Vegans are you really a vegan?
Grimmerick
Posts: 3,342 Member
Or do you just eat that way. I find so many people a rigid over the title of Vegan that it got me thinking. All the Vegans on this site, are you really vegan? Or do you just eat a vegan diet? To truly be a vegan, it takes so much more dedication and work than what you just put in your mouth. It's what you wear, what you clean with, brush your teeth with, What products you use and how they came about. If you use something that effected an animal negatively then technically speaking you are not a true vegan. This is a very very hard thing to do and a difficult way to live for most of us. So I ask you are you really a vegan? Or do you just eat that way?
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Or do you just eat that way. I find so many people a rigid over the title of Vegan that it got me thinking. All the Vegans on this sight, are you really vegan? Or do you just eat a vegan diet? To truly be a vegan, it takes so much more dedication and work that what you just put in your mouth. It's what you wear, what you clean with, brush your teeth with, What products you use and how they came about. If you use something that effected an animal negatively then technically speaking you are not a true vegan. This is a very very hard thing to do and a difficult way to live for most of us. So I ask you are you really a vegan? Or do you just eat that way?
I just eat that way. I watched a few documentaries that opened my eyes to the healthy benefits of a plant based diet. I cut out eggs, dairy, and meat. But I still use honey. And I still wear/use items that may be derived from animals. I can understand one's ethical reasoning for being a Vegan, but I just think it's a little extreme. You can choose to eat farm raised meat vs factories because lets be honest, animals kill to eat in nature. For me, I just saw how high dairy and meat is causing health problems in the western diet so I just cut out those food groups.1 -
are you the vegan police?
I'm assuming most vegans that are vegan for ethical reasons do follow the complete vegan lifestyle, I know myself and my friends do our best to.
I don't believe that you're vegan unless you're doing it for ethical reasons, the definition of vegan is about ending animal suffering, so if you don't care about that then you're probably not really vegan....technically.0 -
I just see so many arguments on here and vegans that get upset when someone says they are veganish or kind of eat vegan that I really want them to stop and think......are they really vegan or do they just eat that way, so maybe they will be more forgiving to someone that says they are trying to eat vegan or kind of do, you know.
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are you the vegan police?
I'm assuming most vegans that are vegan for ethical reasons do follow the complete vegan lifestyle, I know myself and my friends do our best to.
I don't believe that you're vegan unless you're doing it for ethical reasons, the definition of vegan is about ending animal suffering, so if you don't care about that then you're probably not really vegan....technically.
lol yeah I'm a vegan marshall ma'am, hence the hat and awesome vest. Just left my badge at home
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personally I think every bit helps so I try not to be a brat, but it does start to get a little confusing to people when words are used incorrectly.
it's like when people that eat fish call themselves vegetarians....it confuses people...I can't tell you how many people ask if I eat fish because they know so many vegetarians that eat fish. FISH IS AN ANIMAL!!! don't call yourself something that you're not, I don't know why people get so hung up on wanting to call themselves something that they aren't,1 -
are you the vegan police?
I'm assuming most vegans that are vegan for ethical reasons do follow the complete vegan lifestyle, I know myself and my friends do our best to.
I don't believe that you're vegan unless you're doing it for ethical reasons, the definition of vegan is about ending animal suffering, so if you don't care about that then you're probably not really vegan....technically.
lol yeah I'm a vegan marshall ma'am, hence the hat and awesome vest. Just left my badge at home
Awesome. 0 -
I just see so many arguments on here and vegans that get upset when someone says they are veganish or kind of eat vegan that I really want them to stop and think......are they really vegan or do they just eat that way, so maybe they will be more forgiving to someone that says they are trying to eat vegan or kind of do, you know.
Yeah I guess upon looking it up I could classify myself as implementing 'Veganism' because it's diet based. Vegan is defined as restricting from all animal derived products. But i'm not dieting, it's a lifestyle change. There will always be animosity to things that people don't educate themselves in, but then choose to have an opinion. That's society, I don't let it bother me.0 -
I just see so many arguments on here and vegans that get upset when someone says they are veganish or kind of eat vegan that I really want them to stop and think......are they really vegan or do they just eat that way, so maybe they will be more forgiving to someone that says they are trying to eat vegan or kind of do, you know.
Yeah I guess upon looking it up I could classify myself as implementing 'Veganism' because it's diet based. Vegan is defined as restricting from all animal derived products. But i'm not dieting, it's a lifestyle change. There will always be animosity to things that people don't educate themselves in, but then choose to have an opinion. That's society, I don't let it bother me.
If I were you I would say I followed a plant based diet, or just I have a vegan diet. I probably wouldn't say I'm vegan, just because that single word implies so much more to me.
that's just my thinking though.0 -
personally I think every bit helps so I try not to be a brat, but it does start to get a little confusing to people when words are used incorrectly.
it's like when people that eat fish call themselves vegetarians....it confuses people...I can't tell you how many people ask if I eat fish because they know so many vegetarians that eat fish. FISH IS AN ANIMAL!!! don't call yourself something that you're not, I don't know why people get so hung up on wanting to call themselves something that they aren't,
I think when anyone has a special diet people tend to be confused because not everyone takes it completely literal. There are strict vegetarians/vegans, and then one's that choose this diet for the majority but not always. It's all confusing, paleo, clean eating, vegan, vegetarian, medetraninan, so many people define them all in different ways or tweak them to their own lives.0 -
personally I think every bit helps so I try not to be a brat, but it does start to get a little confusing to people when words are used incorrectly.
it's like when people that eat fish call themselves vegetarians....it confuses people...I can't tell you how many people ask if I eat fish because they know so many vegetarians that eat fish. FISH IS AN ANIMAL!!! don't call yourself something that you're not, I don't know why people get so hung up on wanting to call themselves something that they aren't,
I think when anyone has a special diet people tend to be confused because not everyone takes it completely literal. There are strict vegetarians/vegans, and then one's that choose this diet for the majority but not always. It's all confusing, paleo, clean eating, vegan, vegetarian, medetraninan, so many people define them all in different ways or tweak them to their own lives.
Which is why I think it's important for everyone to use correct terms when referring to how they eat. Otherwise you'll have some waiter bringing a celiac something with wheat, because they knew of one person that said they had the disease but they still ate wheat once in a while....
it's just a pet peeve I have.1 -
I just see so many arguments on here and vegans that get upset when someone says they are veganish or kind of eat vegan that I really want them to stop and think......are they really vegan or do they just eat that way, so maybe they will be more forgiving to someone that says they are trying to eat vegan or kind of do, you know.
Yeah I guess upon looking it up I could classify myself as implementing 'Veganism' because it's diet based. Vegan is defined as restricting from all animal derived products. But i'm not dieting, it's a lifestyle change. There will always be animosity to things that people don't educate themselves in, but then choose to have an opinion. That's society, I don't let it bother me.
If I were you I would say I followed a plant based diet, or just I have a vegan diet. I probably wouldn't say I'm vegan, just because that single word implies so much more to me.
that's just my thinking though.
Yes I agree, it is more plant based. But on the other hand I educated myself on the way animals are raised just to be slaughtered and pumped up with hormones in an overflowing chicken coop and can't even move because their legs can't hold up their breasts. So I would have to say that it was somewhat my decision to not eat meat because of that, but a large part was because of the unbelievable health problems from Americans (mainly) consuming massive amounts of. It could go so many ways.0 -
I am just blown away that anyone would place so much importance on what word someone uses to describe their eating. I mean, seriously. First world problems or what.1
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Like I said, it's really about just making things easier, that way someone that can't eat something, or won't, won't get fed it on accident.
Words are important regardless of the situation.1 -
also regarding your "first world" comment, having the option to be vegan in a lot of scenarios is an option of privilege. Sometimes you just have to eat what you can get.1
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I follow a vegan diet and do my best with the rest. No leather, silk, wool, etc. Hygiene, cosmetics, household cleansers all vegan. Is my computer technically vegan? Probably not. The flip side of that is the only way to avoid any animal products is to go and live as a hermit and grow my own food and take care to not injure any insects while doing that. That's great, but all the animals I've been able to have over a lifetime, each a rescue from a shelter or a stray, would probably consider that to be the "less vegan" thing to do. I am able to do more to help animals by not being a hermit. I don't like how many products are made with animal byproducts, but I am comforted in knowing that it's likely that animals are killed primarily for food and the byproducts are purchased for things like computer parts or whatnot. I don't have control over the whole world, so I control what I can. (If a vegan option exists, I buy that, basically.)
If someone said, "I don't kill animals" accidentally hit a squirrel with their car, I'd let them keep the "I don't kill animals" descriptor.
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I am neither vegan or vegetarian. I did follow vegetarian diet for a short awhile. I was always under the impression that the term "vegan" implied more than just about what you do or don't eat. It is about an ethical philosophy as well. Technically, a "vegan diet" is vegetarian. Some vegetarians are less strict than others and often use different terms, like ovo, lacto, etc.
I guess I can see where an ethical vegan would be coming from when they get upset someone uses the term "vegan" who is following a "vegan diet" or describes themself as "partially vegan". I don't really get why you have to define your diet that way if you don't really follow the whole philosophy of it. Just my opinion, like I said, I don't have a horse in this race.
I also understand the problem with incorrect labelling which can cause confusion in things like food service and such.0 -
When I was a vegan I used to get really mad at people that misused the word. They had no idea the sacrifice and commitment that went into living vegan. Even claiming to be a vegetarian, the poor step brother of committed vegans, was insulting as they drank their milk and ate their eggs.
I was mad.
All the time.
You have no idea what it takes to be a vegan and you will never have the willpower to become one.
It was only years later after I started eating food again that I realized why I was so mad about the labels people put on their diet... I was mad because being a vegan made me miserable and for anyone to claim they too were a vegan without suffering as I did was a personal insult to my own ridiculous dietary choices.
I'm cured now. There's hope for everyone out there that is still suffering like I was. A rack of ribs will fix you right up and thereafter the word vegan will no longer spark your rage.1 -
I am just blown away that anyone would place so much importance on what word someone uses to describe their eating. I mean, seriously. First world problems or what.
Right?0 -
I am just blown away that anyone would place so much importance on what word someone uses to describe their eating. I mean, seriously. First world problems or what.
Right?
I don't know, I am a fan of meanings and definitions. But I'm wierd like that. :laugh:
I don't really get the insistance of describing yourself as something you are not.
Also, vegan is about more than just what you eat.0 -
When I was a vegan I used to get really mad at people that misused the word. They had no idea the sacrifice and commitment that went into living vegan. Even claiming to be a vegetarian, the poor step brother of committed vegans, was insulting as they drank their milk and ate their eggs.
I was mad.
All the time.
You have no idea what it takes to be a vegan and you will never have the willpower to become one.
It was only years later after I started eating food again that I realized why I was so mad about the labels people put on their diet... I was mad because being a vegan made me miserable and for anyone to claim they too were a vegan without suffering as I did was a personal insult to my own ridiculous dietary choices.
I'm cured now. There's hope for everyone out there that is still suffering like I was. A rack of ribs will fix you right up and thereafter the word vegan will no longer spark your rage.
Is this what they call "Rib Rage"? My fear of tofu and other mysterious vegan-friendly foods was born in 1973, when Charlton Heston uttered the fateful words, "Soylent Green is PEOPLE!"0 -
Wow sego glad you're happy now! I'm pretty happy myself...without eating the ribs. 0
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If you don't understand you don't understand and whatever, that means you're probably not vegan and you don't have to be. Whatever you know? Do what you feel is right. Bottom line is when people misuse words it makes it more difficult on the people that need the words to easily explain their lifestyle provided they need to, such as in a restaurant.
How complicated is that?0 -
I'm more irritated that now that I'm vegan people stop telling me good jokes, I have to hear the same damn jokes over and over. Bums me out.0
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When I was a vegan I used to get really mad at people that misused the word. They had no idea the sacrifice and commitment that went into living vegan. Even claiming to be a vegetarian, the poor step brother of committed vegans, was insulting as they drank their milk and ate their eggs.
I was mad.
All the time.
You have no idea what it takes to be a vegan and you will never have the willpower to become one.
It was only years later after I started eating food again that I realized why I was so mad about the labels people put on their diet... I was mad because being a vegan made me miserable and for anyone to claim they too were a vegan without suffering as I did was a personal insult to my own ridiculous dietary choices.
I'm cured now. There's hope for everyone out there that is still suffering like I was. A rack of ribs will fix you right up and thereafter the word vegan will no longer spark your rage.
Aw man, I just spit all over my keyboard. Thanks :brokenheart:0 -
Wow sego glad you're happy now! I'm pretty happy myself...without eating the ribs.
I am so much happier now thanks. Every Time I ate a bowl of rice and veggies, every bite I took, I had to endure that song from the Chilis commercials playing in my head:
"I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs..."
For five years straight.
It surprises me that the whole "True Vegan" thing is still going on as an argument in this world. What someone puts in their mouth is pretty much up to them. It's only really vegans that seem to think they are elevated above others just because they don't want to butcher a living animal, cook it up, slather it with bbq sauce and put it in their bellies.0 -
you're right, it is up to the person. What one person eats is their business, no one is better than anyone else, everyone just needs to do what makes them feel most comfortable. which is why i'm vegan.
take care, enjoy your ribs.0 -
Yea, that's a pescatarian.personally I think every bit helps so I try not to be a brat, but it does start to get a little confusing to people when words are used incorrectly.
it's like when people that eat fish call themselves vegetarians....it confuses people...I can't tell you how many people ask if I eat fish because they know so many vegetarians that eat fish. FISH IS AN ANIMAL!!! don't call yourself something that you're not, I don't know why people get so hung up on wanting to call themselves something that they aren't,0 -
I think often people use the term to make a conversation simpler. It is easier to say "I am vegan" rather than explaining what you do and don't eat. I get it that there's a lot that goes into being vegan. I am a vegetarian and I do not eat eggs or drink cow's milk also. When I tell people I am a vegetarian I often have people say "but you eat fish right?" I politely explain that I don't and that's usually the end of it. Try not to take it too personally if someone says they are vegan and they aren't strictly following it. Maybe they are working towards eliminating everything and just haven't gotten there yet.0
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Well, there is a difference between ethical veganism and dietary veganism. When you happen to talk to vegetarian or vegan people, it's easy to know if they're doing that because of ethical reasons or just because it's their diet. It's not so uncommon to follow a vegan eating plan nowadays, so if you're interested in that, better asking to the ones you're speaking with - I've honestly met so many vegetarian and vegan people that they almost used to have all slightly different thoughts about the matter! Most of them usually cared about animal welfare, but it's not my business to judge anyone if they're not interested in that.0
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