Vegan Challenge

Ever thought of going vegan but thought that it would be too difficult?  This is the perfect time to give it a try, save animals, and reduce your environmental impact all at the same time!  

What are the Benefits of going vegan? 

There are many benefits to going vegan, and these include saving animals, reducing your environmental impact, helping your health, promoting peace, and doing your part to end world hunger!  On average, vegan save 198 animals each and every year, and although saving one animal won't change the world, for that animal, the world will forever be changed, and 198 animals is a lot! 

     Billions of animals suffer in factory farms before being brutally slaughtered for human consumption.  They live their entire lives in crowded, dark buildings smothered by the smell of rot and decay.  They'll never have the chance to bask in the sun, run through the grass, play in the snow, or even feel a summer breeze.  The only day that they get a glimpse of the outside world is when they're loaded into cargo trucks and shipped a great many miles to the slaughterhouse where they are beaten and murdered.  It is a gruesome fate that no living creature should have to endure!  

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        Factory farming is a major cause of pollution and contributes greatly to deforestation, resulting in the loss of biodiversity.  Animal wastes and the processing of meat releases huge amounts of methane gas which is a greenhouse gas that traps around 24 times more heat than carbon dioxide.  By eliminating animal products from your lifestyle, you are reducing your carbon footprint by approximately 74%!  Besides releasing carbon dioxide, raising so-called "livestock" requires huge amounts of water (100,000 liters of water for 1 kilogram beef) that are used to hydrate the animals as well as grow feed for them.  Furthermore, raising "livestock" is responsible for the destruction of several forests including over 70% of the Amazon Rainforest.  This reduction in habitat reduces biodiversity as plants are cleared and animals lose their homes.  By going vegan, not only will you be reducing your carbon footprint, but cleared forests will be given the chance to return to their original beauty!  ​

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It is common misconception that eating meat is the only way to get your protein, but that is not true at all.  In fact, there are many plant-based foods that are high in protein, such as soybeans which have more protein per 100 gram serving than any meat that I've heard of!  Other nutritional benefits of plants is that most are high in a variety of vitamins and fiber while also low in cholesterol, total fat, saturated fat, and sodium! Also, it has been proven that the intake of animal products increases your chances of developing certain cancers as well as your overall chances of dying from cancer.    

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Being vegan also helps to promote peace since when you refuse to harm animals, your chances of harming any living being are decreased; whether that creature be human or non-human!  Also, tons of grains are fed to the animals, but if that grain were used for human consumption instead of feeding it to the animals that people kill to eat, we could end world hunger with a surplus of food!  Using only the grain fed to "livestock" in the United States, we could feed an estimated 8 million people!   

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What do Vegans Eat? 

(Yeah, that's vegan!)

Since animals are not food, vegans eat food!  That includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains!  You can eat them as is, use them in tasty recipes, or toss them together into a simple salad topped with a vegan dressing!  If you're looking for a tasty recipe, Vegan Empire has you covered; tasty vegan recipes are our specialty!  Check out our recipe collections to find whatever seems appealing.  If you still want the taste of meat and other animal products without any of the cruelty, you still can.  There are multiple vegan companies that make plant-based meats, cheeses, milks, eggs, and more that are kind to our animal friends and better for the environment!  For the meats, check out our "Vegan-Rex", for more information on a few of the milks, check out our post on plant-based milks, and for cheese, I recommend Violife!  Snacks are also very tasty, so we've come up with a list of the best vegan snacks which we'll be updating often!  Basically anything that you can have as a non-vegan, you can also have as a vegan! 

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Is it hard to be vegan? 

It may seem difficult to become vegan, and at first it may be so, but as long as you remember the difference that you're making for animals, the environment, etc., you'll get through that somewhat difficult period and then being vegan will be a breeze!  So far, I've been vegan for over a year and now I regret not being vegan sooner since it's been easy, the food is tasty, and I'm not contributing to any animals suffering!  Eating out is the part that is hardest, but there are vegan options at almost every restaurant and more are adding vegan options to their menus, so it's only going to get easier.  To help you find what options are vegan at different places, I've created "Eating Out as a Vegan" where you'll find a collection of guides for just that!

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Ready to Accept the Challenge? 

To complete Vegan Empire's Vegan Challenge, all you have to do is go vegan for 1 month.  Simply fill out the form below to let us know that you've accepted the challenge, and one month later we'll send you an email from veganempire.net@gmail.com (please don't email this address, but make sure to add it to your contacts so that you don't miss our email!) letting you know that you've completed the challenge and included in it there will be a link to the form that you will be asked to fill out, meaning that you've officially completed the vegan challenge! 

What will the prize be?  Knowing that you've saved animals, reduced your environmental impact, done your part to end world hunger, and bragging rights, of course!