VEGETARIAN-FOOD AND JAIN-CONDUCT > Health benefits of being a Jain Vegan?

At AtmaDharma.com, our aim is to present only true, original and authenticated material - the book "Vegetarian Food & Jain Conduct" has been presented as it is. However due to lots of feedback pointing out the cruel processes used by modern milk industries, this page has been added by AtmaDharma.com in 2013. While milk consumption is not forbidden under Jainism, the current practices in milk production are such that consuming milk is not compatible with the kindness expected of Jains.
Health benefits of being a Jain Vegan - A talk by Dr Jina Shah on 22 Sept 2013 (in Gujarati & English)
Clip no. Video Audio Key Points
01 Video (Size: 3Mb, Length: 1 Min 4 Secs) Audio (0.5 Mb) Introduction to Speaker:
  • Speaker Name: Dr Jina Shah, M.D. M.P.H.
  • Profession: Family Doctor trained in Medicine working near San Franscisco, USA. Also involved in medical research, especially Preventitave Medicine
  • Other information: Dr Jina has been a vegan for more that 20 years
  • Talk on:
    • Why Veganism is important in promoting Ahimsa
    • The Health Benefits of being a Jain Vegan and
    • Nutrients required for a healthy Jain Vegan lifestyle & Q&As
02 Video (Size: 8Mb, Length: 2 Mins 47 Secs) Audio (1.3 Mb) Introduction to Topic:
  • What does the term "Vegan" mean? Vegan does not mean just vegetarian but also no consumption of dairy products. The practice of Jain veganism is an aspect of practicing Ahinsa
  • Questions to Audience:
    • Q1: How many people think our most important ethical practice is ahinsa in Jainism? (Almost everybody)
    • Q2: How many people here practice vegetarianism? (Almost everybody)
    • Q3: Among the people who you know are vegetarians for long time - how many people have high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or cancer? (Most people)
    • Q4: How many people know someone who is Vegan? (Lot of people)
    • Q5: How many vegans do you know - long term vegans (at least few years) who have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer? (No one)
  • This exercise indicates that there may be benefits to becoming Vegan. More on that later.
03 Video (Size: 16Mb, Length: 5 Mins 39 Secs) Audio (2.7 Mb) Health benefits of being a Jain Vegan
  • Cutting out dairy products has the following health benefits
    • It makes a difference in Heart disease
    • It lowers Blood pressure
    • It can prevent or reverse Diabetes

  • Studies have shown that people with these diseases who have cut dairy products out they can:
    • lower their cholesterol without medicines
    • their blood pressure goes down
    • and they can reverse their diabetes

  • If you don't have the diseases then eating a (Jain) Vegan diet can prevent onset of these diseases

  • Just being vegan is not enough to be healthy
  • You need to eat sensibly to be a healthy vegan i.e. not too much fat, oil or sugar
Indians and Disease Risks
  • Indians have a high risk of these diseases - a genetic susceptibility to deposit abdominal fat in our internal organs giving a higher risk of the metabolic syndrome which includes heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and can give premature strokes and heart attacks
  • So it makes even more sense to become a Jain Vegan
Other Examples of Benefits
  • An audience member has with diet changes including being a Jain vegan has cured themselves, completely of debilitating psoriatic arthritis and almost of psoriasis too without the use of any medicines
  • A mother of 3 children in California has raised them vegan from birth and whilst the other children in their school have plenty of ear infections - her children have none. Ear infections are common in young children. The allergy that children develop to milk also causes infections, allergies and auto-immune diseases. These can also be reduced, reversed and cured by becoming a vegan
Summary
  • The benefits list is large
  • Of-course being vegan is not a cure for everything - we will all die one day, however the quality of our life will be much better by becoming a vegan
  • We will also be saving ourselves from the sin of being responsible for the hinsa of 5-sensed beings
For further information about these methods visit any of the following links:-