Extraordinary 1%

 

 

 

On this day (1st of November) World’s 1% of the world is celebrating  ‘’World’s Vegan Day’’ proudly. They have big reasons to be proud of themselves. Veganism is more than a diet, it is a lifestyle. Most carnivores make fun of vegetarians without knowing the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian. Let’s figure that out first.

 

Vegetarians are taking animal byproducts like cheese, egg, and honey. What they execute is only the meat of animals. On the other hand, vegans don’t take any meat nor animal byproducts like, cheese, honey, milk or they even don’t wear leather items. Also, they don’t even support businesses that exploit animals like zoos. This style of living is a pretty big deal. Because they have to take all the necessary nutrition from vegetables, fruits, or other sources like supplements.

 

This impressive 1% of the population all around the world does not take part in the crime of killing more than 1 billion life's animals to feed the hungry every single day. They save millions of gallons of water, they help to reduce the number of greenhouse gases, and they also save land by not taking part in any kind of animal agricultural products. Being vegan is beneficial on both a social scale and a personal scale. By not taking animal products you reduce the risk of diagnostic cancers, diabetes, cholesterol, heart strokes, and many chronic diseases which affect you in the long term. 

(Google “how many liters of embedded water in  a 1 hamburger” and word “Hordearii ”, and be surprised)

 

In 1800a German chemist, Justus Von Liebig hypothesized that muscular energy comes from animal protein & theoretically, vegetarians were incapable of prolonged exercises. And it was widely accepted worldwide. But by the time scientists prove that Leibig’s theory was false, it was too late. The motto “Men eat meat” was all around the world and it’s pretty hard to change the mindset and understand the facts to the people who are obsessed with meat flavor.

Protein is what sustains energy, but in fact, that’s not the case. Actual energy for exercise comes mainly from carbohydrates in the form of glycogen that we store in our muscles. When we sacrifice those carbohydrate calories for protein calories in our diet, what ends up happening is, you will develop carbohydrate or glycogen depletion, which leads to chronic fatigue and loss of stamina. That is why most gym-goers have less stamina. Superstar athletes are changing their diet to vegan, superstar celebrities change their diet to vegan. Not because it’s a trend, but because they know what is best and healthy for them. If anyone needs any convincing, famous actor Joaquin Phoenix, famous actress Natalie Portman, formula-1 champion Lewis Hamilton, UFC fighter Nate Diaz, female footballer Alex Morgan, female Tennis player Serena Williams are a few examples.

 

The documentary I watched last year called “The Game Changers” (2018) completely changed my mind about going vegan when I started to pay my bills one day. Because some fascinating facts and effects were nicely described. I would suggest it to any athlete, especially for gym-ores, students doing their higher studies in food science and biochemistry, and anyone interested in the effects of being vegan because this documentary was a total Game Changer for the long run. If you can, try to have a vegan diet twice per week. And make sure to add high nutrition foods for both days' diets. Trust me,  you will be surprised by the results.

 

In a country like Sri Lanka, it is nearly impossible to shift to a vegan diet with an average income of 89,800 LKR per person. That is the reason for most of the ones who gave up the journey of becoming vegan. Since most of us are still fed by our parents it’s really difficult to shift us to and to a planetary-based diet all of a sudden. Maybe impossible even if you wanted to. But you can change your diet when you start earning and paying for your meal. We limit this vegan and carnivore conversation only to a few facts. Even though doctors and scientists recommend that it’s safe to shift to planetary-based, most carnivores don't even try out a vegan diet because they are obsessed with the taste of meat. Let’s ask the most controversial question in the vegan-carnivore debate. What values the most? Taste or life? This is a question that I haven’t thought of my entire lifetime. The fact that ‘taste only lasts for a few seconds, but to give that taste to my taste buds, that animal costs a lifetime’ completely shocked my entire mindset about this topic.

 

What I believe is as humans we are the animals at the top of the animal hierarchy. We feel so many emotions that other animals are not capable of understanding, we do the things that other animals are not capable of. Humans are rich in emotions. At least 98% of the population loves animals, at least their pets. As humans, we all want to protect the innocent and protect the vulnerable. That’s I guess the best part of humanity. Not the part we put the vulnerable in our mouth. Why step down from that hierarchy? I’m not trying to say you must go vegan today. But I would like to ask all the carnivores, consider the fact which didn’t change the whole time on this topic. And think it through.

The world is full of options, even when it comes to your food menu.

Written by: Rtr. G.G.Sachintha Malshan 

                Professional Development Director 2021/2022