Myths and facts about a vegan diet

One of the most requested topics among the participants during Eat me up! project was the vegan and vegetarian diet.

Disinformation leads to the spread of a series of myths that give us a wrong idea of some things. Through a game of questions, we learned along with Maria about the facts and myths about vegan and vegetarian diets. Here are some of them:

Myths

• You cannot get enough protein on a vegetarian or vegan diet.

• Vegan or vegetarian ways of eating are restrictive (you will feel hungry with them).

• A vegan lifestyle is automatically healthy.

• A vegan lifestyle provides all nutrients from plants.

Facts

• Factory farming is responsible for 65 % of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide—a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, which can stay in the atmosphere for 200 years.

• Vegan or vegetarian nutrition is nutritious and does not need to be boring.

• Going vegan cuts your carbon footprint in half.

• Vegan cooking is remarkably easy to learn, and delivers all sorts of unexpected payoffs. While most hobbies will cost you money, learning to cook will save you piles of cash over eating at restaurants or buying frozen foods. You'll invariably eat fresher, tastier meals made with higher-quality ingredients.

• People who follow a healthy vegan lifestyle have the lowest risk of heart disease (this includes eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and healthy oils).

• A good vegan lifestyle is broad with the same proportions of food groups as other ways of eating: about 15 % protein; 50-55% carbohydrates, and the rest fat.

• Vegetarian and vegan individuals are less likely to be obese, and more likely to have healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

• Humans produce enough grain to feed the world, but choose to feed most of it to animals in order to eat meat; the U.S. could feed 800 million people with the grain used to feed farm animals.

• Animal agriculture is responsible for two-thirds of all fresh water consumption in the world today. One pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water to produce, a dozen eggs 636 gallons, and a gallon of cow’s milk a staggering 880 gallons.