I’m vegan for three main reasons
1. Health
Supposedly there are health benefits to being vegan. But it will depend heavily on how you do it. If you currently eat lightly fried salmon and turkey breast, and switch to eating vegan donuts, then you won’t see any health benefits. If you eat fried and battered fish fillets with a side of french fries and coleslaw dripping in dressing and then switch to vegan fish fillets with a side of brussel sprouts and a salad with light dressing, you’ll probably see benefits. The ideal healthy diet is “Whole Foods, Plant Based” to specify that the food should be processed little to none. Instead of thinking of food as “good” or “bad” or “healthy” or “junk” it’s more helpful to think of food as on a spectrum from nutritious to non nutritious. It’s possible to eat nutritiously as an omnivore, but it’s even easier if you commit to eating vegan. I personally am an omni-vegan-vore. I am mostly vegan most of the time, but occasionally I do eat salad with ranch dressing and potatoes and butter. I’ve also eaten chicken on a salad because I really wanted the salad and the chicken came with it. I could’ve taken it off and thrown it away, but I’m not sure what benefit that would give me.
2. Environment
It’s mind blowing to me how much time and effort we put into a bunch of animals that we just kill later. It’s like building a beautiful cathedral every year and then destroying it every year. You have to feed each cow 2-4% of their body weight, daily2. For a 1,200 pound cow, 2% is 25 pounds. 25 pounds daily just to eat 400 pounds of beef3! The break even point is 16 days and it takes longer than that to raise a cow. What if, instead of feeding cows, we fed people? What if instead of cutting into a steak, we just lowered the price of vegetables in half?
I only require 350 sq feet. Cows requires 1-2 acres of land for walking and grazing. According to the USDA there are 9.45 million cattle in the US1 That’s 9.45 – 18.9 million acres. Let me tell you about the birds and bees and flowers and trees. I’m sure they have something to say about that land. Burgers are nice, but you know what else is nice? Going for a long walk in the woods, discovering mushrooms, observing bugs, relaxing in a meadow. I wouldn’t trade any of my nature experiences for a burger. That’s a bad deal if I’ve ever seen one.
Avian flu, swine flu, mad cow disease. These are all caused because of our close proximity to animals. The diseases that naturally attack a given animal see a blissfully ignorant and perfectly susceptible human and it makes the jump. Once it infects one human, it can infect all the humans. We don’t have the natural defenses that the animals have built over millions of years. If we stop raising animals to eat, we’ll stop being exposed to these diseases.
3. Moral
I’ve met animals before and I can say for sure, they do not do calculus. They are not as smart as us. But I don’t think that gives us the right to eat them. I know some people that don’t do calculus and I don’t eat them either. The only reason we eat animals is because they are defenseless and delicious. If the idea of Jews killed in the holocaust being led like sheep to the slaughter is upsetting, I hope you consider sheep that are literally led to the slaughter. They may not be as smart as us, but they still have thoughts and feelings. If you’ve ever owned a cat or dog, you know that’s true. If you step on their tail by accident, they yowl and hide for a bit. They salivate over treats. They come over for a bit of comfort and friendliness. They are not like us in the sense that they haven’t built any sky scrapers, but they are just like us in that they would prefer not to be eaten. I think we should respect their wishes.
1 https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2025/07-25-2025.php
2 https://cattledaily.com/how-much-do-cattle-eat-per-day/
3 https://simpsonsmeats.com/blogs/blog/how-much-meat-do-you-get-from-a-cow