Moving onto a kindler and gentler blog post, let’s talk about the many benefits of veganism. I know that a lot of folks are aware of the health benefits of veganism. But as you’ve heard me say time and time again, veganism is more than health for me. In fact I’d like you gentle reader, to ponder the benefits of veganism for the animals.
The benefits of a vegan diet are not just to your own advantage. In fact, could I not argue that veganism benefits animals even more so. For in fact it saves their lives. Billions and billions of animals are murdered each year for nothing more than the sensation of their flesh on humans’ tongues. But let us not get depressed, let us rather celebrate the many benefits of veganism.
These benefits of going vegan are advantages that I have experienced over the more than 2 decades I’ve been vegan. Some of these vegan benefits I’ve had shared with me by other vegans. Many of the advantages of being vegan that we’ll discuss are well known, but some of these benefits of being a vegan are lesser well known, and dare I say just downright cute 😉 So let’s take a look at these vegans with benefits OR the vegan fringe benefits.
After becoming vegan for a while, and this little while depends on you my dear vegan, you’ll find that your conscience clears. It is like a fog that has been burned up by the hot son of clarity and truthfulness and peacefulness. You start to see things and understand things that at first you never really gave much thought to. For example, you start to see animals as they are, as brothers and sisters from different mothers. As people not unlike you, but rather just dressed up differently.
As a wise man once said, “if you put a rabbit and an apple in a crib with a baby and it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I’ll buy you a knew car”, you come to see animals as friends, companions are even just other beings, but never as food. This is important and an immense benefit of being vegan in my mind.
This new, overarching mindset and clarity of thought that you begin to experience once you’ve been vegan for a while is a multi-layered and deeply colored benefit that will infuse your whole being with an understanding and awakening that carries many rewards with it.
For example, veganism is cheaper than eating meat. By being vegan you’ll save money on all sorts of things. You won’t buy cars with leather interiors and as such, you’ll eliminate a large amount of expensive vehicles from your list of vehicles that you’ll be interested in. You’ll buy non-leather vegan shoes and you’ll notice that many of these are much cheaper than their leather counterparts. If you eat a healthy minimally processed vegan diet (which you should be doing) you’ll not only be slimmer and find losing weight easier, but you’ll save money over your previous omnivorous diet. Don’t go crazy on the vegan meat and other processed foods.
You’ll find that you might slowly buy surely become more minimalist in your outlook and approach to life. It comes as no surprise to me that Leo Babuata of Zen Habits, a guy and blog that speak mostly about living thoughtfully and honorably is both a vegan and cool dude.
Another benefit I have experienced first hand from being vegan is that my oral health is better. I think someone should do a scientific study on the oral health of vegans ‘cos I’m betting that the bacterial makeup of our saliva and the pH of our mouth is more alkaline and so our oral health is better. Case in point. I’ve had far fewer cavities since I’ve been vegan then I ever got before being vegan. I have heard that other vegans also have less cavities since they’ve gone vegan.
Vegans smell better than those who include meat in their diet. Don’t tell my wife this, but I can go several days as a vegan and not get stinky. This makes perfect sense to me, as I’m not putting into my body the putrefying, decaying and vilifying rotting corpses of animals which carry with them the stench of death and fear and suffering.
The last benefit of veganism that I’d like to share, is to leave you with the words of another veg*n, Franz Kafka: “Now I can look at you in peace; I don’t eat you anymore”. And perhaps that is the greatest benefit of being vegan that I can think of. You are a vessel of peace. Nay, you are more than that. You are a walking, talking living protest towards a more sustainable, peaceful and all embracingly compassionate world for all of us.
Namaste my vegan friends and those slowly awakening to the vegan light.