Is there a Place in Religion for Vegans? Nutrients, Morals, and the Optimal Diet

Many have become Vegans for moral reasons, ethical reasons, health reasons and/or environmental reasons. However, no matter what the reason, being a vegan does not in any way limit a person’s lifestyle choice or deprive a person of anything that a non-vegans might have.

Being on a balanced diet can be the healthiest thing on earth and a vegan diet proves to be that kind of diet from the few, and is the only diet so very good for the heart, body, mind and soul. Vegans have a slightly higher metabolic rate during rest, meaning that they burn up more calories as body heat rather than storing them as body fat. This small increase in the rate of caloric expenditure means a huge amount of calories burned with no additional effort. This in turn secludes one from obesity, cancer, heart disease and many other ailments attributed to consumption of meat. A vegan diet is also likely to be a high fiber diet and an important ingredient for life longevity.

What about nutrients? How on earth do vegans get their nutrients if they are not eating meat anyway? One would be surprised how easy it actually is to have a very healthy well balanced vegan diet from familiar tastes one knows and loves, and may also be inspired to explore many new foods, opening oneself up to discover a new world of taste sensations. One may notice the great variety of grains, nuts, nut butters, beans, rice, pastas, breads, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices one may not have cooked with before.

There are daily alternatives such as soymilk, almond milk, rice milk, nondairy ice creams, margarine, dairy-free cream and many more, and the diet can never be boring as most people would speculate. Many familiar favorites and international specialties are naturally vegan like the Italian spaghetti with marinara sauce, the Middle Eastern falafel, Indian rice biriyani, Chinese stir-fry veggies, Japanese vegetable sushi; and French fries, to mention but a few…

When you choose a vegan diet, you are choosing more than a different way to eat; you are choosing to be more environmentally friendly. You are choosing to reduce on the twenty-seven (27) times the petroleum it takes to produce a hamburger than it takes a soy burger, saving on the dangers of burning petroleum to the environment. Livestock production also utilizes more than eight percent of global water use, primarily for feed crop irrigation, hence veganism being a way to help in the conservative use of this important necessity for life support on earth. Also, In the Amazon, approximately 60-70 percent of deforestation results from cattle ranches and soybean cultivation, (ref:vegnews); only veganism would help as much in combating this environmental catastrophe.

Ethically, in all the major religious groups such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and Buddhism look at veganism as a way of some sort of spiritual purity. No faiths or religious traditions force a meat diet. In fact the scriptures such as the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagvad Gita encourage their aspirants to live with respect for all living beings.

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