Vegan Diet vs Ethical vegan

[RAINRA]

I don't know how many people came into veganisn or for what reasons. Everyone is here for a different reason.

 

I came to nutrition because I first learned that it was the healthy way to go. I see a lot of junk food vegans for one out there which kinda makes me think the whole claim that vegans are healthier is kinda BS.

 

Now what I learned as I went vegan was to do it not only for health but for animal rights reasons. Which I think is the most important issue and the least selfish way. We do get so rapped up in us an our health and what works for this and what works for that that at the end of the day we are forgetting the main cause of the whole vegan cause. I am at fault to forget sometimes.

 

 

So what I get from this is Vegan diet does not mean healthy. It just means you don't eat animals. I see a lot of people here on the site promoting health which is a plus and great and positive view on things. I wish more vegans out there were about that too.

 

I believe everyone is a symbol to the cause what you do on a day to day basis is being judged by non vegans...

 

What I heard today on a podcast was person who says he is vegan for health reasons only as he bragged that he still had leather jackets and boots. He said I never had a cow as a friend so I am not here for the animals.

 

I think this is kinda wrong because as he made fun of junk food vegans he was still wearing the animals without any feeling at all.

 

What do you think of vegans who don't care about the animals and call themselves vegan?

[xjohanx]

I just wanted to impress girls....So far so good.

[Dr. Pink]

Many reasons. Health, Ethical, Environmental and Social. More so for health though.

[Amy]

I became a vegetarian for health reasons then became vegan for ethical reasons.

[zinzen]

I came to this very strangely.

I was a vegetarian for years, because I was on a very spiritual path and found a lot of info on being able to be more sensitive to the small energy feilds around us if you had a lighter energy yourself.

I am sure a lot of people here will find that crap but whatever, worked well.

Then my wife became vegan, and at first, for about a year, I stayed veg because I worked out real freakin hard and didnt want to risk it all without good protein shakes.

Then all at once I found tons of info laid out in mags and other sources about soy protien being just as good as milk protiens, and also being in nutrition classes and A&P classes and pre-med I found more and more info.

But then I seen 30 days with the hunter and vegans and cried like a little school girl, went online, found this site, and the rest is vegan history.

Oh and going to farm santuary a bunch sealed it real good, now let me see you mess with an animal and I will implant my foot in your face.

[Richard]

Yeah, to me veganism is to do with compassion for animals. So to say you're vegan, and that you don't care about animals, doesn't make sense to me, that's not how I use the word. Just say "vegan diet".

[veggieprincess]

I became a Vegan purely for environmental reasons.

 

I went to an Earth Day expo... saw the University's PETA booth, sifted through the literature that they had there saying the number one cause of man made Global Warming was from factory farms and all things related to us using animals for food.

 

Went home, went online and stumbled upon several articles that gave me facts and figures that it's not the C02 we should be concerned with, but the Methane. The thing that stuck in my head the most was that not only is Methane a much STRONGER gas than C03, but that 37% of all methane is from the livestock we are raising as food. What really stuck in my head though was the fact that Methane only stays in our environment for 10 years whereas C02 (you know.. the whole "drive a Prius... change a lightbulb, etc, campaign) stays in our atmosphere for 100 years. Therfore if more people went Vegan we could actually start to reverse the man made causes of Global Warming.

 

When I found that out I went Vegan the next day. I still didn't get the whole honey thing or "why not leather?" until I read the book "Being Vegan" which showed me all of the hows and whys of why we don't wear leather or eat honey. And so I learned more about the animal rights and the compassionate side of Veganism, etc.

[GinaKina]

I actually got in a little bit of an argument (I didn't mean to, I'm not an argumentative person, but you know things can be misconstrued online) a few days ago with someone who was vegan purely for environmental reasons. Someone asked what the hardest part of being vegan was, and she said that, for her, the hardest part is when she goes to her step-mom's house, she doesn't cook vegan, so she just eats whatever animals were prepared. I said that if she doesn't stand up for what she believes in, her family is never going to take her diet seriously.

 

She got all mad at me and told me that I didn't understand why she was vegan, that she is only a vegan for environmental reasons, she doesn't care about the animals, and if they're already killed and cooked, it would be wasteful for her to not eat them. At this point, maybe I got a little snarky and told her about something called leftovers. Aaaand this all kind of makes me sound like a bitch, but I was really really really being nicer than I'm writing it here.

 

Sorry, that was off topic, but I've been wanting to vent about that for a few days now. Okay, I totally agree that vegan does not always equal healthy. Some of the vegan ice cream out there is just as bad or worse (calorie-wise) for you than full fat dairy ice cream. Also, my brother's ex-girlfriend's parents went vegan after her mom got breast cancer, purely for diet reasons, but they do eat a very healthy vegan diet. Although they still use other animal products.

 

I think there is a difference between calling yourself a vegan and saying you follow a vegan diet, because I know I said the latter before I was really 100% committed. That's not to say that anyone is going to adhere to what I think, but personally, that's how I would phrase it. If someone told me that they were a vegan and then started bragging about their awesome leather coat, I would most likely correct them.

[CollegeB]

Gina is right on about the difference between following the diet and being a vegan. People in it just for the diet ought to insist to be called strict vegetarians.

[Couture547]

I got into veganism becasue of health reasons. The more i learned about health and tried different things the more vegan i got until i was vegan. Now i do it for the animals alot more then health reasons becasue i belive you can have a healthy omni diet or a healthy vegan diet or or un healthy of each.

 

I think it's very important for vegans to lead a healthy lifestyle and exercise to look good becasue if a vegan looks like shit people will point and say well he's vegan. but if someone is on sad and looks like shit no one says any thing. It's a double standard, but i think most vegans would like to get other people to eat a vegan diet and the best way is to lead by example. I personally have turned two different people vegan in my two years. doesn't sound like much but if every person does that and those people do it you have a movement that will explode and be a common diet.

[xjohanx]

People in it just for the diet ought to insist to be called strict vegetarians.

 

+1

[xveganjoshx]

Now i do it for the animals alot more then health reasons becasue i belive you can have a healthy omni diet or a healthy vegan diet or or un healthy of each.

 

I agree. I also think that vegans that believe that every possible omnivorous thing is unhealthy are delusional. Surely all omnivorous things are unethical, however they are not all "unhealthy".

 

I think it's very important for vegans to lead a healthy lifestyle and exercise to look good becasue if a vegan looks like shit people will point and say well he's vegan. but if someone is on sad and looks like shit no one says any thing. It's a double standard, but i think most vegans would like to get other people to eat a vegan diet and the best way is to lead by example. I personally have turned two different people vegan in my two years. doesn't sound like much but if every person does that and those people do it you have a movement that will explode and be a common diet.

++

[LocalBrada]

Actually for me, my issue is with labels. Someone will ask me why I don't eat meat and my initial response is, "I am a strict vegetarian." First off I have to include the word 'strict', because the label vegetarian has come to include non-vegetable matter (honey, eggs, diary, etc.). Which to me is ridiculous and non-logical! When was the last time you seen those items included in the vegetable section of the food pyramid? Then I get a reply from the person asking the question, "oh so your vegan?!" And again this show that ignorance, stereotypes and labels places a huge burden on those being labeled and those handing out the label. Why would I have gone through the motions of saying something as specific and obscure as 'strict vegetarian' if I could said something as recognizable as 'vegan' and portray a definition of a label most resembling 'a choice I've made'? Again this has more to do with misinformed and people who have no knowledge on the subject.

 

Anyway getting away from a rant-style post. The reason why I became a strict vegetarian was purely nutritional. And more importantly how overlooked the diet is when it comes to health and well-being. People tend to overlook the obvious and delve into obscurity in order to remedy issues they may have, my perceive they have, or be inflected with.