Smells Like Green Spirit

There is, I’m sure, an endless supply of information floating around about the health benefits of veganism. I’m also sure that there is plenty of info about how the animals involved in the food industry are treated. There is some debate as to how healthy a vegan diet is, but if done right it can be of great benefit to one’s overall well-being.

But Lulu, and I’m sure many of her loyal readers, already knows most of this or at least enough to know that a vegan diet is beneficial. The problem that arises most often is maintaining the diet over a long period. This is the problem I’m going to try to address.

I became a vegetarian in 1993. Then in 1995 I changed to a vegan diet. I have followed it for the most part ever since. I would say that the majority of people that I’ve met in that time have come and gone from the veg diet. I’ve even known some militant vegans who conspired to perform terrorist activities towards animal testing facilities and meat factories, protesting violently anywhere they could get some people together. A year later they were eating meat again.

Obviously some people get behind these causes as a fad or to be a part of the “scene,” but even for the dedicated veg it can be hard to stay the course. Whenever someone asks me about it or for advice, i try to explain to them that it’s more important to do what you can rather than to try to stay vegan or vegetarian at all costs. One doesn’t have to prove themselves to anyone. There aren’t vegan police (really) to “bust” you every time you “break the law.” You set the pace that you are comfortable with. If you want to be vegan but can’t maintain it, maybe just say, “I’m going to try to eat as many vegan meals as i can this week.” Just doing little things like that can make changes in the long run.

One thing that I (surprisingly) have to remind some vegans about is that throughout history most people have always eaten an omnivorous diet. With modern conveniences and society, many of us now have the luxury of choice and though it seems that maintaining a vegan diet is difficult, it is much easier today than it was even 10 years ago. Even still, it is important to remember that many people in the world do not have such an easy choice. Many Eskimos and island peoples are dependent on fish to survive. People living in desert regions that bear little vegetation are also often dependent on meat as a main source of nutrition.

Keeping that in mind, it’s quite pointless to attack people for eating meat or dairy, etc., but that doesn’t make the cause any less important. I’ve found that encouragement is a much more effective tool than arguing to attract people to a healthier diet. And if they don’t have people yelling at them about how evil they are because there’s a trace of an animal product in the food they’re eating, they’re more likely to stick with it. 

Share This