It is now easier than ever for individuals to give up meat and dairy and to source suitable replacement foods. For example, many people now head online to order a whole host of dairy-free products, including deserts and chocolate.
One woman who has decided to give up meat, dairy and eggs for 2013 is Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Writing on BlissTree, she noted that the motivation behind her change of diet concerns personal health, rather than animal welfare.
She remarked: “This time I’m more convinced than ever that, for personal health, a meat-free and dairy-free diet is best.”
The writer went on to stated: “If you’re aiming for optimal nutrition, cutting meat and milk and cheese makes sense in an simplistic or maybe intuitive way – less saturated fat, less sodium, less cholesterol (providing you’re replacing these mainly with fruits, veggies and whole grains, that is).”
She also revealed that she has certain health concerns about modern meat and dairy.
Ms Brown stated: “As I began reading and writing more about nutrition, I also began to worry about the things like growth hormones and antibiotics that go into modern meat and dairy products, or the ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids in conventionally raised grain-fed livestock.”
Recently, she started taking nutrition classes overseen by T Colin Campbell, author of The China Study. He started studying the effects of diet on animal and human health in the 1950s and has since become convinced that a whole foods, plant-based diet is best.
Vegetarian and vegan diets are becoming increasingly popular in the UK and many other countries around the world. One of the reasons for this is the increasingly varied and tasty non-meat and non-dairy products now available, including dairy-free chocolate, meat substitutes and soya milk and cheese, among other goods.