Veganism
7 Tips To Help You Go (and Stay) Vegan
Advice From Someone Who’s Been Vegan 35 Years
Looking around, it sometimes seems as if veganism is quickly becoming the new normal. Every day there seem to be new vegan versions of classic foods, with the vast choice of cruelty-free, plant-based options growing exponentially. And why wouldn’t it? In a nation of animal lovers, where we all want to live healthier, cleaner lives while simultaneously doing our bit to help divert an impending climate catastrophe and oppose animal cruelty, being vegan is a no-brainer.
What Is Veganism?
Veganism itself is defined as “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms, it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”
Why Go Vegan?
At heart, most normal people are against cruelty and exploitation and will go out of their way to give comfort to a suffering dog or cat, for example. We instinctively recognize that the animals we share our homes with are in many ways — perhaps in all the ways that matter — just like us. They love affection, feel sorrow, fear, and rejection, they enjoy enjoying life, and when they are sick or injured their pain is palpable to us and is like an arrow in our hearts. Yet at the same time, we happily pay to have other animals — which we conveniently refer to as ‘farm’ animals — abused, tortured, and killed just so we can have the fleeting pleasure of a quick snack.
Why this inconsistency? What separates a dog from a pig, for example? What makes one deserving of treats and cuddles and a warm bed while the other is apparently deserving of nothing more than a cold concrete floor, the occasional beating, and a violent, terrifying, and agonizing death after just a few short months of life?
People sometimes try to argue that it’s because pigs are bred for that purpose, but if we bred dogs for that purpose, would that make it acceptable? They argue that humans have always eaten meat, but even if that were the case (and there is a growing body of evidence that carnism in humans is both more recent and less ‘natural’ than you might think) is tradition really a valid excuse for abuse? Can cruelty and violence ever be justified purely on the basis that ‘it’s always happened? We wouldn’t apply that line of reasoning to other injustices or atrocities such as rape, for example, so why apply it to animal abuse?
People argue that we are justified in treating farmed animals this way because they are less intelligent than us but pigs are generally more intelligent than dogs — in fact, they are more intelligent than a three-year-old human child — so this excuse doesn’t seem to hold water, either. Since when has being more intelligent than someone given you the right to hurt or kill that person? And it’s not only intelligence, there’s evidence that animals on farms, just like us, can show empathy, compassion, and selflessness. In one incident, witnessed by an undercover investigator on a factory farm, one of the pigs figured out how to unlatch the gate to their tiny, constrictive enclosure using their tongue. After opening the gate and leaving the pen, the observer fully expected the pig to make a dash for the exit and to freedom but instead, this sensitive, selfless individual took the time to go from pen to pen and opened the gates for all the other pigs, too.
People even argue that we need to eat animal products to be healthy, even though meat and dairy are prime causes for most of the top killer diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, strokes, obesity and high blood pressure, to name just a few. A balanced vegan diet is not only just as healthy as a diet of meat, dairy, and eggs… it’s more healthy!
As for the current climate emergency, one of the biggest causes of pollution and global warming is animal agriculture. It uses around ten times as much land to grow a kilo of beef as it does to grow a kilo of grain, for example. Cattle produce astonishing amounts of carbon dioxide and methane — both potent greenhouse gasses — and run-off from intensive farms frequently lead to animal slurry contaminating waterways and killing millions of fish and other aquatic animals every year.
So, with all that being said, it’s no wonder that veganism is one of the fastest-growing trends in the world. More people are going vegan than ever before. If you feel it’s time to make that change, to cut out meat, dairy, eggs, and other animal products from your diet and lifestyle for the animals, for yourself, and for the future of the planet, here are some tips I hope you will find useful…
Get Motivated
Hopefully, the introduction above has motivated and inspired you to make the changes you’ve been putting off. It’s easy to feel all fired up and motivated when you’re starting out on a new adventure, a new phase in your life, but remember that a fire needs to be fed fuel regularly to keep burning. At present, we live in a mostly non-vegan society and are constantly bombarded with advertising and propaganda urging us to consume animal products. It’s important we counter these messages and temptations by regularly feeding the fire of our determination with inspiring and motivational videos, articles, books, etc. so we don’t lose our focus and forget the reason we went vegan in the first place — the animal victims.
Get Educated
This really follows on from the motivation tip, above. There are tons of amazing resources out there to help you learn more about animal agriculture, vegan health, nutrition, etc. Documentaries such as Earthlings, Cowspiracy, Seaspiracy, Game Changers, Forks Over Knives, What The Health and Dominion, to name but a few, are a great place to start and a fantastic way to stay motivated. Try this link for more suggestions.
Plan Ahead
I’ve known people who watched one movie or went to one talk and decided then and there to go vegan, went home and threw out all the animal products from their kitchen, and never looked back, but for the majority of people, the transition to veganism is usually made easier by taking it in easy steps, putting together a meal plan, compiling careful shopping lists and planning a routine which will support you while you’re getting used to this new lifestyle. Veganuary and Challenge22 are both excellent resources to help new vegans with meal plans, etc. as well as providing tons of support and guidance.
Stay Healthy
It’s easy for me to say that a balanced vegan diet contains all the nutrients you need to stay fit and healthy (with the possible exception of B12, which should be supplemented), but what exactly do we mean by ‘balanced’. One of the very best resources for vegan nutrition is Dr. Michael Gregor’s NutritionFacts.org — I’d definitely recommend downloading his ‘Daily Dozen’ app to make sure you’re getting all-around great nutrition. It’s one thing to go vegan for the animals but you’re much more likely to convince others to follow suit if you’re a shining and vibrant example of good health rather than a ‘junk-food vegan’ who survives on fries and doughnuts. You’re also much more likely to stay vegan in the long run if it makes you feel great.
Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself
Don’t beat yourself up if you occasionally slip up. We all make mistakes and success is about learning from them. Being vegan isn’t about being perfect, it’s about doing the best you can do. It’s not the end of the world if you discover you’ve accidentally eaten something containing whey powder. It’s a learning experience. Treat your new vegan way of life as a wonderful lifelong journey, be kind to yourself along the way, and use it as an opportunity to grow.
Avoid Extreme Diets
The internet is full of oddballs promoting weird fringe diets like fruitarian, raw vegan, or vegan paleo. Generally speaking, trying to follow one of these extreme diets is setting yourself up for failure. A balanced, rounded vegan diet made up of mainly whole food, fruit, vegetables, pulses, nuts, seeds and grains is the healthiest diet there is. Most of the people who claim veganism gave them health problems were either eating one of these ‘extreme’ or fringe diets, or else they were eating nothing but junk food.
Mute the Trolls
Haters gonna hate… but you don’t have to listen to them. Surround yourself with a positive, supportive network. Sadly, there are plenty of twisted, destructive people out there who are either too selfish, too weak-willed or too invested in their old habits to get behind the vegan cause and in order to make themselves feel better and try to justify their own choices, they seem to delight in bringing vegans down. These types of trolls are all over social media and are forever posting negative nonsense about veganism. Don’t waste your time with them — there are millions of happy, healthy, successful, and long-term vegans more than willing to share their knowledge and experience. Build links with these people and you’ll never be alone on your journey.
