To understand how people feel about a friend or family member going vegan, think of how your loved ones would feel if you got a random facial piercing. Oddly enough, if you’re my mother, it’s very similar. I know that because this semester, I both pierced my nose and decided to go vegan. Oh God that sounds so angsty. First, surprise: “you did what?” Then, disbelief: “Today? No you didn’t. Really?” Really. She had always said nose piercings were cute, so I was confused. “Yeah, but… not on you.”
She’s skeptical about the nose ring (just wait until you see it, Mom, I promise I’m still pretty) as well as this whole vegan thing. So is almost everyone else. So am I. I just don’t know if I can handle it. But deep down, I know that this diet experiment is a really good idea for me, and that now is the right time. Not to mention, I need to make these migraines stop as soon as possible. So I am going to do this.
I feel like my hesitations are the hesitations a lot of people feel when trying to make drastic changes to their diets and their lives. So I thought I’d put together a list of arguments against going vegan that came from my own mind (that can be applied to other dietary changes) and how to combat them, both internally and externally.
Vegan food tastes bad.
Wrong! Vegan food tastes good! (I mean, obviously, there are people who don’t like vegetables. I don’t really know how to attack this if you’re hoping to go vegan without vegetables… Good luck to you.) But maybe you’ve had bad vegan food before, but it was either the wrong vegan food for you or just not prepared well. Not a lot of people are good at cooking these days.
How to attack this:
Invest in some good spices. A lot of vegan recipes call for a much larger quantity of spices than I’d expect or spices I’ve never even heard of. This is because though vegetables have a lot of flavor, a lot of standard (western) recipes call for animal products like cream or butter to bring out flavors, or to tie multi-ingredient recipes together on your palette. Smart use of spices can do basically the same thing.
Try new things. If you’re only eating vegetables, fruits, and grains, you’re going to get tired of the same five vegetables, fruits, and grains you’ve enjoyed before. Some of them will be bad. Some of them will not be. For me, Medjool Dates, Acorn Squash, and some vegetable I still can’t identify, have all been successful new additions to my diet.
Find good vegan recipes. I mean good vegan recipes. The internet is a thing! Contrary to popular belief a lot of vegans do use computers, and they are happy to share what they know. (How do you know who the vegans are at a party? … Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.) One of my favorite new internet discoveries is http://www.mynewroots.org/. She’s a nutritionist who is not strictly vegan but has a lot of healthy, delicious looking recipes and good resources for this kind of diet. There are lots of good resources on the computer, it’s just a matter of finding them. And maybe, with practice, you won’t be a bad cook anymore!
Okay… some vegan food is good. But so is cheese and ice cream.
True. I’m not even going to pretend. I love ice cream. Ask literally anyone who knows me. And cheese was never an optional food. It was like cooking with water. But I do know they’re not good for me. They’re just not.
How to attack this:
Eat enough of what you can eat. You won’t crave anything if you’re truly full. And the good news about a lot vegan foods is that they will make you actually full without giving you the false fullness caused by fats. This includes eating enough before you go somewhere where these foods will be offered to you. Because they will be. They’ll be right there smiling at you on pretty trays. But you are strong! Making yourself a smoothie in the morning to carry around every time someone mentions cake is a good way of doing it. I actually do this. It’s ridiculous.
Find good replacements. Again, I mean good replacements. I’m really not into vegan cheese and butter. You can put on the cheese costume and dance around and say “I’m cheese!” but I’m never going to believe you’re really cheese. What I do like, though, is Trader Joe’s brand Frozen Coconut Dessert. I get that “frozen coconut dessert” doesn’t sound like as much fun as ice cream but it is pretty delicious. Look for the replacements that are prepared convincingly with readable ingredients (“vegan” and “healthy” are not necessarily the same thing).
I won’t have a balanced diet.
Wrong! Sort of. You can get all the nutrients you need without animal products. The issue is, you might not. It becomes more difficult to balance your diet, especially if you, like most others, are really accustomed to gaining nutrients through an animal-based diet. There are really healthy vegans and vegetarians, and then there’s my brother circa 2004, who decided to be a vegetarian for a year and ate bean and cheese burritos religiously.
How to attack this:
Do your research. One helpful resource that Lettuceboy found me (he’s starting to love the alias I’m sure) is http://cronometer.com/, which keeps track of all the food you’re inputting. You make a personal profile that can include your height, weight, dietary preferences, and exercise routines, and you input the food you consume. It converts all that into helpful, personalized health information.
Plan ahead. Give yourself enough time to buy, prepare, and eat the right things. What I’ve noticed about my vegan diet is that it takes a little more time to do all of those fooding things, and it’s easy to say “uhhh… pretzels are vegan!” When you’re running to class. Also, packing lunches and whatnot might be nerdy but it can be done with style, and will probably keep you from being unbalanced/unhealthy.
I don’t want to be annoying to people I hang out with. Literally no one wants me to be a vegan.
Here lies the nose piercing issue. But, like my nose ring, it really shouldn’t directly affect your friends and family. And as for the second thing: wrong again! There are people who want you to be a vegan. They just might not be your friends… or your family… or anyone you know.
How to combat this:
Don’t be pretentious or invasive. There are ways of sharing ideas, even ones you feel strongly about, without coming off like that guy standing outside of the movie theatre with pamphlets about how to bring Jesus into your life.
Let them know you’re having a positive experience. They’re probably just worried about your health. But also, if you’re not having a positive experience, pay attention and have an open mind.
Find the believers! Every vegan out there wants you to also be a vegan, they’re like religious people. The food blogs I’ve mentioned before as well as www.vegansociety.com are places to find resources and communicate so you don’t feel like a kook.
I won’t be able to eat out, and it’s just not convenient in general.
It may not be convenient to be healthy, but it is always healthy to be healthy. Again, I’m not saying “vegan” and “healthy” are the same thing, but if you are going vegan for your own health, you know it’s worth the extra work. As for eating out, the task may seem more impossible.
How to attack this:
Look (ahead) for the right dining-out options. Though a lot of your favorites may have you saying, “I’ll have the water.” There are a lot of solid restaurants that have vegan options. Panera Bread, for example, is a beautiful glorious magical place that has a section of their website dedicated to their vegan menu options. Also, a lot of Thai and Indian food restaurants will have a lot of inherently vegan menu options. You may just have to look ahead online or call before arriving.
Plan. Again, fooding vegan is difficult and time consuming. There’s a lot of chopping, processing, and chewing involved. Give yourself the time to do all of those things because they’re important.
It’s kind of extreme.
I mean, yeah. It is. If you’re feeling like you can’t do it, remember there is a middle ground. It can be overwhelming to read all the different dietary options and opinions, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make changes. Baby steps. Don’t feel obligated to give everything up at once, and don’t feel like every decision you make is permanent. Focus on the things you add rather than the things you subtract. This is true for any diet change. Also, doing what I did and committing to a small period of time is a non extreme way of going about an extreme change. I am beginning to feel a strong sense of empowerment from knowing that I am taking control over this aspect of my life, and I can tell you quite honestly that it has been worth the sacrifices.
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