This unfortunately happens far too often and perhaps you can relate.
I politely say I’m vegan if it becomes appropriate in conversation (like being offered a mini-quiche) and the response is something like: “You’re a vegan? But….. you look really healthy.”
Or, “you don’t look like a vegan.”
Even this from earlier in the week (and birthed this blog post): “you have the clearest eyes of any vegan I’ve seen”. Seriously. A lovely co-worker said that to me and I had no idea how to respond.
Many seem to believe vegans are unhealthy or malnourished or both. Before I made the plunge, I imagined all vegans lived in some glorious green haven of fresh salads, lean bodies, Kale and homemade almond milk. I wanted to join the club! Sadly, it seems this idealistic view is not the norm and most meat eaters (even vegetarians!) think veganism is a one-way street to bad health.
And why is this?
We can only muse, but one thing we do know is that veganism is getting more and more popular. Thanks to our celebrity friends, increased news articles and more and more information: vegan stats are on the rise, especially with young people.
Being vegan has become a cool, idealistic, forward-thinking lifestyle, which is great! Veganism is becoming more accepted, logical and … well …. “cool”. Woo hoo! I’ve never been cool in my life!
We want veganism to be popular and on the rise, right?
Well…. not if all these super cool, forward-thinking vegans are living on chip sandwiches and pasta.
Or two-minute noodles and soy sauce. Or any of the cheapest “non-animal” product going.
Not ideal.
It won’t do much for the cause having lots of new, idealistic vegans living on crap, looking unhealthy and getting sick. When I (rarely) meet a vegan that I feel doesn’t take their health very seriously I want to grab them and say: “PLEASE! Be a healthy vegan!”
Even if you hate cooking, despise fruit and have zero interest in greens, please eat them occasionally. Why? Because you will be doing more to help animals walking around, the picture of health, challenging the idea that we need animal products than you will going about your life looking unwell and letting people continue believing this. “Obviously we need meat – look at that vegan! She looks like she’s gonna collapse!”
Why give anyone an excuse to keep meat on their plate? Show them that veganism provides everything you need and more!
Is it difficult and time consuming and expensive to be healthy? Do you need to draw up charts of vitamins and minerals and supplements? Will you spend all the money you earn on organic produce?
Absolutely not.
In my experience, (someone who lived on a very unhealthy “student” diet during university) I would honestly say that eating vegan is: healthier, EASIER and CHEAPER.
Expense is not an excuse to not go vegan and neither should any health concerns. Fruits and vegetables are cheaper than meat and cutting out animal products will only improve your health, provided you adequately substitute these gaps with fresh, ripe, delicious whole foods and ensure you are eating enough to get sufficient calories.
One of the biggest mistakes people make going vegan is that they do not eat enough. If you are making a vegetable salad, remember that vegetables are incredibly low in calories – make your salad enormous, savour them, pack in the ingredients, include something calorific like avocado, nuts or tahini and make a fantastic dressing. Get in as much of the good stuff to fuel your body and eat until you are satisfied.
If you eat enough, enjoy your food and are one hundred percent positive and happy in what you are doing – you will succeed on this lifestyle. I listen to the experts and recommend supplementing B12 to both vegans AND meat eaters alike. It is a pesky vitamin that all human beings should be aware of – any bacteria we really need and are relying on getting from our severely depleted soil? Yeah – it’s best to supplement!
Also – it’s so important to remember that being healthy is about nurturing every part of ourselves. This means good food, being social, indulging when we want, being in nature, exercising, having time for ourselves and whatever else makes you happy.
The last thing veganism should be is stressful. Eliminating bad foods should make you feel good, helping animals should make you feel great and making a moral and ethical lifestyle choice should make you feel like a superhero. Don’t let the weight of “normalcy”, the pressure from friends or the inconvenience of cafes stress you out. The key to healthy lifestyle is balance.
And smiles. Make sure you smile.
By wearing the vegan label proudly and also living in great health, you are sending the message that exploiting animals is not necessary. It’s not necessary for health, for fashion, for science or for entertainment. To end animal suffering and head into a more sustainable future, we must prove that living without these products is easy and will only help humans thrive.
Show the world why vegan is the best choice by being a walking, talking, thriving example of why it works. It’ll make it easier on the healthy vegans out there.
Oh and harder for the meat eaters 😉
Yes, yes, and yes. 🙂
In our house, a biiiig kale salad is on the menu nearly every day. A bag of kale costs £1 and gives us each two salads. We eat almost exclusively whole foods and our diet is much cheaper than a meat diet! The only thing we don’t eat enough of is fruit, but we eat masses of veg.
Eating healthy is slightly more costly no matter what type of diet, as a meat eater eating lots of fruit and veg will spend more than a meat eater that doesn’t eat fresh produce, and a vegan that only eats oats, potatoes, and carrots will spend less money than one that invests in fresh fruits and vegetables to keep healthy… But processed foods up the bill quite a lot in both cases, making a whole-foods, healthy diet the best option for anyone.
Fantastic post! I went vegan earlier this year (after being vegetarian for over a year), and I happened to listen to a wonderful talk shortly after that really inspired my actions regarding veganism. The long-time vegan man talked about how we need to be fierce vegans, and he really stressed the importance of being as healthy as possible. He spoke of how he had always been a healthy vegan, and he had actually initially switched to it *because* he knew it was the healthiest diet out there. But yeah, he said that in all his discussions with people they could never tell him that veganism was unhealthiest in the slightest because he was always the healthiest one in the room. Let’s all be healthy, fierce vegans!