Benefits of a Vegan Diet

I have read a few articles in the past few weeks about Bill Clinton who is now a full vegan. He started going vegetarian last year after having stent surgery last year and a quadruple bypass operation in 2004. This enabled him to lose 24 pounds before his daughter’s wedding but also provides him long term health benefits. This is quite a turnaround for the former president who used to have a famously unhealthy eating habit while in office.

This Blog Post at the USA Today has a lot of good info on the benefits of becoming vegan and some common pitfalls people encounter. 

About 3% of U.S. adults are considered full-fledged vegetarians because they never eat meat, poultry, fish or seafood, and about 1% of people are vegans because they also never eat dairy, eggs or honey, says the Vegetarian Resource Group. "The percentage of vegetarians has doubled since 1994," says John Cunningham, consumer research manager for the organization.

"What the science shows is that people who are vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease and cancer, especially colon cancer, and they tend to live longer," Turner says. "They're also less likely to be overweight."

This blog article has a decent amount of tips for a vegan lifestyle. It is also a good read to find out more about the transformation of Bill Clinton from meat lover to vegan.