I’m On A Plant Based Diet

I recently ran into an old friend this past weekend who I knew to be a hardcore vegan. The first thing you need to know about vegans is, never ask them if they are still vegan. It’s insulting like if we are going through some phase in our lives.

From one vegan to another that question does not come off as bad. So I asked him, how’s the vegan lifestyle treating you? His reply caught me off guard, but it made sense to me. Apparently he now classifies himself as a plant-based dieter and the reason being he was tired of the sideways looks he received when the vegan thing came up.

I started thinking about this over the last couple of days and thought it was a good idea. After all plant-based sounds so much nicer than vegan. There are however two opinions to this plant based vs. vegan tag. You could take the “I don’t give a shit what they think stance”. But I think that’s the negative reaction that all non-vegans think about vegans. At the end as a vegan aren’t you trying to educate the people around you about the vegan movement? Taking the negative stance is what gives vegans a bad name.

I find that people are curious, I often get the reaction “Wow, that seems so hard to do”. The negative vegan reaction to that is “Well killing animals is a negative thing to do”. It’s the reactions like this that give vegans a bad name. Instead, your reaction should come from an educational standpoint.

What my friend finds now when he replies with the plant based answer is the vegan tag is no longer an issue, and he gets to focus on the positive and he finds that more people are open to the thought of going vegan.

I’ve always like the plant based label; it gives you the opportunity to have a conversation that is more educational than trying to defend yourself for the next 10 minutes. I think people are more open to the idea of changing their diets this way. As opposed to tagging them as vegan and have all the negative baggage that they think might come along with it.

Just some thoughts.