To ask why you aren’t vegan

[Whereisthecoffee]

I’m not vegan , I know it’s good for the planet kinder to animals etc but it’s something I just can’t seem to get to grips with. I’ve been thinking about starting vegan January but I’m not sure. Thinking about my choices and it’s prevalence in the media has made me curious about others so tell me why aren’t you vegan? I think my main reason is convenience.

@FixedIdeal we buy it in steaks/ rashers from a company named Sgaia but he has also planned on making his own so I bought some viral wheat gluten too, all from a health food shop by my work.

But to get it really cheap it often comes tinned in Asian supermarkets, sometimes listed as “mock duck”.

Malnutrition and eating disorders

Oh if only.

As I said I am probably 90% vegan. And have a BMI of 37

The only eggs I eat are from friend who brings them round occasionally. Excess from her own chickens.

I am not keen on eggs but ds makes me a really nice cheese omelette.
Vegan cheese and only found one brand that is nice, tastes a bit like Edam.
I don't actually buy any non vegan foods.

I usually have chillies or stews.

Do you think if I went totally vegan and cut out the 4 eggs I eat each month I would suddenly become malnourished and the weight would drop off me.

@beefybb if you start a thread for support on mumsnet’s vegan board we can give you some suggestions and help

I’m not vegan because I choose not to be. I like eating animal derived products, meat etc... that’s it.

@ReflectentMonatomism
So do you think that Greenpeace is somehow representative of the planet???
They are an organization which you have discovered has acted ignobly. Correct?
And your response is to ditch every effort to save the planet from climate change?
Baffling. Very strange logic.

You sure it is not just because you like eating meat and cheese?
Because I would understand that.
Just to be clear, Greenpeace does not represent me or anything I believe in, which does include, doing my best to save the planet.

I don't believe that the environmental argument is quite as clear cut as some people think, and I would love to see a genuinely independent assessment of it.

We would still need agriculture even if the whole world population was vegan. There would be the same constant demand for water and risk of soil damage and fertilisers. Not all land is suitable for growing crops.

There are other environmental factors, for example, most of the almonds that are consumed globally are grown in California. The mechanised harvesting has caused a huge problem with lack of biodiversity, and then you have to add on the food miles on top of that.

Not being funny, but vegetarians and vegans do expel more methane than omnivores. Not nearly as much as cows, but it still has to be taken into account, especially if everyone was vegan.

Vegans don’t have to take supplements

Maybe not, but even the Vegan Society recommends, and even promotes its own dietary supplements, and warns of the potential risks of missing out on some vital minerals and vitamins.

So do lots of companies, health food shops, body builders, fitness fanatics, there’s a supplement for everything. It’s not a need if you have a healthy diet, meat based or plant based

I was vegetarian for 5 years in my teens but now I love meat and cheese. I do have none meat days though and vary my diet.

The Vegan Society currently have a dilemma, because eating Vegan is not in and of itself healthy. If you only ate chips you would be vegan but you would not be getting all the nutrients you needed, clearly. Many vegans are lazy just like everybody else can be and may eat bread and peanut butter a few particularly busy days in a row. So how does the Vegan Society package a campaign that says being a vegan per se is not healthy, but being a HEALTHY vegan is healthy. Not a terribly punchy catch phrase.
I hope this goes some way to explaining why the Vegan Society probably advertises its own supplements.
I heard their communication officer talk in a conference very recently where she raised this campaign dilemma.

I love cheese, cake and meat. I live with my veggie fiance and can't be arsed cooking separate meals so I'm already 90% veggie, I couldn't give up eggs, milk and cheese too. Also mum would implode she finds coomomg for a veggie hard enough when we visit a vegan would kill her

I am vegan after being vegetarian for over 25 years. I do t want my body to be a graveyard for dead tortured animals. Their life is worth more than 5 minutes on my tastebuds. No farm animals are treated kindly or with respect. They all end up in the slaughterhouse. I'm reading all of the reasons (excuses) for eating meat, and I wonder if you had to cut the animals throat yourself and skin it would it make you hungry? Eating meat and dairy is the number one cause of the planet going to pot and it isn't sustainable. I like to think I am doing my bit to save he planet and stop the unnecessary torture and slaughter of beautiful sentient beings.

I know this is a question asking why you aren't vegan, but I'm going to slide in here quickly. I ate meat for 19 years, and now I am vegan. Quite simply, I am glad that I am vegan and would never go back. I feel better health wise personally, and I am happy knowing that I don't contribute to the harm and suffering of animals. No judging here, that's just my reason. If anyone felt like trying the vegan life style, that's awesome. But I and lots of other vegans understand that it is very difficult to make a sudden change like that. So even if you cut out different things slowly, that is making a difference. Trust me. Ignore the shitty vegans that shame people for not being vegan. That's not going to solve a thing and being so negative probably just scares people off. I used to love my meat, and I laughed even at vegetarians. Now I'm a full on vegan and it's awesome. Plus, I've found some great substitutes for the non-vegan foods I used to eat so now it feels like I don't miss out on much at all. As you may have noticed too, vegan food is hitting the shelves rapidly and they're saying 2019 is going to be a big year for veganism. It's becoming a lot easier for people who want to transition now. Here I said I'd make this quick but I don't think I have... whoops. Have a good one. :D

If we were all vegan, our countryside would be devoid of lambs/sheep, calves/cows.....

And furthermore, all of the grains fed to livestock could feed the whole human race 3 times over, so if everyone was vegan it would eradicate world hunger...

Seriously? Slaughtering animals is ok because they make the countryside look nice for their short lives?!

we have days where we eat veggie and sometimes even vegan in our house but I couldn’t do it every day. I like meat and though I agree we don’t need as much of it I couldn’t give it up completely and even if I could I couldn’t give up cheese and eggs. I love veg omelettes for breakfast and I really love cheese. All the vegan cheeses I’ve tried have been more expensive and tasted terrible. I’m helping the planet by recycling, thinking about what I buy and whether I need to buy it and reducing the amount of meat I buy. There are vegan foods I’ve tried that are nice and loads of vegetarian food I’ve had that’s lovely but a lot of it requires quite a lot more time to make and I’m really a useless cook. I can bake cakes but ask me to make dinner and it will be one of the about 8 meals I know how to make of it will be a colossal failure.

Just a question for the vegans saying no meat eater cares about animals; what would you feed your dogs? RAW feeding is meant to be better for them in many ways. Should the dogs and cats be eating veg? [Hmm]

The 'slaughter it yourself' argument is particularly thin. For most of human history we have done it or intimately known it and it doesnt change the fact we have had no vegan societies anywhere, ever.

Yup, i kill stuff myself, bring them into the world, look them in the eye every day and yet i still have no problem with eating animals. I used to be vegetarian but i dropped it when extensive practical and academic research showed sustainability of a plant only existence was low/impossible. These days i am at ease with my place in the food chain.

My cats ate meat, as did my dog. I know dogs can be vegan but I took on the responsibility of looking after them so I fed them the best diet I could which was meat based. Humans don’t need meat though which is why I can choose to be vegan.

I have chosen to eat less meat and animal products. Because I enjoy meat, cheese etc and I quite passionately know that we have evolved to eat meat and animal products. However - I have drastically reduced because it’s good for the planet and I source meat from a local butcher that will tell you exactly where each animal has come from and you can visit the farms.

I'm veggie with a nut intolerance. Veggie since 1995 and I like my chocolate and cheese and I have no desire to be vegan. I'm not into animal rights or anything or environmentalism. If it's your decision fine but what I hate is those who ran it down everyone else's throats,the veganazis.

@OnlineAlienator there are literally thousands of people around the globe who find veganism wholly sustainable. Meat and dairy is the number one cause of heart disease and high cholesterol. NOT eating a plant based diet is not sustainable for the existence of our planet as we know it.

Because cheese is too nice to give up. I am vegetarian, and used to think about going vegan; I know the pros but I like cheese and eggs.

If you want to try then give vegan January a go and take it from there, or just eat more vegan meals.

It’s the Daily Mail, but still...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6524781/The-restricted-vegan-diet-couple-fed-infant-daughter-plead-guilty-causing-rickets.html

Actually there are vegan societies.

If I remember rightly there is an island in Japan which is vegan. They are the oldest people in the world.

It was a programme about the oldest populations world wide.

All bar one were vegetarian/vegan.

The one that was meat eating it was genetic. It was a family in Italy.

The ones in Japan were still out and about and healthy well into their 100s