How easy or difficult is it to be a vegan?!
How easy or difficult is it to be a vegan?
This has always fasinated me as I am sure it takes a lot of effort. I can understand vegitarians and vegans and even admire the dedication of many for their lifstyle choices.
Personally I would find it very hard to be either or is this because I am just plain lazy? I certianly do not have the same level of feeling or compassion for animals that you do or for the lifestyle choice you have made but this doesn't stop me from appreciating your efforts.
Please tell me your experiences, how much effort or research into the types of foods and products you have had to do. Apart from some of the lunatic's on YA are you treated in a positive way by society in general?
Just an interest person wanting to know more so please don't crucify me :-)
Answers:
In general no I get much grief at work.. typically the rest of my surroundings don't know.
The difference between being an omnivore and being a vegan in mainstream american diet is the loss of 6 major foods. Beef, chicken, pork, eggs, milk and cheese. Most the other things that are dairy or animal are hybrid or processed foods that don't 'need' to have them in them. Since mainstream american diet relies on animals so much, this is why people seem to think being vegan is so difficult - but in reality your only eliminating 6 food types from a possible diet of hundreds and ultimatetly thousands of edible foods. Its just that we aren't that educated, experienced or self-sufficient at obtaining, storing and cooking the more eccentric portrayal of foods. Bananas sadly are even exotic items in a lot of peoples homes when rotted hardened milk is typical. Please excuse my view on things, but as a vegan you view old diet habits as the basic things they really are..not cute slang names we assign to them like string cheese. A hotdog to me might as well be a flesh log.
We just went shopping tonite and the best I can do is probably to list what we bought.. =) (in order as rung haha..in other words completly random for the most part)
Gnochhi, hemp granola(a new thing for me, tastes like regular granola though,) fresh ground peanut butter, yellow onions, navel oranges, hot house tomatoes, eggplant, spring mix salad, green beans, cucumbers, raw almonds, raw cashews, smoked almonds (girlfriends treat,) 1 lb of quinoa, tomatillos, garlic, sliced mushrooms, 2 lbs of extra firm tofu, broccoli, avocado, bag of red delicious apples, bananas, vanilla almond crunch cereal, kashi 7 grain cereal (like grapenuts,) date snack things..lol, strawberries, black beans, garbanzo beans, neopolitan soy icecream, spanish rice, refried beans, earth balance vegan butter, cantaloupe, soy dream soy milk, vanilla hemp milk, 2 packs of pitas, vegenaise, loaf of 12 grain bread, and whole wheat tortillas... and usually tahini for hummus but they were out..
My choices were primarily rooted in the fact I realized how similiar we are to animals (eating chicken breast and seeing the veins ect) this always bothered me growing up. I also caught on to how milk and ice cream...oh and cheese would make me feel after I ate them, or when id go on binges of them. I hated all the blood involved and never really liked meat too much unless it was heavily flavored or processed into another dish.
Once I decided to change it was a slow progression and took a while to eventually evolve..theres so much pulled over the publics eyes so to say when it comes to corporate food and all the processing/additives. I'm still evolving and learning and just recently even gave up honey..(never used it really but would allow it in some foods like manufactured tea or bread.)
At this point, there is no dedication required..as far as effort is concerned. It comes with ease and I could live no other way and would fight to my death or someone elses if I had to choose against being vegan. Some people confuse this for being militant or give me **** for my handle containing conscript..but its only because I feel we are our bodies for a great part and the things we put in them effect more then just our physical self, but our spiritual as well.
Source(s):
personal experience and research
Admittedly when you're first starting out it's kind of hard getting used to reading labels, and knowing what to look out for, and getting to know new dishes that you can eat. Harder for me as someone who has to eat out a lot is knowing what I can and cannot eat at some places; for instance, pizza places (I LOVE pizza) sometimes do or do not have vegan crusts. I need to know which ones do and which ones don't.
But other than that, it's a good feeling inside and out to be a vegan. I made the transition relatively cold turkey, but I was never a big meat eater. I did like cheese a lot but that wasn't so hard to cut out. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person, so will power wasn't an issue.
Animal cruelty concerns were *part* of the reason I went vegan, so whenever I feel tempted, usually by peer pressure, it only takes me a second to remember that I am standing up for something I believe in, which is anti-factory farming. But mostly I am in this for the health benefits.
I get mixed reactions, mostly positive. A friend tonight was asking me about how I lost weight (not vegan related, though) and told me how her sister was a vegan and how awesome it was and how she wished she could do it. I just kinda shrugged and smiled and said I really enjoy it. Some people are really inquisitive. A few are defensive. It took my friends some getting used to but now they realize I'm the same person, just with different eating habits.
omfg!!! it is so hard. u c my bestfriend is moving and we wanted a way to remember eachother so we TRIED to go vegan for a week. lets just say we only made it a day. no ice-cream. it's so horibble. goodluck
not bothered.
I found that if you want to change lifestyles to vegetarian then you must be able to eat lots of varieties of vegetables or you'll get bored with the same stuff all the time. And also make sure you're eating right or nutrients in your blood wont be sufficient and you'll start feeling really lethargic and shitty.
Well I'm not here to crucify you.
but I will tell you my own experience of why I have changed my eating habits, not quite to full Vegan, but close.
I used to eat just about anything if it tasted good.
Until I read a book called MadCowboy.
that book changed my whole view about eating beef, or meat of any kind for that matter.
especially processed for stores like Mc donalds and fast food joints, or even that sliced pestromi you can get at convenient stores.
When I realized that you can get alot of bad things from eating beef or meat, because of what those animals eat or are fed. I prefer not to eat anything from the stores that is meat. mainly beef.
I wanted to go totally Vegan, but that would cut out eggs. And I like to bake alot, Stuff like Brownies, and cakes, and cookies, but they take eggs, you would have alot of crummy cakes and cookies with out eggs. and some recipe's take milk, and speaking of MIlk, I like French Vanilla Creamer to much to stop putting that in my morning Coffee.
So I ve cut out alot of the meats and stuff, but some of the things are really hard to go with out when you like certain foods made with animals.
but even the Indians used alot of the stuff in the animals that were good too.
but they didn't have a world full of people and a world that uses slaughter houses to process all the meat.
And the animals they killed ate from the plains, not from a barrel of slop, with who knows what all in it to contaminate your life.
So What do ya do? go partial vegan, or all the way.. all they way would change eveything that you are used to having or doing.
its difficult but I am slowly making the transistion.
It was hard maybe for the first week or 2, but i SWEAR i could NEVER ever eat meat again. I was veg. for 4 or 5 years, and now have been vegan for 1 year. I love it. I'd never go back to eating meat or dairy. Honestly, theres so many things i can eat, that taste just as good and are just as fulfilling w.o jeopardizing my health and an animals life!
I'm just a kid but I made my mom and sister go veg. They have been now for years and they'd never go back.
You should give it a try.
Oh, and I get mixed reactions, too. But the people that put down my beliefs and give me the "death stare" are probably just extremely jealous and probably wish they had the will power i do.
The only difficult thing for me would be eating out.After being vegan for a while you just get used to it and it becomes second nature.People generally don't make a big deal,I get some comments like "What do you eat for dinner celery sticks?" but most of those are out of curiousity or being unfamiliar with veganism.
it's a pain in the ***
Easiest way. Just don't buy/ cook meat and leave the ice cream in the fridge. Get motivation from PETA or an other site. Next, post a pic of a slaughterd animal next to the table. Think of raw meat or your dog everytime you see meat! Now that makes you vegetarian! For egg, watch the video, meet your meat and think about tortured hens. For milk, think of infected pus dripping into it and baby cows being seperated form their parents. Give it a go!
veganism, honestly, is not as difficult as you would think. it can be tough when you are first starting, but once you get over that first week,you just fall into a groove. also, if you live in a house where you can just fill your cabinets with all vegan friendly foods, it make it way easier because the temptation to have non vegan foods (that maybe have no vegan alternative) is not there.
usually it is easy to find which foods are vegan and which arent. we dont eat anything with : milk,eggs, gelatin, mono/di- glycerides (sp?), casein, animal rennet, or whey. (well, animal meat too, but you knew that).
it can be difficult to go out to eat with the family though. i have gone to many restaurants with my family before and i had to settle with eating ice out of my water cup.
people usually give me weird looks when i tell them im vegan. my mimi who is 86 doesn't know what a vegan is (though i tried to explain it to her :)), my sister hates it and thinks im depriving myself of nourishment (im vegan, not anorexic!). i've had people invite me to dinner, remember how i eat and then say "well, you can just get some lettuce or something" but mostly when i tell people i'm vegan they just drop it. i think they are afraid im going to hit them over the head with a shovel if they dont agree with my views or something...
:) if anyone some how found a problem with your question and started bugging you, i'd put my vegan ways aside and eat them, dont worry.
I find it easy to be a vegan. Just not when you're super busy or always on the go.
Unfortunately, we don't have something like McDo.
You are lazy cause of what you eat.
Eat better and you'd be surprised how much energy you can actually have.
=-]
hey!
I'm 13 and a vegetarian its really easy for me because I'm a huge animal lover and i feel sick even at the thought of meat animals are the reason i want to live,i have respect for them as the have respect for me.
my mom has been a vegetarian for ages and that really helped me,seeing as she has quorn and vegetarian products in the house.
personally i would rather eat my arm than an Innocent creature that has done nothing to deserve to die and be eaten by greedy people who dont even care!
i have also seen video's of what happens in
slaughter houses,animal testing labs,seal hunts so on its just plain evil.
i really want to become vegan at some point so carrots crunchers all the way yaaay!!!
x sarah x
I've been a vegetarian for 20 years - started when I was 17.
I started by taking gradual steps. First, I stopped eating red meat. Then a couple weeks later, I stopped eating chicken. hen a few weeks later, no fish. Then finally, no milk or eggs.
I don't do too much research. I just read labels - everyone should whether they're vegetarian or not.
Many people find it "fun" to antagonize me for being a vegetarian - I guess my dedication to a conscious decision makes them feel inadequate in their life choices.
You're right some people who post on YA are a bit extreme - but you find that wherever convictions are strong - religion, politics, ethics, etc.
As far as I am concerned any sincere and thoughtful question deserves a sincere and thoughtful answer.
Ok well being a vegetarian nowadays is fairly easy-there are loads of vegetarian products available everywhere now and most restaraunts have a vegetarian option.You need to check packets to be sure things are vege-safe though.
I am a vegan and being a vegan is a bit trickier,at least here in the UK.There are lots of vegan products like soya milks,egg and milk free meat substitutes etc.However eating out is very hard as few restaraunts have a clue what a vegan is and virtually none(except for vegetarian cafe's/restaraunts) have vegan options.
Also because our diet is stricter than vegetarians you have to read the ingredients on things REALLY carefully.Once you get used to it though it is still an easy enough diet.
As for other people sadly there are lunatics in rl too.However most people don't really care what others eat so it's not as bad as here would suggest.
Hi, I liked your question because it is honest and interesting. I had been vegetarian for 20 years when I read an article about milk and what has to go on behind the scenes to actually get it and immediately wanted to take the next step to becoming a vegan. On that day I did lots of research in to where I could get all my vitamins, minerals, calcium, protein etc but as I had been veggie for so long it wasn't that difficult. However, it is certainly more difficult than being veggie but, and here I think you made a very good point, because I have masses of compassion for animal welfare I just couldn't go back to being 'just' a veggie. I think if you are happy to eat meat and dairy then that's absolutely fine and I think also if you don't feel that compassion, (to that extent anyway), then that's what makes it easier for people to eat meat etc You are not being lazy, just that it is your choice to eat what you want. I am probably in the minority of vegans that like a quiet life so tend not to bring it up in conversation, but will be more than happy to explain when asked why I am. However, one of the most difficult things to deal with as a vegan, (and a vegetarian), is when people ask you and then when you give your reasons they sit and argue with you or make really snide comments throughout their meal about really enjoying their 'dead cow'. Although this is upsetting, (especially as it comes from so called friends), you just have to remind yourself that this is probably because you've given them food for thought, (excuse the pun), and they are trying to make themselves feel better. I think when it boils down to it if you have a firm belief in something you tend to stick to it not through willpower but through that strong belief. Finally, and here's the killer....I really, really miss cheese!!!!!!! There is nothing like it to get that taste so it's goodbye cheese sauce on pasta, which was one of my all time favourites, and cheese on toast! Still won't succumb though :)
What makes it easier though is you can get so much now that is suitable for vegans. These include vegan ice-cream, chocolate, sweets, chocolate spread, margarine, soya mince and pieces and a whole lot more. The chocolate certainly makes life nice as a vegan! ;) Hope I have helped.
it's refreshing to hear someone who's actually interested and wants to make an informed opinion on the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle.
I'm vegetarian currentyl makign the transition to veganism. Becomign vegetarian wasn't that hard really as i didn't each red meat anyway and I was allergic to fish. The only real difficulty was in realising that animal deritives are in so much that we eat that we wouldnt expect them to be in, liek chocolate and drinks. I researched it all very well before I became vegetarian and looked at the lists of things I could/n't eat. i used to carry round a list of e-numbers with me and they were what I was always caught out with but after a while you just remember them. It's actually really easy. becoming vegan is the hardest thing I think but I'm giving up one product per month, its not as easy to just "do" the way becoming vegetarian was.
As for reactionf from society...some people are liek "ok, I dont understand it but ok" and others are completely and utterly narrow minded and constantly go on about it, shoving meat in my face and saying how theyd kill the animal themselves blah blah blah and others who tell me that its bad for me and act liek they know better than I do even though Ive researched it so evidently know more!
I pretty much just let it wash over me though, there's always something out there that people won;t understand and I dont liek to push my beliefs onto others no matter how wrong I think that eating meat is. I hate meat eaters preaching to me so I dont bother. At the end of teh day my friends and family are supportive and they are all that matter
There you have it :) thanks for takign the time to ask this question its nice to see you're interested :)
I found it very easy , however you do constantly find out more ways in which animal products are hidden in food IE the recent mars bar thing.
I personally am vegetarian and not vegan as i love pizza but i do aspire to be vegan one day again (managed 1 year but feel at pizza).