Lol, not that i would talk people down on becoming vegan, i am not a vegan at all but i do have several meals a week where i take zero meat, and it's a great boost. I think personally that in many cases, people confuse eating healthy and unhealthy with meat and vegan. Going vegan 100% guarantees you will pay attention to what you eat.
The problem is most people - that are not vegan, obviously - don't pay any attention to what they eat. Which means they take a small portion of greens, and too much of other stuff, like meat, and then there's the issue that we also look at our wallet, so we buy the cheaper meat - including canned meat or glassed meat or frozen meats [ hotdogs, frozen burgers, snacks ].
Net result is we aren't specifically aware of just how much trash we put in ourselves because we A) think we take in enough greens, and B) want to 'enjoy life' and C) we're too busy to think about it. And then C) is the additional problem causing health issues, most people also work way too hard or are in too stressfull situations, which paired with too little sleep is devastating.
I think then we get an unfair view on just 'how much better being vegan is' because when 'we' turn vegan, we suddenly make a lifestyle choice and then all the bad things go out the window, we also no longer drink sugary cola but coke zero for example, or start drinking 2,5 litres of water each day. We dont eat the crappy meat anymore, and aditionally, we don't take in the minimal amount of greens or even the canned greens, we suddenly get the best greens we can get [because we want a guarantee we enjoy our food] thus spend lots more of money on food, we vary our dinner a lot more because we don't want to risk getting enough quick of being vegan [whilst before 'we' always went out once a week buying fast food, and have our more or less standard meals which robs us of nutritions] and then additionally too, we look at nutritional values.
it's rather being more aware and selective what we eat is what gives a positive boost to our health and body than merely becoming vegan. Don't get me wrong though, if being vegan is what you/we need to do that, then i'm all for it.
but i don't think it's the most honest picture out there to claim vegan equals life.
and like somebody else here has stated, people die of lungcancer because of smoking, and then there are people who turn 90 and die from old age despite smoking like a friggin chimney. smoking is bad for your health period, but its not like smoking equals dying before you reach 40.
Hell, i've always been paying good attention to my eating patterns, sometimes me included sin with fastfood, and then almost always i eat as healthy as i can. that includes eating fish, chicken [which i buy from farmers closeby], lots of eggs, some beef, and also lots of vegetables. I enjoy broccoli a whole lot, and i really like vegetable soups as a meal. Broccoli soup, Carrot soup, cabbage soup, bean soup, mushroom soup, and go on and on. Also mustardsoups and other spices.
Yet
despite never smoking in life, paying attention to health, going to the gym regularly, going outside a lot and generally
paying attention to my health, i got very ill and seriously close to 'the edge' where i was almost too late (thanks to doctors not taking me seriously)
with thyroid cancer. It was close to the border but i remain to live another day and have recently had the last of my treatments and am medically concidered 'clean' now. Lesson: it doesn't say a thing at all.
What has
a far superior impact on health is something which i think was the root of the problem:
stress.
We tend to ignore stress and fatigue because we think we're above that, we dont need to be a wuss about it, we must perform, and we can take a punch. But the truth is that that is so, so wrong. Ignoring stress, getting way too little sleep, and additionally being surrounded by too much radiowaves [phones, wifi, bluetooth and so on], can have devastating effects on our health.
I think things also come in pairs, so if you're additionally also eating unhealthy and living unhealthy [smoking like a chimney] then you get a very lethal combination. So going full vegan offcourse takes away 1 huge health risk.
Also stopping smoking or other bad hapits takes away another huge health risk.
But above all, and i can't 'stress'this enough [pun unintended] ;
take enough sleep. take enough rest. eliminate stress (as much as you can). don't worry about things you can't control. accept things. that has a far more positive impact on health than anything out there.
you could compare it to a road car.
putting in bad fuels in your car won't do it any good, hell, it would make it hard for the engine to work.
giving it bad oil doesn't do it any good either. now you can give it all the best fuels and oils in the world, with all the best additives you can find to make that engine run as smooth as you can. but if you stress your car beyond it's capabilities, if you keep towing a semi truck and a touringcar behind it, you're simply going to wear out the engine, the transmission and the tires to the point that it will give up and let go, and then it'll go out with a bang.
don't stress out your motor.
don't stress out your body.
good health to you all! i mean that.