Introduction
What is the great divide? The divide is between a plant-based diet and the standard American diet. The reason I decided to do this project is because I wanted to be an Army officer. The major I was going to pursue was psychology which would blend in well with my chosen career path in some ways. From my understanding, the Army stresses nutrition, physical fitness, and mental fitness. These three will form into a Soldier in the Army. What also caught my attention were athletes and always being at their peak both mentally and physically ready. As I started to follow these athletes, I found that the ones that I followed were vegans. As I continued my research on “What it is to be a vegan,” I wanted to ensure through my research that as a vegan I would be getting the same amount of protein and necessary vitamins and minerals to keep my body at optimum health. Now let us remember vegans and vegetarians are very much different. “Vegetarians are defined as people who do not eat any meat, poultry or fish. They may be subclassified as lacto-ovo-vegetarians who eat dairy products and effs and vegans who do not eat any animal products (Appleby & Key, 2016)”. I included this from my own experience of individuals thinking that being a vegan and a vegetarian were the same. My curiosity struck me to the point that I wanted to know the reason why people eat what they eat and their reasoning. The approach I took were both sides (vegan, and vegetarian) since I have experienced both sides. At one time in my life I was not a vegan and ate the standard American diet, I knew my reasons and out of curiosity wanted to know other people’s reasons for picking the diet of their choosing.
What is the divide?
The divide is between the Plant-Based Diet and the Standard American Diet. Why do people choose their diet? In this semester, I wanted to understand the reason why people chose their diet. I went around campus, reaching out to people on social media and having causal conversation about diet and nutrition and wanted to find out why people decided to eat plant based or the standard American diet. Some were will willing to discuss their diets while other did not wish too. The reason why this divide is so great is because whenever you ask someone on either side of the divide, they give different answers. Now granted, there is no wrong answers; people eat what they eat based on what they know, like and how they were raised.
Viewpoint
There are two different viewpoints in this divide which are between the Standard American diet and the Plant Based diet. The Plant Based diet is a diet that avoids any animal product to include eggs and dairy. The Standard American diet is what the average American is eating. The average American will normally eat meat in all of their meals as well as some form of processed meat. The plant-based diet is where you avoid anything with animal products. People on both sides of this spectrum have different reasons for choosing one side over the other. What I wanted to know about both sides of the spectrum was why do people pick what they eat and the diet and nutrition side of it. In this research project I’m going to go out and ask people why they decided what they eat. I will also see the negatives of both diets and the positive impacts of both theses’ diets. In both of these diets I’m going to ask these questions and get the answers.
What is Veganism?
There are a few different types of vegan diets and there are a few different types of the standard American diet and each of them have a different reason for the diet. I’m going to go over the most popular vegan diets such as the whole food plant-based diet, a junk food vegan diet and a diet that isn’t vegan, but it is the vegetarian diet. A whole food plant-based diet is a diet that is centered on whole, unrefined or minimally refined plants. It’s a diet based on fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains and legumes which exclude or minimizes meat dairy products and eggs as well as highly refined food like bleached flour, refined sugar and oil. A junk food vegan diet avoids animal product, but is still unhealthy due to natural high grades of sugar in some fruits plants and etc. that is natural. The people who choose the junk food vegan diet are usually not trying to be healthy. There is still a health benefit but normally people who may choose this lifestyle are trying to avoid the cruelty behind eating or consuming animal products and look at the morality. A vegetarian diet is a diet that avoids eating flesh but consumes animal by-product. The reason why I’m looking at a vegetarian diet is because most people who are vegetarian are slowly transitioning to a vegan diet. In this paper, I will use a whole food plant-based diet majority of the time but if I do switch up the type of plant based diet, I will be using in this paper it will be clear.
What is the Standard American Diet and Paleo?
The standard American diet is the diet that the average American is eating. The standard American diet includes processed and refined sugar and carbohydrates and saturated and trans fats. The paleo diet is a diet that is based off of what food were being eaten during the Paleolithic era the paleo diet includes lean meats, fish, fruits and vegetables as well as nuts and seeds. But does take beans, grains and dairy partially out of their diet. This is the healthiest alternative to the standard American diet. The purpose of the paleo diet is to help people lose or try to stay at the same weight. This diet also helps people avoid fatty methods of cooking such as deep frying and salting. The reason why I decided to use the paleo diet is in my opinion it is one of the most popular diet that includes meat and animal by-product, but it is a healthier alternative to the standard American diet. I don’t want this to be a witch hunt on the standard American diet. I want this to be a paper that states the facts and lets you decide what to do with this paper. I will be using the standard American diet for the majority of this but if I do change it and use the paleo diet it will be clear cut.
The Negatives and Positives of a Plant- Based Diet.
The disadvantages of a vegan diet is the total change, if you go from the standard American diet, this change will be extremely hard on your taste buds which will have to slowly change. If you expect to have the taste buds of a vegan right away, that will not happen because it takes time for your body and taste buds to adjust. Going out can also be very challenging; I know personally when I want to go out to a nice restaurant it is hard to find a vegan option and it is even harder to find a “fancy” vegan restaurant in places that are not big cities. If you are a “junk food vegan” and you are not paying attention to your vitamin and protein intake, then you might not be well off because you have to make sure that you are eating some food that consist of vitamin B12; it is hard to find vitamin B12 in a vegan diet.
The advantages of a vegan diet is it helps lower your cholesterol. The reason for this is because (reason). When asking people why they think veganism, or a plant-based diet is also a positive is because they are not a part of animal cruelty or the impact on the environment. Morally they feel better. People have also been able to cut back on the amount of medicine they are taking. When people make a big lifestyle change, they also change certain aspects of their life including diet and exercise. On a personal accord when I went vegan my whole life changed like many others.
The negatives and positives of the standard American diet
The positives of the standard American diet are mostly social and convenient. You can go to a family cookout and choose whatever you want to eat. You will not be seen as disrespectful or rude for not anyone’s food. There is a tradition of eating meat and you will be a part of that tradition and it will always be easier to follow a tradition then to break one. You also don’t have to worry about people asking you questions or explaining why you chose that life style.
The negatives of the standard American diet all relate to health. Most diseases are directly related to the amount of meat consumption we eat as Americans. The rise of obesity, type two diabetes and even some cancers are directly related to the Standard American Diet. The ethics behind the standard American diet are also questionable as well because of the way that we produce the products and kill the animals. People on this diet also consume more than half of their calories from refined and processed food.
Gym Rats and Lab Rats
When a group of scientists put a group of lab rats on the standard American diet for 20 weeks prior to persistent inflammatory pain induction with Complete Freund’s Adjuvant. The result of the study is the rats increased in fat mass, decreased in lean mass and it reduced their bone mineral density. Also, the rat’s leptin levels increased and pro inflammatory cytokines in peripheral blood serum. There were also sex differences in the rats the diet increased body weight and common T-cell related inflammatory mediators in the female rats. Now this goes against what most gym goers on the standard American diet wants. Majority of gym goer state that they go to the gym to improve their overall health and physical appearance. In this study it shows us that not only does the amount of saturated fat on your body increases but and you lose lean mass. When it comes to the subject of health, they found that there was also spontaneous pain as well as the rats blood glucose levels went up. This is why majority of professional athletes have switch over to a whole food plant-based diet to increase not only their physical appearance but to help them in recovery and provide them with stronger bones and ligaments. As a gym rat I would steer far always from the standard American diet for the same reason why professional athletes tend to.
Documentaries
Cowspiracy- Is a documentary about sustainability related to our environment and the impact of our diet on it. This documentary stated that cows produce more greenhouse gas then all transportation and it is because cows produce methane gas. Also, that raising live stock in the united states uses 34 trillion gallons of water compared to hydraulic factions for natural gas only uses 100 billion. When we consume animals for food, we use 1/3 of all fresh water, 45% of the earths land, 91% of the rainforest. With the world’s leading environmental groups never telling these facts. The biggest thing that stuck with me is that by 2030 we would exceed our maximum carbon equivalent greenhouse emissions.
Earthlings-Is a documentary about animal cruelty it explains how each and every animal die and their life. Not only the food we eat but also the animal testing. The animals we wear, and we use for our self. I will not go into detail on this, but this is a very important documentary for most vegans.
Why do people go vegan?
People will go vegan for multiple reasons but one that came up the most was people wanted to improve their health or couldn’t handle the cruelty that goes with it. But how do they know about it and the main reason why I believe people go vegan and learn the reasons why they go vegan is because of the internet. Social media sources such as YouTube, Tumblr and Instagram are the start of someone trying to figure out the facts and what happens in the meat industry.
Why do people stay on the standard American diet?
When majority of people stay on this diet they say because it cost too much to go vegan. But the actual price of going vegan can be cheaper. The reason why I say this is because the price of rice, beans and pasta noodles all cost less money. Most people believe think that vegan people. Go out into fancy restaurants and spend 40 dollars on a salad and that is simply not the case most people who go vegan spend less money because they cook at home and plan out their meals.
Call to action
I’m not going to ask you to go vegan but I’m going to ask you to try to tell people what you have learned as well to change the amount of meat and cheese you eat for your health. You don’t need to be a vegan to change the environment it does do a lot more when you go vegan but when you cut down on the food it does make a change. You can make that small change. You can also let other people know about you have read.
My personal story
My vegan story started after I had a breast reduction surgery. After surgery I felt horrible my body was aching and I didn’t want to keep taking medicine. The reason why I didn’t want to take the medicine because I heard many stories about how people have gotten addicted to pain medicine. I tried my hardest to get over it without pain medicine and I started to look up how to reduce the amount of medicine I take. In doing that I came across a documentary called “What the Health” as well as a few others. Afterwards I decided to go vegan to speed up my recovery and cut down on the medicine. My doctors were amazed that not only did I have a quick recovery but my doctors said my overall health improved but they were worried about a few thing I was given a blood test to make sure I was okay. Turns out that was the best blood test I ever took. I also had a big problem with my blood pressure after a few weeks my high blood pressure lowered as well. In seeing all of this I also decided to after my recovery to stay vegan. I also figured out that when it came to sports, I recovered faster than the other athletes due to my diet. I also lost 20 pounds and felt better about my overall health and life.
Why do people dislike vegans?
I decided to ask the most important people in my life why do they dislike some of the vegans I am around. When I asked my father, he said that they are rude and cocky. The love of my life said you guys are the pickiest people I know. When I asked my brother, he said the food sucks. When I asked my brother, she had told me that they are weak. I want to go over all these points now. Let’s start off with my siblings my brother is in the marine and he thinks that everyone is weak but when I asked him, he said I get you get your protein powder, but you don’t eat meat so where else, I’m going to solve this later (on page whatever). My sister is the most famous junk food eater of our family. So, she hates the idea of anything green. When I make her junk food that is vegan, she never knows that it is vegan. But most people think vegan people are directly related to an organic healthy life style and simply put not all vegan people are healthy. On to my father the man that taught me everything most vegan people come off as cocky, but the reason is because they are extremely passionate and knowledgeable on the vegan diet and lifestyle. The few rude vegan people I met are that way because they are so passionate about something, they will typically come off as rude. Also, the few vegans I like to call “rouge vegans” the ones who protest the ones who throw paint on people who wear fur or make you feel horrible about eating meat usually give a bad rep to all vegan people. In the words of my father there is nothing worse than a vegan protesting. Vegan are known as some of the pickiest eater to exist and I’m going to prove this wrong with one question. Is there a vegan option on every menu? No so usually a vegan person is going to be picky because they want something to eat and most restaurant don’t have an option for them. I know that I’m not a person like that last thanksgiving I only ate baked potatoes and green beans for dinner and the one before that I had to make all my food and it wasn’t because I was picky but because the lifestyle I live.