There are so many things we vegans get asked about our lifestyle. So, so many!
There are questions about the diet, the ethics, the community, what to do when this happens, what not to do when that happens, is something vegan etc.
With the internet being quite a large space and you are just too damn tired to spend your next few hours googling all the information on different websites, I figured I could just answer a few common questions here.
I have been vegan for almost 5 years and I pretty much learnt everything about how to do this thing from the web and tons of books. Who better to help my fellow curious pal or gal than myself?
I hope I answered your question, too, but if I haven’t, you can always leave a comment below and I will get back to you. I answer all questions, whether I get them on this blog or on Instagram. I am ready to serve YOU!
So here are 10 questions about veganism answered:
- Is honey vegan?
No, it is not. Honey is not vegan because, in order to get honey, we must basically enslave the bees and take their food away from them. No matter how little honey we believe we take from them, we are still taking something they did not consent to and we are therefore exploiting them. Their food is not ours to take, especially when they work really, really hard for it.
- Are all vegans animal rights activists?
Although there are many amazing vegan activists (like Colleen and Ed), not all vegans want to be like them. That’s absolutely okay, as all vegans are already doing so much to protect their fellow animals. It is your choice and yours alone to decide if you want to speak up on behalf of the innocent. Being a vegan and being an activist are two separate things.
- Where do you get protein, calcium and iron from?
We get most nutrients from plants, same as other animals you eat. Here is a great website that shows you which plants contain what nutrients. It’s easy to get everything you need on a plant-based diet as long as you eat a variety of foods, are mindful of eating enough, and you are taking a B12 supplement. The animals you eat are getting B12 supplements, too, and instead of eating them to get my dose of that vitamin, I just take a pill and I am done with it.
- Why are vegans so angry?
Vegans are angry for the same reason MLK and the suffragettes were angry. Because we are witnessing abuse, slaughter, enslavement and exploitation of innocent beings that have done nothing to deserve it. Most of the time people confuse passion with anger because deep inside they know that vegans are saving other animals from them.
- Do you have to go vegan overnight?
No. It took me, personally, 11 months to transition and usually, going vegan overnight can make things harder and can, therefore, push you into going back to exploiting your fellow animals.
- Should you quit being plant-based if you start feeling sick?
99% of the time the answer is no. So far every problem an ex-vegan (that we see on social media) encountered has been able to be solved on a plant-based diet. I encourage you to watch this video by Dr Garth Davis where he talks about ex-vegans and what went wrong with their diet.
- Why do vegans buy plant-based meats if they don’t want to eat other animals?
Because we didn’t go vegan due to the bad taste of meat and cheese. We went vegan because how these products came on our table was wrong and immoral. I still like the taste and texture of cheese, I just buy a non-dairy one because I don’t miss an animal on my plate – I miss, as I said, the taste and texture.
- Do you have to throw out all products that contain animal skin when you go vegan?
That depends on how comfortable you feel wearing these clothes. Most people just wear them until they are still usable and then replace them with vegan versions. It’s up to you what you’ll do.
- What’s the difference between being plant-based and being vegan?
Veganism is a lifestyle that avoids the exploitation of other animals in all forms (diet, clothing, entertainment etc.) while being plant-based just means you are not eating animal products. All vegans are plant-based but not all people who are plant-based are also vegan.
- Should I feed my companion animals plant-based?
It depends on what species your companion animal is and whether or not a plant-based diet can work for them. Cats are obligate carnivores and require meat to survive, while many dogs can be plant-based and thrive.
Did we cover all the hottest questions about veganism? I think we did.
I wrote about most of these things already and I linked to them in the answer as well (as you probably noticed), but I still encourage you to check my other posts and see for yourself if there are any other things I talked about you had no idea you needed an answer to.
There is only one beginning and as I mentioned so freaking many times, I loved mine.
I loved the transition phase where I was reading all the amazing books, watched all the informative and also heartbreaking videos, learnt about brands that rock my world now, and met so many new amazing individuals that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
if you have more questions about veganism, you can always find me on Instagram and Pinterest.
Tanja
