Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask why you aren’t vegan

999 replies

Whereisthecoffee · 22/12/2018 16:58

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
mortifiedmama · 26/12/2018 09:48

If you could eat the same things without inflicting pain and suffering on animals, why wouldn't you??

But you can't. So that's a silly thing to say! If I could eat fillet steak where a cow did not die, I would, but it doesn't exist.

noodlenosefraggle · 26/12/2018 10:32

squeekums Im not vegan but I think the argument is not to farm any chickens, male or female, not to only breed female chicks for eggs, so the sexing of chicks wouldn't come in to it!

SoyDora · 26/12/2018 10:43

If you could eat the same things without inflicting pain and suffering on animals, why wouldn't you??

But you can’t Confused. You can’t eat steak, or chicken, or lamb, or bacon on a vegan diet. It’s impossible.

Oliversmumsarmy · 26/12/2018 10:49

If you could eat the same things without inflicting pain and suffering on animals, why wouldn't you

No because meat is horrible. I don’t like the smell, the taste or the texture.
Everyone would be salivating over the smell of the Sunday Roast.
I couldn’t understand why because it smelled just awful.

It wasn’t till I was in the presence of a dead body did I connect to what the meat smelled of.

So no absolutely not.

PinkPanther27 · 26/12/2018 11:09

It's very difficult to explain to people who are not listening or are so fixed in their views that they can't listen. I'm going to stop trying for now as you are not understanding what I'm trying to say and the vegan bashers are coming out of the woodwork with the same comments we vegans hear every day thinking that they're being witty and original.
Enjoy Boxing Day everyone 🙂

SoyDora · 26/12/2018 11:24

I’m not vegan bashing PinkPanther27, I just genuinely don’t understand your point. If you could eat exactly the same things without killing animals then fab. But you can’t. I’m just trying to understand what point you’re making.

Ylvamoon · 26/12/2018 12:09

PinkPanther27 - I think you run out of arguments. Nothing wrong with that. I don't mind if you want to share your home with cows, pigs and chicken. I am quite happy sharing mine with my (meat eating) dogs.
The point I try to make is, that food production is not ethical by a long way. And whatever dietary style we adopt, it will have an impact on the environment... animal, plants and humans.

Pickledturnip · 26/12/2018 12:14

I will read the entire thread but I can't see any reason to not be vegan except the taste of meat and dairy?

My main reasons for being vegan are that the planet cannot cope with the strain on it, meat and dairy is linked with cancer/diabetes/heart disease etc, an animal dying for 5 minutes of pleasure whilst I eat is not a good compromise as I am an animal lover.

Since being vegan my health is better - clear skin, bright eyes, no IBS/stomach issues, sleep better, more in touch with my body generally (for example I will crave certain foods such as leafy greens so I think my body is taking care of any deficiencies) Shopping bill reduced, impact on planet reduced, karma a lot better.

Lots of friends have given up dairy/reduced meat a few days a week/given up red meat etc. Every step reduces the demand for what is, essentially, a very cruel product.

necromumda · 26/12/2018 12:17

It's too much hard work. Main truthful reason.

Bowlofbabelfish · 26/12/2018 12:30

I will read the entire thread but I can't see any reason to not be vegan except the taste of meat and dairy?

Well, easier availability of nutrients and the fact that a strict vegan diet will leave you seriously deficient in b12

Patsyanna · 26/12/2018 13:22

PinkPanther27 and Pickledturnip spot on. Thank you both. X

BoswelliaGoldMyrrh · 26/12/2018 14:20

Cushioncovers

Vitamin A. Only found in animal produce. It's possible to get some via betacarotene, but many people are very poor converters of it and end up deficient.

Vitamin B12. Again only found in animal produce. Can be produced synthetically and added to supplements and fortified food, but the fact that it's only found in animal products indicates we're evolved to eat meat primarily. Vegans allege that its ultimate source is the soil... I don't see many of them eating veg with soil still caked on, they eat washed veg like the rest of us Grin Also, that's contingent on there being healthy soil in the first place, which grain based soils destroy... you need to have animals making their "deposits" in the farming system to have healthy top soils. And no, veganic manure systems aren't 1% close to feeding the human population. Deffo not found in seaweeds... it's a pseudo form of B12 that blocks the uptake of the genuine form and leaves you more deficient. Vitamin B12 deficiency is "silent", you're often not aware of it until it's too late and you have entrenched fatigue and unshiftable depression/mental illnesses.

Vitamin D3. Found in grass fed animal products and oily fish. And sunlight on the skin from April to Sept (UK). Actually all people in the UK & similar latitudes should take a supplement, unless you happen to be eating like 1/2 kg of wild salmon a day. It's taken from lanolin in wool, so not vegan (unless genetically modified)

Vitamin K2. Again, only found in animal produce, apart from an obscure Japanese food made from fermented soy beans called nattō. The Japanese themselves have a marmite-y love/hate relationship with it... only a miniscule numbers of westerners will find a taste for it. Vitamin K2 is crucial for working together with vitamin D to shepherd the calcium in the body to where it needs to be... ie in the teeth and bones and not in the soft tissue where it causes heart and vascular disease. Many longer terms vegans have found they have crumbling bones (eg Lierre Keith spine problems) and bad tooth decay, no matter how meticulous they are at dental hygiene. Please please, at least once a month eat some liver, gouda cheese or grass fed butter to get some in your diet. Or at least get some nattō-based supplements to prevent your bones and teeth falling apart.

Heme iron. Much more bioavailable than the plant forms, which come packaged with antinutrients such as oxalates in spinach which block the uptake of the minerals within.

DHA. Only found sufficient amounts in wild caught oily fish and grass fed meat and dairy. There are other Omega 3 fatty acids, but the body is very poor at converting them to DHA. DHA is what your brain needs to build itself and function. Also, the ratio of Omega 3 : Omega 6 is something like 1 : 20 in grain based diets. We need it to be close to 1 : 1 in order to be truly healthy and avoid inflammation. It's impossible to find that on a vegan diet (a few obscure algae-based DHA supplements notwithstanding... they put a few more mg in the diet, but doesn't address the ratio needed). Crucial for brain development in children.

Creatine. Can be produced in small amounts in the liver, so not strictly essential. But not sufficient to provide the optimum amount of energy to muscles. Only found in meat (and manufactured supplements).

Many other nutrients and co-factors that researchers haven't even scratched the surface of that are essential or highly beneficial to health. Vitamin K2 was only discovered relatively recently, although its absence was observed several decades ago... scientists couldn't work out for years what the missing factor was in the diet.

Ethel36 · 26/12/2018 14:42

This thread has made me want to give vegan January another go in the new year!

Mummysharkdodododo · 26/12/2018 15:19

I’d never go vegan, meat tastes too good and a good balanced diet should contain animal products. I know quite a few vegans and without sounding rude they all have a grey look about them. They are very pale and have dark circles around their eyes, they don’t look healthy at all.

I spent the weekend with my friend’s new gf who is vegan, we wasted so much time trying to find anything she could eat, it was exhausting. She wouldn’t eat the garlic bread we bought because it had traces of some animal product (it wasn’t an obvious non vegan ingredient), you’d have thought we were forcing a fillet steak down her neck!! Her behaviour was obsessive, I could understand being like that if you had a nut allergy that could potentially kill you, but doing it by choice is crazy.

NutRoastNancy · 26/12/2018 15:37

The B12 argument..

Ok firstly B12 deficiency is not a vegan problem, it is a human problem. Many non vegans are B12 deficient.

B12 is actually made by bacteria in soil. This is how the animals you eat obtain the B12 that you get from eating them.

One theory is that we used to have a much less ‘clean’ life style up until relatively recently. For example when we used to eat carrots they probably still had a bit of dirt/soil still on them and this is how we got the B12 we need.

It’s unrealistic to think that humans got the majority of B12 from animals throughout history. More likely we got it from living a less hygienic lifestyle.

A lot of animal feed is actually supplemented with B12 as animals intensively farmed lack B12 as well.

If anyone is interested I really recommend VEG1 supplements from the vegan society.

Oliversmumsarmy · 26/12/2018 15:40

BoswelliaGoldMyrrh

Shit I must be falling to bits. I have not eaten meat for 30+ years.

Problem with your list of vitamins is there are many of us walking around with no side effects of not eating meat

Oliversmumsarmy · 26/12/2018 15:43

Also my childhood as a meat eater was blighted by terrible anaemia, skin problems and stomach problems so bad that at one stage I was given a terminal diagnosis. All I remember from my childhood was being ill.

The day I gave up meat was the day I started living

DontFundHate · 26/12/2018 15:46

Because I want to support local farmers

Because a lot of vegans support the spread of false news and false facts, such as the impact environmentally of eating meat, it is not as bad as they make out

Because eating meat can be part of a healthy diet. There is iron in red meat which you just can't get from plants. Oily fish is great for you.

Satsumaeater · 26/12/2018 15:47

I couldn't be vegan because I like dairy too much. When people talk about giving up chocolate or alcohol for Lent (don't bother, life is too short, but that's a different thread) I always think it would far more difficult to give up milk and cheese.

Tea/coffee without milk - yuck

Cereal without milk - double yuck.

Vegetarian yes, vegan no.

calamitycake · 26/12/2018 15:51

Being vegan is a lifestyle choice. I would happily convert if the rest of the household would too but they love meat so that's not going to happen anytime soon. Being the lone vegan in our family would be a pita.

Oliversmumsarmy · 26/12/2018 15:57

There is iron in red meat which you just can't get from plants

Another ridiculous comment.

I have never had an iron tablet in the 30+ years I have been vegetarian.

If iron is only found in meat how do you think I and every other non meat eater is able to walk around

NutRoastNancy · 26/12/2018 16:03

Unfortunately when you obtain your iron from meat you will also consume haem molecules. These have been show to significantly increase your risk if developing bowl cancer.

I would rather get my iron from dark leafy green veg, cashews or kidney beans.

Oliversmumsarmy · 26/12/2018 16:15

I would rather get my iron from dark leafy green veg, cashews or kidney beans

Far tastier too

SoyDora · 26/12/2018 16:17

Far tastier too

In your opinion.

AGHHHH · 26/12/2018 16:20

Far tastier too

😂😂