4 Reasons Why Being a Vegan Sucks!
I have eaten a plant based vegan diet for 6 years. Guess what? I feel great. In fact, being vegan fueled my training all the way to the 2016 Marathon Olympic Trials. If qualifying for Olympic Trials isn’t a testimony for a proper nutrition regiment, I honestly don’t know what is. Side note, I didn’t become a vegan because of athletics. For me being vegan is an environmental and moral decision, not just a dietary one.
Admittedly, some aspects about being a vegan suck. Whenever someone chooses a “path less traveled” scrutiny and questioning follows. Sometimes the questions are fun, but usually I wonder why I am being probed with inspection when people that still drink pop, regularly eat frozen pizza, and indulge in sugary or processed foods are ignored. After a lot of explaining with non-vegans, I have learned that some of the worst parts about being vegan are actually the best parts. Here are 4 reasons why being a vegan sucks:
1. FEWER CHOICES
There are noticeably fewer vegan options at grocery stores and at restaurants. Since vegans represent a small percentage of the consumer market, it is unfortunately the case that vegans will have fewer selections available at any given store. Sure you can find health food or specialty food stores which have a lot more vegan options available, but generally when going shopping vegans will have fewer options at hand.
The produce section and bulk food/grains aisle have most of the selections a vegan will ever need. When it comes to fresh items like potatoes, bananas, and cucumbers, we don't need aisles of choices. In contrast, do Americans really need an entire aisle of cereal options? When I pass the cereal aisle, I usually see 1-3 people blankly staring at the plethora of cereal; boxes and boxes of artificially colored sweet “breakfast food”. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to filter out the unhealthy cereals down to 3 or 5 good choices? Well, being vegan does exactly that! Fewer choices, but BETTER options! I think the number of choices are huge advantage of eating a vegan diet. Same thing goes with the menu items at restaurants. Luckily, living in Portland, almost all restaurants have options for people with dietary specifications. Menus have this cool thing for us vegans, they narrow down the menu and put a “V” by anything vegan. Does that suck becasue I only get a couple selections? I don’t think so! The “V” saves me a lot of time from reading all the pages of a menu and typically the entree choices are really tasty. It feel like someone has pre-selected the entrees I would like ahead of time- kind of a luxury if you ask me.
2. THE HOLIDAYS
As fall is around the corner, here comes the food-centric holidays. Dealing with family can be laced with guilt, because being vegan make you an outlier (usually). From guilt trips, to horribly ignorant arguments, fear, shame and even blackmail, families don’t always have a filter. It definitely sucks, but I can understand why they do what they do. While I cannot speak to all families, most care about the well-being of each other, and often wish for others health and happiness. There is no denying that the large majority of people are perfectly ignorant of the arguments for veganism, and how safe and healthy one can be on a vegan diet. People fear that which they do not understand, and change can be difficult to accept. On top of the general ignorance of the topic, people will often feel their own decisions to eat animals come into question and nobody likes thinking they could possibly be wrong and directly supporting cruelty or hurting the planet.
I am very thankful that my family has embraced by vegan lifestyle. Our holidays are still very traditional, but now several vegan dishes have made their way onto the dining table! Several healthier options during the holidays --- who can argue with that? Also, some of my family member have taken my vegan diet as a “Top Chef” food challenge and creatively tried new recipes that I can eat. I love that my family has been open-minded and that I have been a reason for healthy change during the holidays. *See vegan Thanksgiving meal photo above :)
3. YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO ALL INGREDIENTS
Fact: vegans read the nutritional labels. You think reading the ingredient list is annoying? Sure, it take a little time, but don’t you think it is a little worrisome to be oblivious of the chemicals and un-natural ingredients in the food you eat? It may be annoying to have to pay attention to all ingredients, but I think it is worth every second. Why would you eat something if you don’t know what’s in it? Even better eat items without nutritional label; problem solved! Vegan or not, you should read what ingredients are in your food. Paying attention is a good thing!
4. EXPLAINING YOURSELF
Going out to dinner with new friends or coworkers often leads to many questions and blank stares. Without bringing up veganism, many non-vegans will be curious about a vegan food order and want to know more. Often this curiosity will be short lived, especially if you are vegan for environmental/ethical reasons, as non-vegans will often feel uncomfortable with their food choices and change the subject of conversation to something more safe and fun. My advice is to answer in bread crumbs, giving little bits at a time. If the questioner wants to know more, I will drop a few more morsels and reevaluate the direction of the conversation. The road to veganism is one of many steps; I have learned that I can be the first of many. Being vegan embodies mindfulness: mindfulness of what you put in your mouth, mindfulness of being better for the world, and mindfulness of sharing with others in a non-threatening way. I like to think of every conversation as an opportunity.
In summary, the parts that suck about being vegan are also the best parts! Following a less traveled path has it's challenges, but the challenges are worth is becasue it makes us better people (and the people around us).