Like a three legged stool, no concept or cause can stand up without three strong legs to support it.  Veganism has three unassailable legs, health, environmental and animal welfare.

Human cruelly to animals is unjustified.  Just because the practice is endemic it does not justify imprisoning animals within fences, walls or cages, for life. Neither does it vindicate the mistreatment of animals during their incarceration with the imposition of unnatural breeding, feeding and drugging practices, nor the untimely death sentences imposed.

The environment is being damaged by livestock.  Currently less than half the world's population, of 7 billion, anticipate meat to be part of their diet, yet this requires the feeding and processing of 70 billion animals a year.  This vast number exploits 75% of all available farm land (45% of all land), uses 75% of all antibiotics produced, contaminates the majority of available potable water, whilst emitting over half of all human caused global warming gasses.  It is now established by Jeff M. Anhang, Robert Goodland, Richard Oppenlander and many others that a 25% reduction of livestock numbers would instantly return the world's atmosphere back to pre-Kyoto levels, would free up huge areas of land for the re-establishment of biodiversity of flora and fauna, as well as free up an abundance of grain and vegetables to feed every human being.

Meat eating is unhealthy. Studies in longevity all show an average healthy lifespan of vegans to be 10 years longer than meat eaters who are otherwise living in the same socioeconomic environment.  The modern addiction to eating animal products is concurrent with the modern demands for pharmaceuticals simply to maintain a life expectancy similar to their ancestors who ate considerably less meat, and took no medications.

In this day and age, if you contract a Non Communicable Chronic Disease (NCCD), you have to acknowledge that it is your fault.

The very term “Non Communicable”, says it all.  You cannot catch cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s, dementia, arthritis or any of the other plethora of chronic illnesses from other people.  You do not get them from breathing the same air as everyone else, nor from drinking the same water as everyone.  They are caused from environmental interference in the body and the biggest environmental influence is the food we eat.

It is no longer an excuse to repeat the adage that you are susceptible because of your genes.  It is now well proven that genetic disposition to a chronic illness is less than 2%.  This means that 98% of your risk of dying from chronic illness is in your hands.

Of course if you have lived a life, unaware of what causes you to die from a chronic illness, then for the moment it is not your fault.  However there is such a vast body of information available as to how to live a life free of NCCD that it is impossible to ignore the facts.  If you continue to ignore such luminaries as Dr T Colin Campbell, Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr John McDougall, Dr Michael Greger, Jason Bennett, and many hundreds more, you have to acknowledge that it is your continued wish to to be duped by the marketing efforts of the massively powerful farming, food and pharmaceutical lobbies and by the lethargy of the medical fraternity to help you change your ways.

If you, as I,  have lived the majority of your life eating  meat, fish and dairy, your chances of being struck down by a NCCD are higher, but there is strong evidence that even we can reverse the damage, by moving to a plant based whole food life style.

The choice is yours, but don’t blame anyone else when you go down with a NCCD, there is a 98% chance that it is your fault.

Once again Barbie, my wife, woke up with a complaint about arthritis in her hands.  Once again I asked her what she ate yesterday and once again she responded that she had a cheese sandwich.  Just a single cheese sandwich, but that was enough to send the pain to her joints.

It is difficult for her, and so many others, to accept that one small ingestion of the wrong food can make such a change in her physiological condition.  It makes one wonder how many sore hands, backs, hips, knees and other ailing body parts are being caused, in the first place, by eating animal proteins.

Barbie is lucky.  She has been subjected to a whole food plant based diet, and in doing so has lost all arthritic pain.  She is lucky because she can now identify how dramatically a single cheese sandwich can change her health.

We both are lucky, as we can learn from this simple lesson how subliminal health changes can be shaped through eating damaging foods.  We are lucky too because we have read many reports on the damage done to health from eating any animal protein.  And I guess we are lucky to now recognise the powerful damage that can be so quickly wrought by eating just a little of the wrong food.

Dr McDougal succinctly describes the dangers and controls of cholesterol.  Essential watching for us all.

http://drmcdougall.com/video/mcdougalls_moments_cholesterol.html

What is the safe intake level for trans fats, saturated fats and cholesterol?

This interesting video will tell you.