11 Facts About Vegan Living

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1. Veganism is a way of life that alters diet, clothing, and other decisions with the goal of ending exploitation of animals.^[Davis, Brenda & Vesanto Melina. "Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-based Diet." Book Publishing Company, 2000.]
2. Vegan foods are free of all animal products such as meat, eggs, fish, and dairy. Get YOUR school to serve a healthier, less meaty menu by signing up for Meatless Mondays.^[Davis, Brenda & Vesanto Melina. "Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-based Diet." Book Publishing Company, 2000.]
3. “Ethical vegans” also avoid the use of animal products like skin (leather or fur), feathers, and other things that cause animal suffering during production.^[Francione, Gary and Robert Garner. "The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition Or Regulation?" Columbia University Press, 2010. and Moran, Victoria. "Veganism: The Ethics, the Philosophy, the Diet." Vegetarian Times, January 1989.]
4. Approximately 5% of the US is vegetarian (close to 16 million people), and about half of those are vegan -- meaning about 7.5 million Americans abstain from all animal products.^[Harris Interactive and the Vegetarian Resource Group. "How Many Adults Are Vegan in the U.S.?" http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/is-2014-the-year-of-the-vegan/. Jan 16, 2014 (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]
5. Vegan living often reduces the intake of saturated fat, animal hormones, and cholesterol while increasing the intake of fresh fruits and veggies. That has the potential to reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.^[Davis, Brenda & Vesanto Melina. "Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-based Diet." Book Publishing Company, 2000.]
6. The average American cholesterol level is 210 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), which is higher than the medically acceptable range of 150-200 mg/dL. The average cholesterol of a vegan in the US is 146 mg/dL.^[Saunders, Kerrie K. "The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention: Evidence Supporting the New Four Food Groups." Lantern Books, 2003.]
7. Vegans get their protein from products like lentils, black beans, veggie burgers, tofu, nuts, peanut butter, and soy milk.^[Davis, Brenda & Vesanto Melina. "Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-based Diet." Book Publishing Company, 2000.]
8. Because vegans don’t consume dairy products like milk and cheese, they intake calcium with foods like broccoli, bok choy, chinese cabbage, collards, kale, and calcium-fortified orange juice.^[Bellows, L. "Vegetarian Diets." Colorado State University, food science and human nutrition. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09324.html Jan 2012 (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]
9. Vitamin D is required to absorb calcium from the digestive tract and incorporate calcium into bones and teeth, but vegans don’t consume much of it in their diet. To compensate, they expose themselves to natural sunlight or a take Vitamin D supplement.^[Bellows, L. "Vegetarian Diets." Colorado State University, food science and human nutrition. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09324.html Jan 2012 (accessed Nov 4, 2014).]
10. Vegans tend to have lower rates of cancer than meat-eaters and vegetarians. For example, vegan women had 34% lower rates of female-specific cancers like breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer. Similar results were found in men for prostate cancer.^[Tantamango-Bartley Y, et al. "Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population." Loma Linda University, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Feb;22(2):286-94.]
11. A study done by Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn found that a vegan diet caused more than 500 genes to change in three months, turning on genes that prevent disease and turning off genes that cause cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses.^[Blackburn, Elizabeth H, et al. "Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study." Lancet Oncol. 2008 Nov;9(11):1048-57. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70234-1. Epub 2008 Sep 15.]