I went vegan 5 years ago at the age of 58. I did it because I felt very bad about what happens to animals to turn them into food, and didn't want to participate in that. It is such a healthful lifestyle that I am amazed. People tell me all the time that 'they couldn't afford to be vegan' - which is nonsense. It is only expensive if you decide to go down the road of meat replacements and ready meals, none of which you need.
I think the problem is more that people do not know how to cook - or think they can't - or are too lazy to make the effort. Lentils, beans, cereals, grains and nuts , fresh vegetables and fruit make for a very wholesome diet, high in protein, fibre and vitamins, and low in saturated fat and refined sugars. I buy very few processed foods at all - it's a mistake to think it is cheap to buy biscuits, cakes, confectionery, ice cream and so on - these are foodstuffs that nobody needs, and also the kinds of things that set up cravings if you do eat some. If you have access to the internet there are loads of blogs and recipes for inexpensive meals, vegan or not, so - apart from people who are truly destitute and relying on food banks, I think the 'I can't afford to' mantra is often merely a whinge from people who 'can't be bothered'.
The NHS is overburdened with its caseload, and sadly many people receiving medications and procedures are there because of bad diet. So many ills could be avoided if people were more careful about their nutrition. The World Health Organisation declared, 2 or 3 years back, that all processed meats were carcinogenic and probably all red meat was too. There are several articles linking the consumption of dairy products to breast, ovarian and prostate cancer and that diets high in animal protein are implicated in colon cancer. Diabetes, heart diseases, stroke and osteoarthritis seem to be diseases of the Western style diet too.
What I am reading recently about the state of the oceans also leads me to believe that fish can't be any kind of 'healthy' food either, since we seem to use the sea as a dumping ground for toxic waste, plastic and all kinds of garbage - what the tiny sea creatures on the bottom ingest, gets into the bigger creatures who eat them and so on upwards. I've also read that vegetables and fruit in far greater quantities than most people choose to eat them, are very effective immune system boosters, protecting against a range of disorders.
Intermittent fasting is reckoned to be a good thing too - this is where you eat all you want in an 8 hour period and then nothing for 16 hours except liquids with no calories, such as water, black tea or coffee - so, for example, eat between 12 noon until 8 pm and then nothing more until 12 noon the next day. You will certainly save money if you eat less - no doubt about it. Many people in the world don't have the luxury of 3 meals a day, and many people in developed countries not only eat way too much, mostly of the wrong sort of food for optimum health, but also spend money on useless, trivial, inessential items. Anyone who has their own computer or smartphone really should not be saying they 'can't afford' to eat this way or that way - clearly they simply have a problem with managing their finances sensibly!
