If you've clicked this button then maybe you're already thinking about going vegan. Our advice to you is simple: go for it! Hundreds of thousands of people in this country have already taken that last step into a completely cruelty-free lifestyle. By turning vegan you'll be doing something incredibly positive for your health, your conscience and the world. What's more, we guarantee you that making the transition won't be as difficult as you think. Being vegan doesn't mean becoming a freak; it doesn't mean giving up on the pleasure of good food and it certainly doesn't mean you have to become a self-righteous bore. It won't make you a different person � only a happier one!

There are many reasons for going vegan � just as there are for going vegetarian. Being vegetarian helps immeasurably in reducing animal suffering, environmental damage, hunger in the developing world and risks to our own health. Veganism takes all those advantages just a little further. For very many people concerned about any or all of these problems, it seems the natural step to take from vegetarianism.

GOING VEGAN: 4 GREAT REASONS

1. Saving Animals

Cattle reared for milk production are exploited and made to suffer, just like animals reared for meat. They suffer from lameness, mastitis (inflammation of the udders) and other illnesses and � worst of all � they are forcibly separated from their calves just days after they are born so that humans can drink their milk. Cows are not some kind of special animal that produces milk automatically: just like every other animal, including us, they only produce milk to nurse their young. Male dairy calves, meanwhile, are useless to the dairy industry and are usually shot at birth. Meanwhile, egg-laying hens may be crammed into battery cages or disgusting, disease ridden percheries and forced to produce twenty times the number of eggs as are natural to them. Even free range and organic layers face disease and parasites � and are slaughtered for cheap meat as soon as their productivity falls below the level that the egg business will accept. Male chicks are as useless to the industry as male dairy calves and all are killed � including those on free-range and organic systems.

Like leather, wool is a vital part of the profitability of the meat business � and animals suffer to produce it. Over 90% of British sheep flocks have problems with lameness and almost 1 in 5 lambs die before getting to market. Even honey bees are prone to infectious diseases and the ill-effects of intensive production. All animals kept for profit are exploited in one way or another: the only way to ensure that animals are not harmed is to ensure they are not farmed at all.

Find out more from Viva!`s online Guides: Murder She Wrote about the suffering inflicted on farmed animals; and Justice for All, presenting the case for animal rights.

2. Saving the Planet

Dairy cattle and laying hens consume land, water and resources just like other farmed animals. They eat pesticide-soaked fodder, produce polluting slurry, consume chemicals and drugs produced at environmental cost and generate greenhouse gases. They are a drain on our resources that this planet cannot afford.

Find out more about how animal agriculture is ravaging the environment from Viva!`s online Guide, Planet on a Plate

3. Saving Others

Again, dairy cattle and laying hens are consuming resources that could go to feeding human beings. As the developing world increasingly industrialises its animal agriculture, farming animals in order to generate revenues instead of food that problem will get worse � and as more dairy and egg produce is consumed in the developing world, so its people are at risk of falling prey to the diet-induced illnesses of Western society.

Find out more about how animal agriculture contributes to poverty and hunger from Viva!`s online Guide, Food for the Future

4. Saving Yourself

Human beings are the only animals which consume milk after infancy � and the milk of another species at that. It is neither natural nor healthy. A study published in 2003 found that a vegan diet could reduce the most harmful form of cholesterol by 29%. The American Dietetic Association has declared that a vegan diet can provide all the nutrition that human beings need � from cradle to grave. Veganism is infinitely closer to the diet human beings evolved to thrive on than a normal, animal fat-soaked western diet � and the health benefits of a well-balanced vegan diet reflect that.

Find out more about the health benefits of veganism from Viva!`s online guides, The Healthiest Diet of All and a guide produced by the Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, Kids Go Veggie, which explains how veganism is an ideal diet for children.