5 Top Questions People Will Ask You If You Are Vegan
The best, and worst, part about being vegan is all the questions people ask. The reason why I say the best and worst is because these questions can be both an excellent opportunity to educate people about your lifestyle choice, inspire them to make the switch or it can be frustrating to hear the same questions over and over again.
Think about when you first became a vegan. Did you go on a rampage of hoping to tell people all about the animal cruelty that happens and make others feel bad about their food choices like I did? I posted animal cruelty videos on Facebook constantly and always had people complaining to me about it...and I don't blame them. Watching those videos is not the most heart warming thing; however, I thought I was educating people. In fact what was happening was the opposite. People began to shut down and become resistant to the information I was trying to give to them.
I soon realized the best thing I could do was just live life my way and hope to inspire people by being a role model and provide information to someone if they asked.
Here are some questions you can look forward to answering when you become a vegan:
1) The number one most common question most vegans get is, “where do you get
your protein?” The cool thing about this question is that is a prime opportunity to educate people about nutrition.
Protein is in every living cell, which means that any whole food whether it’s an animal product or plant-based product contains protein. Many people worry that vegans do not get enough complete protein; however, many plant-based foods are complete. Complete protein foods include:
Soy
Quinoa
Buckwheat
A combination of rice and beans
Other sources of protein include:
Beans
Nuts
Tofu
Tempeh
Dark leafy greens
Studies show that plant-based protein is 75% usable by the body whereas animal protein is only 25% usable. This means there is much less waste produced by eating plant-foods making it easier for digestion and elimination.
The main issue I have with this question is that while everyone is so concerned about getting enough protein they are cutting out complex carbohydrates; thinking that carbs are bad. However, an active person requires 6-10 grams per kilogram of body weight of carbohydrates and online 0.8 – 1.2 grams per kilogram of protein. Seems to me we should be asking people where they’re getting carbohydrates.
2) “Isn’t it hard to be vegan?” This is a question I find funny now. It is so easy to be vegan, non-vegans can hardly comprehend the simplicity of it. It is easier to make a quick salad than prepare a steak dinner. Many cookbooks exist that have easy-to-make and delicious recipes that make the switch easy.
If you are new to making the switch they key is to go easy on yourself. You may not be perfect all the time but by doing the best you can you are enhancing your health, saving the animals and the earth.
3) “Don’t you miss the taste of meat?” This question is usually followed by, “I could never give up meat I like the taste of it too much.” For those of us who really love animals this questions can make our heart ache; however, avoid the temptation to go into a long speech about animal cruelty. This will only make things worse.
Simply respond by letting the person know that there are many delicious meat alternatives available on the market. Perhaps even tell them some of your favorites. Mine include Gardein brand meat alternatives such as the ‘hamburgers’, ‘chicken burgers’ and ‘fish sticks’.
4) “What would happen to all the animal if we stopped eating them?” Of course, the entire world will not go vegan over night so in time the numbers of animals raised for food will slowly decline. As the number of factory farms decline and as the destruction of land and rain forests for farming decreases wildlife populations will recover.
5) “What’s wrong with eggs and dairy? These animals don’t have to be slaughtered.” Although it is true these animals are kept alive in order to collect these products the living conditions for these animals is inhumane. Cows are artificially inseminated and their babies ripped away from them as soon as they are born so their milk can be collected. This means the babies are shipped off to small crates to be raised for veal or slaughtered.
Chickens are kept in small cages, or if they are “free-range” they still don’t have much room to move since there are thousands of chickens in one barn. Baby chicks when born are separated by gender. The females are kept to lay eggs and the males are ground up alive and often fed to other animals.
Have fun, educate and inspire people by becoming a role model who lives a compassionate and healthy lifestyle!
Wishing you healthy abundance!
Rachel
