Those Crazy Vegans. Thinking about their health and trying to be conscious of what they put in their bodies. While much of the world is busy eating as many hamburgers, pizzas, milkshakes, and meat pies as they can, many vegans tend to adopt an animal-free lifestyle because they think it's healthier than the Standard Animal Diet (SAD). But is it really?

Well, that depends. A vegan diet can be a disaster to our health if we don't play our cards right. There are plenty of food products that are animal-free and technically vegan, but could be full of chemicals or unhealthy ingredients like sugar, salt, and oil, highly processed, or lacking nutritional content. For example, loads of types of cookies, sodas, candies, chips, and other junk foods might be vegan, but wouldn't necessarily guarantee anyone a longer life just because they don't contain animal products.

So, how crazy are those vegans who profess to be healthier just because they stopped eating "foods" derived from animals? If they're hooked on vegan junk food and other processed pseudo-foods, then we may all be able to agree that they're at least a little bit crazy. But is there any logic to a healthier vegan diet?

Well, dairy contains puss and other excrements which are made by a several hundred pound animal, designed to feed a completely different species than humans. Honey is made of bee vomit, eggs are from a chicken's menstrual cycle, and meat (flesh of an animal) can riddle us with worms and other parasites. Wow hang tight, this is starting to sound a little bit crazy.

There is a lot of debate in the health and wellness community about whether a vegan diet is healthier than following the SAD. The meat, dairy, and egg industries purportedly release lots of statistics and propaganda about how good their products are for us, and condition us with catch phrase slogans like "Milk...it does a body good" or "Beef...its what's for dinner."

A few basic concepts are supporting the idea that an animal-free diet is healthier for us. Most animal-based "foods" promote acidic conditions within the human body, which creates an environment for diseases like certain cancers, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and many others to thrive on. On the contrary, fresh and especially raw organic fruits and vegetables develop alkalinity in our bodies, which is a natural defense mechanism against those pesky and often terminal ailments.

Animal products are difficult for the human body to digest because of their complex and acidic proteins. The more work our bodies put into digestion, the less energy is available to focus on the important tasks such as healing, strengthening, and rebuilding cells. Fruits and soft leafy greens are the simplest foods for our bodies to digest and contain the most bio-available nutrients for easy upload as they pass through our bloodstream. Animal "foods" also don't provide fiber, which is essential for digestion, quick elimination, and many other functions. For example, meat, which is made up of flesh, blood, tendons, muscle, and veins, is very difficult for the human body to digest. It can take several hours and even several days for our long intestinal tract to process meat, so the already dead food sits our stomach at almost 100' F (35' C) rotting for that amount of time.

Animal products contain high levels of cholesterol LDL (low-density lipoprotein - the "bad" kind) as well as saturated fat, neither of which are found in plant-based foods and both of which are linked to various chronic and often fatal ailments like the ones listed above. The human body naturally creates HDL (high-density lipoprotein, the "good" cholesterol), so there is no need to source cholesterol from animal products.

Omega 3s, a significant source of fat, is found highest in ground flax, chia seeds, walnuts, soybeans, tofu, and even fruit and other plant foods. Meat and oils contain omega 6, which is a less desirable resource for the human body.

Fish typically come from polluted or overfished bodies of water or aquacultures and are equally as unsanitary as land animal farms. Fish also typically contain lead arsenic, mercury, saturated fat, cholesterol, cadmium, residues from mining and industrial production, noxious pharmaceutical residue, radioactive contamination from nuclear waste, and other fun bonuses. When they are frozen, omega 3s deplete, and free radicals are released from the "food".

Farm animals are fed and administered all kinds of hormones, steroids, vaccines, artificial inseminations, GMOs, artificial feed, nitrates, and who knows what other chemicals, which are absorbed by the human body that consumes them. Cooking animal flesh at high temperatures, which is usually required to make them "safe", creates HCA (heterocyclic amines), which are cancer-causing carcinogens). Mmm...bacon?

Pre-Vegans often ask crazy vegans "but where do you get your protein?", as we are also indoctrinated to believe that animal protein is required to build strength and muscle. Some of the strongest athletes and bodybuilders in the world are vegans, as building muscle is a result of working out and consuming enough nutrients not just from protein. However, all plants happen to contain protein, which is a more bioavailable and simpler source for humans to digest. It's also where the animals get theirs from. So why not skip the cow and go directly to the grass? Well, grass is something some crazy vegans might eat, but if we can source healthy protein from delicious fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and many other plants then maybe it's not as crazy as we might think to be able to survive and thrive without eating animals.

Most of the world's largest and strongest land mammals such as elephants, rhinos, hippos, and gorillas eat nothing but plants. Plant foods are live foods, and animal products are dead foods. Just eating vegan alone doesn't necessarily mean a human would be any healthier, but those crazy vegans might have a few valid points about the negative health effects of eating animal products and the benefits of sourcing our energy from the fruits and plants of the earth.