I decided to type up a little Q + A of common vegan inquiries/misconceptions that I get asked a lot. I hope this answers some of your questions about a vegan lifestyle, and inspires you to start living one! Or if you’re already vegan, hopefully these answers can provide you with some backup when you get asked these questions yourself. Let me know in the comments if you have any more questions that you would like answered!
Q: “Vegan Food is Too Expensive”
A: Vegan Food is NOT more expensive; it is actually cheaper if you do it the right way. If you only buy vegan processed food, then of course it is going to be pricey, but the cheapest foods you can find are always vegan! Ex. potatoes, rice, oats, beans, corn, etc. If you buy whole foods, it will not be expensive, you will actually save money not buying meat and cheese. Also, buy in season, produce is always cheaper this way. Obviously don’t buy mangoes in December or grapes in the fall. If you eat at expensive vegan cafes/restaurants all of the time that won’t save you money either, but you can also do that as a non-vegan, it’s the same. I actually save a lot more money since switching to a vegan diet.
Q: “Do you find yourself missing meat?”
A: I can only answer this from my point of view, but all vegans I know feel this way. Once you become vegan and you’re educated on the health catastrophes of eating meat and the animal abuse, meat actually turns you off and disgusts you. I will never, ever eat meat again in my life, and I don’t even find it appetizing anymore because of the knowledge I know have gained since going vegan. And in this day and age, there are SO MANY meat replacements that taste exactly the same or even better, there is no need for missing meat. I never thought I would ever go vegan because I loved meat so much. I can honestly say I DO NOT miss meat, because you can get the same flavor and satisfaction from meat replacements.
Q: “I like meat too much.”
A: As I’ve said in my last answer, if you like meat, there is no need to worry about going vegan. The vegan community has ACED meat replacements, you will never miss it or need meat again. Why don’t you at least try meat replacements and you will realize how much tastier and healthier they are? Also, if you’re really that selfish that you would rather have a certain taste (when you can get it from other sources) than help save animals lives, I think you need to do some self-reflection. Sorry for the bluntness. You just like you routine and you need to branch out to put it nicely 🙂
Q: “It doesn’t taste the same.”
A: You’re right. I don’t taste rotten flesh or pus from dairy on a daily basis as a vegan, but guess what? I taste even better things. I have said this many times to people: I eat a lot better food now as a vegan than I did before. I have tried things I had never even heard of before that have become staples in my diet! I get to have fun in the kitchen experimenting with new ingredients or new ways of cooking/baking things. It is so fun and I eat yummy food ALL of the time. I never feel like I’m missing out on any food, there is always a vegan version for everything. Pinterest will become your best friend. Vegan food is so versatile, bountiful, and plentiful, you cannot imagine all of the amazing foods I have had since transitioning. I also think you love the salt, sauces, oils, and texture of meat, but not the meat itself. For example, do you find boiled, unflavored chicken or pork appetizing? No, but you find fried chicken and chicken parmesan appetizing. Why? Perhaps it’s because of the sauce or the breading or the salt. Whatever it is, you like the flavor of the things surrounding the meat, which is easily made vegan!
Q: “I heard vegan food can be just as unhealthy as non-vegan food, so why would I switch?”
A: Just as there are many omnivore diets, there are many different vegan diets. You could be a junk food vegan and eat Oreos all day just as you could eat junk food all day on a non-vegan diet. Your choice of diet is yours, but if you’re going to eat junk food on either diet, why not choose the vegan one where you can save the lives of beautiful creatures and our Earth’s environment? Also, vegan junk food is going to be a bit more healthier than non-vegan considering it doesn’t have all of the hormones, animal-derived cholesterol, bacteria, pus and more. I’m sure you are not just going to be a junk food vegan though, and considering that, a vegan diet is EXTREMELY more healthy in many more ways than one. You can expect lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, clearer skin, better digestive health, a lower risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more.
Q: “Where do you get your protein?”
A: Oh, the *rolling eye* question, but I have to answer it because some people really don’t know. Let me ask you this: When people say “strong as an ox” do they realize an ox is vegan? Or did you think about the strongest, largest mammal on land, an elephant? Yeah, they’re vegan too. What about the strong, muscular gorilla? Yup, you got it…they’re vegan too. I’m just giving you examples of strong animals that get all of their protein from plants. Why eat a cow for protein? Where do you think they get their protein from? Plants. Why not get it straight from the source instead of going through a middle man to get it? Especially when the middle man way of getting protein is cruel, unhealthy, and bad for the environment. Plants are the only thing on earth that can produce protein from amino acids, so that is the purest, best way of getting protein. Protein packed vegan food includes but is not limited to: tofu, edamame, seitan, chickpeas, beans, quinoa, tempeh, almonds, peanuts, cashews, hemp seeds, chia seeds, broccoli, meat replacements, and more.
Q: “What about B12?”
A: Fun fact: B12 is produced by bacteria. B12 is found on the surface of the earth and on highly bacterial items such as meat. B12 used to be in abundance on plant food, which is how our vegan ancestors got their B12. Unfortunately now with all the pesticides and heavy waxing on plants, the bacteria is washed off. Since meat isn’t properly cleaned and is high in many varying forms of bacteria, B12 is common here. The only supplement a vegan ever has to take is B12. But B12 is stored in the body for up to 3 years. Therefore, it’s challenging for a vegan to be B12 deficient. Considering over 40% of the U.S. is B12 deficient, but only about 6% of the population is vegan, it is clear that anyone can become B12 deficient. You should be taking B12 as a supplement anyways. There are many B12 fortified vegan foods such as non-dairy milks/yogurts, nutritional yeast, and more.
Q: “Why is honey or beeswax not vegan?”
A: The way the Western world produces honey/beeswax now is awful, you can read more about it here: https://dylankendall.com/blogs/dylan-kendall-blog/to-bee-or-not-to-bee-the-truth-beehind-honey-and-beeswax-1
Also, these two ingredients are derived from animals, so they’re clearly not vegan. Honey is extremely easy to replace. I love agave way better now or maple syrup. And why would you want to eat bee throw up?
Q: “Where do you get your calcium?”
A: Let me start by saying this, you have been programmed since you were little to believe that milk makes for strong bones. This is marketing. The opposite of this is actually true. Our bones neutralize acids from foods we consume. Dairy is so acidic, that when you drink it, your body pulls alkaline calcium from your bones to reduce the acidity. Drinking dairy is actually PULLING calcium from your bones. The top 5 countries in the world that drink the most dairy have the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world. Think about that. Healthier vegan sources of calcium include: calcium-fortified non-dairy milks/yogurts/cheeses, calcium-fortified tofu and soybeans, and dark leafy greens such as bok choy, broccoli, collards, turnip greens, Chinese cabbage, kale, mustard greens, and okra. Also grains, beans, dried figs, oats, blackstrap molasses, almond butter, almonds, broccoli and many more varying fruits and vegetables.
Here is an excerpt on calcium from one of my favorite books, “The Starch Solution,” by Dr. John McDougall:
“Where does the cow get her calcium from? Does her body produce it? No. Actually, she gets it from the soil. Calcium is a basic mineral element that is neither created nor destroyed. Plants absorb calcium and other minerals from the soil through their roots. As the plant grows, that calcium is built into its fabric from root to stem to fruit or vegetable to seed. The calcium gets into the cow when she eats grass and other calcium-rich plants. I recommend that you skip the cow altogether and go straight to the plant source for your calcium. Plants are the source of calcium and minerals that build strong bones for humans, cows, and the largest animals walking the earth — even horses and hippopotamuses — which eat no animal or dairy foods whatsoever.”
Q: “How are you making a difference in the industry when such a small percentage of people are actually vegan?”
A: First, I’d like to point out that the number of vegans is growing exponentially every day. Second, corporations supply their goods based off demand. Once you go vegan, that takes some demand away from animal products. If you’re vegan, you most likely SPREAD the vegan message or set an example with your lifestyle. This influences others to follow in your footsteps which also helps diminish that demand for animal products. Less demand = less production of meat, dairy, and eggs = less animals killed for their flesh and byproducts and less negative impact on the environment. For example, Ben & Jerry’s used to only provide dairy ice cream. Once their demand started shrinking, they decided to enter the market of non-dairy to supply for that growing demand. Now we can enjoy delicious vegan ice cream from a huge name brand at no cost to the animals or the environment. Why? Because of the demand vegans created for it. When you go vegan, it is a message to these companies to move into cruelty-free ways of making their products. Who knows, maybe one day if (and when) the demand grows high enough, companies like Ben and Jerry’s will go fully vegan. The vegan demand also gives rise for new vegan brands to start and flourish. The more people who buy meat alternatives, the closer we are to putting animal agriculture out of business.
A plant-based diet can reduce your carbon footprint by 50%. In one year of being vegan you can:
- Save 219,000 gallons of water
- Prevent the release of 1,500 lbs of Co2
- Spare the suffering of 200 beautiful sentient animals
In just one day of being vegan you can save:
- 1, 100 gallons of water
- 45 pounds of grains
- 30 square feet of rainforest
- 20 lbs of Co2
More of these facts and their sources can be found here: http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
Going vegan can also put world hunger to an end. We are using valuable food such as legumes, corn, grains, and soy for animal agriculture. It takes more crops to feed these animals that we raise for slaughter than it would to feed starving people around the world.
Also, not only can you make a difference in the industry, you can make a difference in your health. Invest in yourself.
Another point I would like to make about this topic is that the rationale behind this question is kind of immoral. Those who have the mindset, “oh nothing is going to change anyways, so I might as well do it,” are people who don’t want to change for their own selfish reasons. It’s just an excuse to continue on with their hurtful ways. That’s similar to saying when there’s genocide going on why bother helping: “Why save a few Jews when there are so many dying?” Every life is valuable and if you can save a few, that’s worth all the change. Ethics and values in society always change and grow as the society progresses. People once had this mindset about slavery and equal rights for women. Look how things have changed. Things don’t change without activists to push society a long: abolitionists, revolutionaries, public speakers, marchers, and demonstrators. Vegans are all of these things. We speak out against injustices that need changing. If you are not an activist, you are resistant to the inevitable change. Join the force!
Q: “Why vegan? Why not just vegetarian? What’s wrong with cows being milked?”
This was my question before I became vegan too, because the dairy industry paints a pretty picture that all the cows have a happy life roaming and grazing the fields. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. How do you think a cow produces milk? She doesn’t just produce milk all day, every day. A cow has to be pregnant to lactate. To impregnate a female cow, the dairy farmer first needs semen. To source this, bulls are forced to ejaculate with a metal machine or by hand. Talk about bestiality? They then put the semen in a large metal injector that is forced up the backside of a female cow. To get this area loose, the dairy farmer has to shove their fist up her vagina to ensure they can inject the long metal stick full of semen. So basically, they rape the cow. The cow is then forced to give birth, and almost immediately the calf is taken away from the mother to ensure it cannot drink the milk it’s meant to have, but instead go to humans. These cows are bonded to their babies, just as any mother would be. When their babies are dragged away, the mothers run after and cry for their calves. Male calves that are born have their throats slit for veal, and female cows are forced to have the same fate as their mother. Within one or two months of giving birth, cows are impregnated again to produce more milk, and the process repeats. But since the process is performed so quickly and irregularly for the nature of a cow, this puts a lot of strain on the cow and her utters. Her utters then get inflamed or infected and lactate pus and blood into the milk. Only some of this is filtered out. All dairy contains blood and pus. There are certain limitations depending on the country of just how much pus can be in an ounce of milk because there is that much. Pus is the same thing that builds up on top of a whitehead.
A cow typically lives anywhere from 20-25 years, but because of how many times dairy cows are forced to give birth, they only live to a fourth of that time. Many of these dairy cows collapse and die from the cruelty and exhaustion. If they survive the torture and cannot produce any more milk, they are then sent to slaughterhouses for meat. Many of these cows are lame and cannot walk by this time. Cow milk is meant for baby cows (calves). Cat milk is meant for baby cats (kittens). Monkey milk is meant for baby monkeys. Rat milk is made for baby rats. Would you drink rat or monkey milk? No? Then why do you drink cow’s milk. Where does it say that cow’s milk is meant for humans and not calves? We stop breastfeeding from a very young age, so why are you still drinking baby milk? You’re not a baby, and you do not need to contribute to this abuse, rape, and slaughter. And you’re not lactose intolerant, you’re just not a baby cow. If you’re vegetarian, consider how these cows are treated and that if they don’t die from this, they still get sent to slaughter houses for meat.
The other side of dairy is the health aspect. Refer to my calcium answer on how dairy contributes to osteoporosis. Milk is “baby calf growth fluid,” as Dr. Michael Klaper likes to say, which is meant to make a calf grow more than 500 pounds in one year. I don’t think it’s healthy for any human to drink. Dairy contains growth hormones, blood, pus, unhealthy cholesterol, and saturated fats. That’s why we have an increase in breast cancer, prostate cancer, acne, fibroids, osteoporosis, hysterectomies, PCOS, endometriosis, obesity, and more. Dairy is scary, in more ways than one.
Watch this video to learn more:
If you’re interested in why vegans don’t eat eggs, I don’t think I can explain it any better than this article did: https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/the-shocking-truth-about-eggs-top-7-reasons-to-stop-eating-them
Q: “Aren’t people meant to eat meat, like cavemen?”
A: Do you sleep in a cave? Do you draw stick people on cave walls? Do you have no electricity? Do you only wear furs and no “real” clothes? Do you sleep outside in nature every night? Do you make DIY fires for warmth every day? If all of the answers to the above are no, sorry to tell you: you’re not a caveman and you don’t have to act like one. Imagine for me, the intellect of a caveman compared to what the human species has evolved into now. Does it look the same to you in your head? I would hope not, that would be embarrassing. As the human species evolves, the consciousness evolves. We get more moral over time, smarter, and more diligent. Back then, they would probably be confused at the ideas of women’s rights, anti-slavery, and freedom of speech. They would be baffled by our skyscrapers, planes, and cars. My point is that we are no longer cavemen, we are a more evolved species with advanced ways of thinking. You are capable of knowing that killing animals for a taste in your mouth is immoral.
Let me give you an example of Native American tribes. Anthropologists and historians have studied hunter-gatherer tribes vs. plant-based farming tribes. The tribes that hunted were not as “evolved” as the farming tribes. Hunting tribes were more aggressive, had more conflict, were more unstable and couldn’t build communities. Agrarians (farming tribes) created progressive and proficient techniques for farming. They were more stable and created effective and strong communities. If it weren’t for various agrarian societies, we wouldn’t live in the world we have now. That’s where civilization started.
Apart from the ethical stance, let’s get into biology. Biologically we are not omnivores, we are herbivores. If you compare our anatomy to that of an herbivore and that of an omnivore, you will see ours match perfectly with an herbivore. Omnivores and carnivores have very short, smooth intestines to move meat along quickly so it doesn’t rot in the body. Herbivores have long, rigid intestines to slowly absorb the most amount of nutrients from plants, which we have. Also, our jaws move side to side and up and down, whereas carnivores can only move up and down. For anyone to say our canines prove we eat meat…compare our canines to that of an omnivore/carnivore and they would laugh if they could. Our canines are used to crack open nuts and seeds and to bite into things such as apples. Look at other herbivores such as gorillas or hippos who have huge canines. Even if you refuse to believe humans are herbivores, we now live in a day and age where we are lucky enough not to have to kill animals to survive. We have plentiful food at the grocery store that provide us with alternatives. We have access to enough options to avoid it altogether. Stop using the excuse of cavemen, your ancient ancestors who are literally nothing like you, to defend your immoral want to eat meat.
This question reminded me of this meme of similar question vegans get asked:
Q: “How do you get all parts of the food pyramid?”
A: Oh boy, this is almost the most difficult question to answer because how do you explain to someone that everything they’ve ever known from the government, school, and doctors is a lie? Basically, every country/government that has food recommendations set in place for their citizens have different suggestions depending on what industry that government most wants to support or advocate for. So in this country, the U.S., the dairy and animal agriculture lobbyists pay LOTS of money to control politicians to endorse their products. That is why the United States Department of Agriculture promotes a cup of dairy with every meal according to their “Choose my Plate.” That is why on the food pyramid, they have an entire section for milk and meat. That is also why the government promotes milk in schools so from a young age, they can brainwash you into believing milk is healthy and it makes for strong bones. (Refer to my calcium answer to learn more about calcium from milk.) Pharmaceutical companies also pay lots of money to the government and have powerful lobbyists that influence them. How else will pharmaceutical companies make a profit unless there are sick people? How to get people sick, you ask? Feed them food that will make them sick! Food is medicine, but it can also be death. Let them eat baby calf growth fluid (milk) full of pus, blood, and hormones, eggs filled with GMOs, saturated fat, salmonella, and cholesterol, and meat filled with tumors, bacteria, cholesterol, saturated fat, hormones, GMOs, and antibiotics! Doctors get commission from the medicine they prescribe, so most doctors won’t recommend a vegan diet (not saying this is true for all doctors). Doctors nowadays have very little nutritional training, read more information on this in the link below: https://health.usnews.com/wellness/food/articles/2016-12-07/how-much-do-doctors-learn-about-nutrition
Don’t be brainwashed by what the government tells you is good or bad. Be an informed consumer and do your research on the TRUTH.
Refer to nutritionfacts.org for reliable nutrition information from Dr. Michael Greger M.D. FACLM
Q: “All of the products in my home right now are non-vegan. I don’t want to throw away all those groceries/money, but I want to become vegan. What should I do?”
I totally understand. I had this same question when I was about to go vegan, and considering I went vegan overnight, I think I have a pretty good, simple answer. Since you already paid for the food, finish it out but set an exact day for when you will make the change. I said to myself, “I’m going vegan on June 5th and from that day on I will never eat animal products again,” and that’s what happened! Give yourself enough time with your proposed date to finish out the things in your pantry. Anytime you run out of a product, for example, milk, replace it with a vegan one. If you don’t want to finish those products, maybe give it to someone you know or a shelter who is in need of food.
Q: “How do you know if something is vegan? Is there a website to check?”
In not so obvious products (ones that aren’t meat, eggs, milk, or cheese) such as cookies, breads, bars, etc. there might be a symbol that it is already vegan. If not, you’ll have to look for specific sneaky ingredients. It might just say flat out say in the ingredients milk, milk fat, eggs, etc. One of my little tricks is to always look at the text at the bottom of the ingredient list/food label that says CONTAINS: MILK, TREE NUTS, EGGS, WHEAT. So from this, I see it has milk and eggs in it, and that it is not suitable for vegans. There are some ingredients such as gelatin, whey, casein, and more that you need to be careful of. It’s so easy after a while. After you go vegan, you become a wiz at quickly reading ingredient labels and knowing which ingredients are vegan friendly. Here is an article below that I think would be helpful: https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/a-vegans-guide-to-reading-food-labels/
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