To be vegan means not only not eating any animal flesh, so not eating
red meat, white meat and fish, but also no animal-based products.
Vegans don’t drink milk, or eat eggs, but also (consume) no products
derived from milk and eggs. Consequently, vegans don’t eat cheese. So,
in summary, vegetarians don’t eat any animal flesh and vegans don’t eat
any animal-based products.
HOST (IN FRENCH):
Hallo, esteemed viewers, and welcome to today’s episode of Healthy
Living featuring French physician Dr Jérôme Bernard-Pellet, who will
discuss the tremendous health benefits of a plant-based diet.
Dr.
Bernard-Pellet, who became a vegetarian at age 15 and a vegan at
30,found through his study of nutrition that consuming animal products
is detrimental to maintaining good health.
In 2008, Dr.
Bernard-Pellet and a group of other French physicians and dieticians
founded the non-profit group the Association of Health Professionals
for a Responsible Diet (APSARES), which seeks to enhance public health
by promoting vegetarian and the vegan lifestyles.
In our interview we asked Dr. Bernard-Pellet how a vegan diet can help guard against many common, chronic medical conditions.
Bernard-Pellet (m):
Well, there are very many benefits to eating vegetarian, or better yet,
vegan food. The principal benefits are cardio-vascular. If you become
vegetarian, you are at less risk of developing a myocardial infarction
(heart attack) or comparable diseases such as coronary heart disease.
But
the advantages of vegetarianism are not limited to cardiovascular
diseases. Veganism is, from a nutritional point of view, extremely
powerful in diminishing the risk of developing cancers, in particular
colon cancer and prostate cancer.
It is also a very good way to fight obesity. We have found that vegetarians suffer far less often from obesity than omnivores.