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What comes to mind when you hear that someone is vegan?  To a select few, there's a legit excitement and understanding about the lifestyle.  But to the larger population, there's a general feeling of confusion that's disguised with humor.  "How can people just say good-bye to ice cream, burgers, and brats?  Milk, cheese, and eggs?"  And the most common statement out there: "how in the world can someone give up bacon?!?"

Well, there are a bunch of reasons.

For some, it's as simple as respecting living creatures.  If it sickens you to think of cats and dogs as food, why are cows, chickens, and pigs any different?  There's also the huge topic of inhumane treatment in factory farms versus "less controversial" treatment in smaller "organic" or "free-range" family farms.  But at the end of the day, a loss of life for our benefit is still a loss of life.  To the large population, the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" covers up any guilt associated with consuming animal products.


For others, it has to do with environmental concerns.  Did you know that seven football fields' worth of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them?  Or that it takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of hamburger?  That more than half of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide can be attributed to livestock and their byproducts?  Or that nitrogen from animal feces eventually makes its way to the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, which is causing algae populations to go through the roof, leaving almost no oxygen for other life forms?

Then there are those who have heard that going vegan is healthy, so why not give it a try?  And although the outcome from this can be life-changing, we wish that a more concrete understanding about the lifestyle and major health benefits existed, giving people more of a concrete reason to make the switch.  Veganism is too often thought of as a new diet craze to try, which implies that it works for some, and not for others.  And that it'll probably go away in a few years.  But this is so wrong.  The vegan 'diet' is not a traditional diet, but rather, a lifestyle that makes sense for our health.

If you're skeptical of shying away from animal products, we'll admit, you have good reason to be due to our upbringings.  We've been taught at a very young age of what foods are good for us, and what foods we should avoid.  We think we can all agree that a diet based on bacon, doughnuts, and soda should be avoided.  But what about foods like chicken, fish, eggs, and milk?  They've always been recommended, so they have to be good for us, right?  [Spoiler alert: the answer is no].

In addition to being misled as children, the same is happening to adults today.  If you're a student going through medical school, your lectures have nothing to do with nutrition.  But rather, what drugs should be used for various illnesses.  This idea quickly gets passed on to the general public, and we become comfortable with the idea that if something's wrong with us, there's a magic pill for it.  If the idea that meat and dairy are the causes for these illnesses is never taught to doctors, how is the rest of the population supposed to know?

Slowly, this not-so-new idea of eating plant-based is catching on, and people are doing their best to educate others.  But changing everything we know about nutrition is no easy task, especially when the government and large corporations are using their power to keep these secrets from coming out.

Our goal with The Mint Bunny is to re-educate whoever is willing to listen about our health.  It is a place to pass on helpful resources that do an awesome job explaining various subjects related to veganism.  It is place to learn how to cook vegan, and gain the confidence and excitement that we all deserve to feel in the kitchen.  And it's a place to start conversations about the subject.  We're all in this together, so why not make it easier for all of us by posting information in one location?

If you at any point have specific questions, suggestions for new posts, or are curious in other services that The Mint Bunny offers, please contact us via the contact form above.  We would love to hear from you and make this site as beneficial as possible!