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| Photo by Ella Olsson |
Recently, veganism has taken center stage in the conversation of health, wellness, and climate change Whether you love animals, want to protect the earth or simply want to live a healthy and longer life you are going to want to be vegan.
The leading causes of death in Canada are cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Contrary to popular belief, these are all lifestyle diseases, not caused by genetics. Recent studies by the World Health Organization have concluded that red and processed meats are now rated as a class 1 carcinogen, which is proven to increase your risk of cancer.
Animal proteins are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. The effects of this are excess plaque buildup causing blockages and decreased circulation to your organs. According to the Interheart study, you can decrease your risk of getting heart disease by 90% by eliminating cholesterol high foods in your diet. Areas of the world that consume a diet based around vegetables and grains, like rural China and sub-Saharan Africa, has extraordinarily low rates of heart disease.
Prevention is key. By removing meat and dairy from your diet, you are less likely to develop type two diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer, compared to people who eat an omnivorous diet. Not only does a vegan diet prevent these types of disease but it can cure them too. The most powerful antidote about the transition to a plant-based diet for your health that it has been proven to reverse diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer!
It's not new news that vegetables and fruits are good for you. Even the new Canadian food guide has removed dairy as a food group and recommends more plant-based proteins more often. The government has embraced scientific studies and not the mega lobbyist food groups to inform Canadians of the best dietary choices.
Another convincing reason to go vegan is the environmental impact animal agriculture has on our planet. Animal Agriculture is the leading cause of global warming, deforestation, species extinction, water depletion, and ocean dead zones.
The recent forest fires in the Amazon Rainforest that have been circulating the internet and has brought a lot of attention to us in the western world. In fact, the Amazon Forest burning is not new news, it is common practice in Brazil. What people may not know is that they are purposely burning down the forest to make room for grazing cattle, and corn and soy to feed those cattle. As consumers, we are fueling these fires, literally.
The livestock industry takes up massive amounts of the earth's resources, including freshwater and land. The problem with raising animals for food consumption is inherently inefficient. According to The Plantrician Project, to feed one person a standard omnivore diet for one year you need the land area equivalent to two football fields. The same-sized land can feed 14 people consuming a plant-based diet.
Agriculture is sucking the earth dry of our freshwater supply. Less than 1% of the world's water goes to human consumption when 70% of it goes to agriculture. From one simple hamburger to get to your plate took 634 gallons of water, equivalent to taking 36 showers.
Interested in the environmental impact your food choices make? Check out this interactive quiz by BCC here!
With the climate crisis on our doorstep, and our society more sick than ever, now is the time to open our eyes and face the fact the most effective way to save our planet and ourselves to go vegan.
SEO Rationale
Google trends showed that the term "Vegan" held higher searches than "Plant-based". I also thought to post the title as an approachable stance on the topic would yield higher traffic. Posting an angry "you have to go vegan" stance would result in people would avoiding the article.
I really liked that interactive quiz part. Super engaging!! This blog post is well written the only critique i have it to look out for small grammatical errors. For example, you wrote "more plant-based proteins more often," I would recommend to remove the first "more." But just removing the empty words through your post would help keep a smooth flow.
ReplyDeleteI love the bright photo, it really grabs your attention and it was also lovely to read. However, I think the title could be a bit more interest grabbing and different from the general topic from class.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting argument to read, and certainly well-informed; the picture went very nicely with the post too! My only issue is with your claim that veganism can reverse diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer; I would've liked to see some statistics to back that up, as that claim seems a little too good to be true.
ReplyDeleteOverall, absolutely loved the post. It was informative, engaging, and well-written. I love your picture and the use of the quiz at the end. It may be interesting to include some information and statistics about Canadians and how we specifically are affecting the environment (you talked about Brazil) with our consumption of meat.
ReplyDeleteThe article is well argued and very informative. The photo is very attractive and colourful and goes very well with article.
ReplyDeleteLoved the photo, the topic, and the flow of the whole argument. I find it hard to criticize as I am a little biased towards this topic, but, for me at least, I would have loved to see even more statistics and percentages to really solidify the argument (and also because I find them super interesting). A great job!!
ReplyDeleteReally strong arguments put in a proper tone, and slowly easing into all the points. I do think you could hyperlink a couple words with more suitable context, but overall great article although I disagree!
ReplyDeleteGreat title and great photo, they both immediately drew me in. The tone of the article makes it easy to follow, and i loved the inclusion of the quiz! As a vegetarian I often worry about sounding to "preachy" about the positives of being vegan or vegetarian but this article definitely doesn't do that. Good work!!
ReplyDelete-Maggie Folk
great topic to choose as it is a hot topic at the moment. In all well written very informative and interesting. Great read and argument is wonderfully expressed
ReplyDeleteYour post is super engaging, and it flowed very nicely. I love the photo as well. I think your argument is well-written with lots of links to back up your point. Awesome job!
ReplyDelete