocated vegetarianism (and celibacy, and we know what that can do for your health) after its founding in 1732. The first vegetarian society was formed in 1847 in England and three years later, the Reverend Sylvester Graham (the father of Graham Crackers) co-founded the American vegetarian society, which must have been a big deal since vegetarians probably weren't as plentiful as they are now. Lo and behold, Graham was a Presbyterian minister, and his instructions for a virtuous life included vegetarianism, temperance, abstinence, and frequent bathing. BORING. Except maybe the bathing.

Anyway, vegetarianism must have continued to stick around in the following years (temperance and abstinence not so much...) but veganism wasn't even coined until 1944, when this British guy, Donald Watson, wanted to create a term for people who did not eat dairy or eggs. In his first society newsletter to his 25 followers, he explained that the word should be pronounced "veegan, not veejan."  Watson, who died in 1995, actually lived to be 95, so maybe veganism is good for you after all.

Now, to clarify what being vegan means for us. A true vegan doesn't eat any products that come from animals: meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, and fat.  They also don't eat honey and avoid using products that are derived from animal products, such as leather, fur, silk, wool, and some cosmetics.  The full definition can be found on the vegan website, www.vegan.org. The website claims a vegan lifestyle will benefit animals' lives (true), the environment (true), and our own health (sometimes true).

I can't debate that veganism is a benefit to animals' lives. Thats just obvious, and animal agriculture is a huge resource suck (water and transportation), not to mention what those cow farts do to our ozone layer. However, I don't think being vegan will change the number of animal deaths and the animal industry's effect on the environment that much unless the whole world went vegan. Fat chance.

However, the third point: that being vegan benefits our own health is true in some respects. It is a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and therefore can help anyone who is in jeopardy of heart disease. It is also relatively easy to be vegan these days; many restaurants sport vegan menus, our school cafeteria even has a "Meatless Monday"option as well as a variety of vegan cookies, breads, soy-products, and fake dairy things (soy milk being the only one I'm not a little bit wary of).

Full disclosure, I was a vegan once. I tried it out for like 2 weeks. It was awesome. I ate all the bread, rice, pasta and carbs I wanted!*

*Note: I wasn't a true vegan and probably still ate food with animal products (like milk or eggs in baked goods) I just didn't glaringly eat eggs, dairy, and meat. However, I did discover one of my favorite recipes for vegan banana bread, and I still sometimes prefer to bake vegan to lessen fat content and make me feel better about eating half the loaf.

But my version of veganism isn't a healthy vegan diet. Veganism can be healthy (see the articles below) but if you are a vegan and eat only processed grains and minimal vegetables, with no whole grains, legumes, leafy greens, or fats, you will have a hard time leading a healthy lifestyle.  The trick to being vegan and succeeding is to make sure you hit all the major vitamins and minerals and food groups available to you. You must maintain a diet consisting of food sources in order to get enough protein, calcium, iron, zinc, and fat from beans, whole grains, nuts, leafy greens, vegetable oils, and fortified food products.

Veganism can be helpful if you have the following conditions or are at risk for these conditions:
According to the literature, if you want to lose weight (A Two-Year Randomized Weight Loss Trial Comparing a Vegan Diet to a More Moderate Low-Fat Diet), have type 2 diabetes (Usefulness of Vegetarian and Vegan Diets for Treating Type 2 Diabetes), are at risk for cardiovascular disease )Vegetarian Dietary Patterns as a Means to Achieve Reduction in Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Risk Factors), or just really don't like to kill animals, veganism is for you.

Also if you are at risk for any of the previous mentioned health issues, you don't need to be strictly vegan.  You could maintain a mildly vegan lifestlye, without being strictly vegan but moderating your normal diet to eat less red meat and processed fats and focus more on wholesome grains, oils, and fruits and vegetables.

But as a Jew, I have to present this little carrot for thought: what does a vegan do on passover???

Oy, I wouldn't even want to consider it.

So there it is on veganism. And now I'm going to go eat a steak.