
"You think I should go vegan?" " I would wither away and die if I became a vegan." " I would turn to dust!" " Are you a vegan? That would explain why you are so skinny!" This seems to be the common response from most people I talk to about veganism. To answer that first question, no, I am not currently a vegan; I have just always been skinny. Making the change to abstain from eating meat all together can be quite the challenge for those who attempt it, including myself because meat is delicious. The fact that meat simply tastes good does not mean that going vegan should be a lifestyle choice that everyone refuses to try. By looking at the health, environmental, and ethical benefits, we can see that a vegan diet is the most logical and moral diet option a human can follow; therefore, we need to convince the Earth's population to make the transition to veganism.

As I stated above, I am currently not a vegan. The reason that I became interested in this research question is because I enjoy exercising. I've watched countless youtube videos on youtube from a variety of different bodybuilders, physique models, and powerlifters in order to gain as much knowledge on the topic as possible in hopes that one day I will be as big and strong as these people I look up to. Eventually, I stumbled upon some of the dietary choices that these bodybuilders were making and I began to wonder what diet I should follow. That eventually led me to start doing research on the vegan diet because I had found a lot of research suggesting that it was the healthiest diet option for someone with my goals. The research question I asked above does affect me and my cultural values because I am not currently a vegan. I've been eating meat my entire life, and I enjoy it very much. The thought of completely cutting meat out of my life is difficult to wrap my head around; however after doing research on this topic and discovering some alarming truths, the thought became a reality.

The first source for my paper is an article that was posted on the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The article talks about the health benefits of vegan diets. It explains the positive effects going vegan has on reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, and optimizing bone health. It also discusses some of the health issues one could face when going vegan such as vitamin b-12 and iron deficiencies, but gives recommendations on how to eat an optimal vegan diet. Since the article was posted on the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it is relatively unbiased. The author was not trying to promote a vegan diet nor was he trying to promote a traditional diet. He was simply explaining the facts behind the health effects associated with going vegan, both good and bad. The article was written by Winston J Craig, a professor of nutrition and the director of the dietetics internship program at Andrews University (Craig). That along with the article being posted on this website and it being presented at the "Fifth International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition held in Loma Linda, CA"  makes the author and the article a very credible and reliable source (Craig). I will use this article to highlight the harmful health effects that are associated with eating meat and the positive health effects associated with going vegan in order to persuade the reader to change their diet.

The next source for my paper is an article written by Brendan Koerner called "Vegans vs. Vegetarian What kind of diet is best for the environment?". The article talks about the environmental impacts associated with eating meat and dairy. It discusses how by following a vegan diet, one is contributing less green house gas emissions due to the substantial amount being emitted by the animal agriculture industry. The author of the article was slightly biased towards becoming a vegan. Brendon Koerner was a long time vegetarian and had been told by one of his vegan friends that going vegan is better for the environment which led Brendon to do research. According to the Slate, the website on which the article was posted, Brendon is a contributing editor at Wired and a columnist for Gizmodo. This along with research he sighted in his article makes the information he discusses reliable and himself a credible author. I will utilize the information written in this article to discuss the harmful environmental impacts associated with animal product consumption as well as the positive environmental impacts of following a vegan diet in order to persuade the reader to convert to veganism.

The last source I will use in my paper is an article called "Factory Farming". This article discusses a number of cruel acts that are committed on different animals in the animal agriculture industry. It talks about how the majority of animals abused each year are farm animals that are used to produce food for humans. The article was posted on a website called Last Chance for Animals; so immediately you can tell that it is extremely biased. However, the article gives a lot of good facts cited with research about the different acts of violence, such as physical abuse and molestation, committed to farm animals and discusses how there are no laws to prevent this from occurring. The fact that this article pulls research from sources makes it and its information very credible.

Across the majority of sources I have found, it is agreed that veganism is the best diet option a person can make. I did research some articles and studies that argued against going vegan for different reasons; however I am able to disprove all of the arguments made in these articles. I try to remain as unbiased as I can when it comes to most topics including this one. I like to make my choices based of off logic and reasoning that can be backed up with scientific facts and data rather than just anecdotal evidence. For most of my articles, they consist primarily of facts proven with peer-reviewed research; however there are some that are inherently biased. I try to look past the underlying biased agendas of these articles and get straight down to the facts in order to remain as unbiased as possible. It goes without saying that there is a large number of arguments that come with the discussion about why people should go vegan. My hope is that with these and other sources, I will convince you that going vegan is the most ethical, healthy, and environmentally friendly diet option you can make.
