He Veganism It is the custom to avoid ingesting food that comes directly from the animal, not just the meat. In this way, what is sought is the non-consumption of foods such as milk, eggs or honey among many others.
During recent years, a new food Veganism . It extends from the youngest to the adults until reaching the third age and passing through all kinds of ages. Any time seems to be good to be part of this new club.
To this it is necessary to mention that there are multiple doubts that are generated within the society. Some people do not know all the facets of To be vegan , And there are those who directly fail to understand even their own meaning in itself.
That is why in the following article we will analyze how the movement appeared, what it is, its different currents and of course, what are its advantages and disadvantages.
How does the ideological current of veganism appear?
Such is its current novelty, that in our country its name was adopted as foreigner of the word"veganism", incorporating it to the last and number 23rd edition of the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language Released in 2014.
But to talk about its history, we have to mention a much more integrated and common term: vegetarianism.
Already in ancient Greece and Rome, many philosophers and intellectuals of the time like Plato, Pythagoras, Empedocles or Seneca would show their rejection of carnivorous consumption.
Without going further, the own Leonardo da Vinci Stated in life that"there will come a time when human beings will be satisfied with a vegetable diet and will be considered the slaughter of an animal as a crime, just like the murder of a human being."
Crowd of celebrities have been in favor of this food flow throughout history unlike society, which never saw this diet well until the mid-twentieth century, when it would begin to see as a new way of relating to Food that could be accepted and of course, even become healthy.
It would form a International Vegetarian Union In 1908 with different congresses all over the world. This way you start to edit nutritional propaganda by different publications among which stood out?? Helios? And Doctor Vander?? In Valencia as well as?? Action Naturist?? In the capital.
After convulsive periods of birth of various currents among which we found hygiene, for example, veganism appears at last, attending to the different ideological bifurcations that separated them from the vegetarian world. The word?? vegan?? Would appear for the first time in 1944 in the newsletter"Vegan News", giving birth to the new term.
With the VII International Vegan Festival held in Spain in 1993, the Vegan Association of Spain would be established and officially founded in our country and establishing what would be the roots of a large nutritional group that today are positioned as a large crowd.
Veganism
Returning to the common definitions, and as we had mentioned before to the Rae, we can not pass the opportunity to expose its definition, which it treats like?? attitude consistent in rejecting foods or articles of consumption of animal origin???.
There are clues as to what might be, but it seems that the description is not very clear without any kind of difference of vegetarianism. Basically the difference eradicates in that the vegan decides to ingest foods that directly come from the animal, not only the meat. In this way, what is sought is the non-consumption of foods such as milk, eggs or honey among many others.
This is because they do not tolerate human use and the use of animal resources for the benefit of society. They reject the commercialization of all kinds of animals to try to prevent the exploitation of the animal in any of its senses, as well as the destruction of habitats and ecosystems simply by the use of the animal. In addition they seriously denounce the conditions of slavery and rottenness to which they are subjected in the different industrial farms.
Likewise, the vegan person also does not wear any garment that has previously been composed of any skin or animal product.
Their philosophy of life is also based on respect for animals, living with them peacefully and happily.
According to Spanish Vegan Association , Cereals of all kinds, pasta, bread, potatoes, legumes among which we find beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas, etc., rice, oil seeds and fruits, sprouted from legumes and seeds, Nuts, cream of almonds, peanuts, cashews, and so on; Soy milk, tofu, tempeh or the like.
Types of veganism
We can mainly find two types:
- Ethical vegan : In addition to rejecting food of animal origin, translate the thought to other areas of life, normalizing for example wearing clothes that have no animal source such as wool or leather.
- Dietary Vegan : This group is much calmer where they only carry out the practice of not consuming anything of animal origin in edible matters, leaving aside that thought within the daily life.
Likewise, in other typologies we can observe other models of vegan:
- Crujiveganistas : They are the type of vegans that consume all types of foods (within their ideology) regardless of the state in which they are. Namely cooked or directly raw.
- Frugivores : Positioned as a subgroup of the above mentioned, they reduce their diet style directly to fruits since it was supposed to be the food at the origin of man and therefore the pure way to consume food.
It must be said that there are many more types of vegans, but mainly those mentioned above, since the rest are only subtypes or directly are too specified in their ideology.
Advantages and disadvantages
Numerous scientists have positioned themselves on either side. Without going further, the well-known magazine Popular Science Made an extensive and precise article where they discredited and dismantled the different veganist theories that were only placed as the diet par excellence.
In turn, we have seen over the years as several experts have mentioned that veganism contains many other advantages that a conventional diet is not able to maintain. That is why we have decided to select the most important points that place this type of intake between advantages and disadvantages:
Advantage
It is a fairly sustainable diet and it becomes beneficial in many ways. To replace the b12 vitamin , Instead of ingesting the different meats or dairy products we can find, pills are given that function nutritively in the same way as if we ate the above-mentioned food.
Not eating processed or transgenic foods can sometimes be beneficial as we explained in the article about these types of food a few days ago.
The intake of massive calories and different saturated fats are diluted to not be a problem since the multitude of foods that are ingested show minimum levels of probability of being obese or overweight. In this way cholesterol also does not become any concern for consumers.
It is also rich in abundance fiber , Improving the transit of our intestine thus preventing cancers such as colon or rectum.
To summarize, and in the words of the United States Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, it is possible to carry out a healthy vegan diet while carrying out adequate planning and according to our possibilities with benefits such as helps to prevent Different types of chronic diseases, among which we can find the arteriosclerosis , hypertension , osteoporosis wave diabetes .
Disadvantages
However, by not eating any meat or dairy at all, the vegan is subjected to different nutritional and health disadvantages to the carnivore that is able to include in its diet much more variety of foods.
There may be a lack of b12 vitamin , Which produces anemia as it limits the appearance of red blood cells and is responsible for organizing the proper functioning of the nervous system. The vitamin D , calcium , Fatty acids rich in Omega 3 , iron Y zinc Are also some of the losses that are caused.
Through a study conducted by the University of Oxford, and after analyzing 11,000 subjects, we have learned that vegans showed cholesterol and Lipoproteins , With the showed a low density in contrast to the carnivores, which showed a much more acceptable indexes.
The reputed scientific journal" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition "Concluded that vegan diets posed a risk to Micronutrients .
Due to the lack of several important components for our development, it is recommended not to perform this feeding during childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, breastfeeding and above all senior citizens.
CONCLUSIONS
To be vegan means to belong to a movement that is fashionable and that at the same time, it seems that society has finally accepted and instilled.
This brings with it a number of advantages and disadvantages. Among the first, we can highlight the great fiber richness we get from this type of consumption, low fat diet avoiding diseases of overweight and of course, and more importantly, a quiet conscience for those who think that we should not abuse the Animals, let alone benefit from them for our satisfaction.
But if we now talk about disadvantages, we have to focus on the loss of a lot of nutrients between the aforementioned Omega 3 and different vitamins.
Micronutrient deficiencies are often a problem that is remedied with the consumption of meat and dairy products without mentioning the different dangers that can lead to limit the practice in ages as delicate as childhood, old age or simply a pregnancy.
At present there is no one who completely affirms that eliminating the meat, fish and dairy products of a diet in its entirety is beneficial to our body, which is why it is something to think about.
Vegan ideology presents its advantages and disadvantages, but now, everyone is considerate and consistent to know what lifestyle to take.