The pros and cons of a cruelty-free lifestyle.

 

by Sarah Ip

 

It was a Thursday night.  My friends and I were meeting up for dinner in New York City, which ordinarily would not prove much of a problem.  We could always get sushi or go to the burger joint around the corner.  There was just one catch: two of them were vegan.

For non-vegans, choosing restaurants for different dietary needs can be a trying process.  I now had to tap into my creative resources and be respectful of my non-omnivorous friends.  Long gone are the days of White Castle and Chinese takeout. 

My friends are not alone in their choice, however.  Veganism is a trend that is quickly growing in popularity and acceptance, especially among young people.  There are currently 300,000 people in the United States who are choosing to be vegan, which means not consuming meat, eggs, honey or dairy products, reports The Independent, a British newspaper.  Many vegans also avoid wearing fur, leather, down, wool and chemical products or cosmetics tested on animals.

Young people are trying to ride out the next great wave of “healthy” living sparked by vegetarians in the early 1990s, reports the Vegetarian Resource Group. 

“I think animal rights and health are both things younger people are getting more and more passionate and opinionated about, which has increased the trend to go vegan,” said Michelle Buchman, a sophomore at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Mass.

The reasons for becoming vegan are as varied as the things they forego.  Some people turn to veganism for religious or health reasons, but others adopt the lifestyle out of concerns for animal treatment and factory farming, reports the Western Daily Press.  And some people are slaves to trends.   

Veganism’s core philosophy is that the human exploitation of animals is cruel and unjust.  Vegans oppose dairy farming, which they say “slaughter” male calves or ships them for veal.  A cow’s natural lifespan of 25 years is shortened to 20 years to decrease costs and increase production, vegans say.

Today’s industry farms show little concern for animals or the environment, say vegans.  Often, profit is the bottom line, reports Vegan Action, a nonprofit organization that informs the public about the vegan lifestyle.


Pros

 

“I wanted to prevent cruelty to animals for factory farms,” said Nick Laccetti, a junior at the New School in New York City.

Laccetti became a vegan shortly after his girlfriend, Calla Wright, told him about the full extent of factory farming problems.  Factory farming is a technique of raising livestock at high stocking density confinement.  Cattle are often kept in unnatural conditions and injected with hormones to fatten them up, according to The St. Petersburg Times.  These hormones are then transmitted to humans that eat them, says Laccetti.

“As soon as I found out that I was hurting animals, I stopped [eating meat],” said Wright, who also attends the New School.  “I’ve been a veg[an] as long as I can remember.”

While some young people view veganism as a growing trend to get earth-friendly, true vegans say that their lifestyle is a conscious decision to rail against inhumane animal practices. 

Former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, a progressive Democrat from Ohio, endorses the vegan diet.  He and his wife choose to eat a meat- and dairy-free lifestyle, opting instead for organic and kosher foods, reports the San Francisco Chronicle, though Mrs. Kucinich admitted to Eating Well magazine that she occasionally indulges in dairy.

Websites such as mooshoes.com, honeybeegardens.com and veganstore.com are handy shopping tools to find cruelty-free accessories and personal care products.  The popular vegan series Skinny Bitch (2005) and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch (2007) was written by two ex-models, Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman.  The straightforward, tongue-in-cheek language of the authors admonishes readers to “stop eating crap” with tips and recipes on how to eat a healthy vegan diet.

If you want to turn vegan, make sure your reasons are good enough to overcome those momentary pangs of hunger for real mac ‘n’ cheese.  While eating a vegan diet is doable, it is also a lifestyle change that takes commitment and time.


Cons

Some detractors argue that going vegan is an excuse for young females to go on diets to lose weight, when they have little understanding of how eating vegan will affect their health.

“A lot of college students just do it [the vegan diet] to change the world but they don’t understand the nutrition aspect,” said Chloe Ma, a junior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University.  “You can’t just decide to turn vegan in one day.  You’ll just get sick.”       

Ma says that veganism could work on a large scale, but is not practical in real-life situations. 

“Veganism is a complex of perfectionism,” she said.  “It’s also a form of torture.  Depriving people of proper nutrition is a cruelty in itself.”

Laccetti admits that eating a vegan diet, if not planned properly, is not the most nutritious option – but he sticks with it for ethical reasons.  Vegans must take a multivitamin every day, fortified with calcium, iron, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 and iodine, he says.

“The more difficult part is not the food but being aware of everything else around you,” said Wright.  “I wouldn’t think about animal products in soaps or candles.”

Other difficulties occur in social situations.  A simple affair such as family dinner at a Chinese seafood restaurant becomes an issue when the nine-course meal can be steeped in meat and oils.

“Food is really social for a lot of cultures, said Laccetti.  “If you go to a party and you can’t eat something, that’s hard.”

 

 

Vegan Resources

 

MooShoes: Leather-free shoes, handbags & accessories

Peta2: Cruelty-free products

Caring Consumer: Lifestyle decisions for body & mind

Honey Bee Gardens :  An all-natural bath and body care online store

Skinny Bitch  and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch