Source: wYnand!
I know many vegans….that have stopped being vegan. The reasons tend to differ, but the root causes are more similar. Being vegan is not easy, at least not at first. People who initially adopt a vegan way of life can find it difficult to maintain unless they do a lot of homework and have a ridiculously strong will.
I have been vegetarian (lacto-ovo) for pretty much my entire life (28 years) and vegan for the past 6 or so, with a 1 year break in there somewhere where I went back to eating some dairy and eggs. Despite being vegetarian for so long, going vegan was a challenge. The first month or two was easy, it was the rest of that first year that was hard….since then I occasionally get tempted….but every day those temptations are fewer and farther between.
Since re-committing to a vegan diet a few years ago, I’ve thought a lot about why I decided to go back to my lacto-ovo ways for a short while. If you are considering going vegan (or even vegetarian for that matter) you might want to try to address these in your own life to increase your chances of making the change stick.
Limited Variety
People who first discover veganism will identify a few foods that are easy to make and suitable for them, and eat them over an over. The mentality for a new vegan is often one of subtraction. In other words, it is about taking their existing diet, subtracting all animal products (e.g. cheese-less pizza), and eating more of what is left. This is not a sustainable or healthy approach. Without variety, you will feel like you are missing out and cravings will rear their heads on a regular basis. It is also common for someone who has been vegan for many months or a few years will slip into a routine of eating a very limited set of food.
Solution: Make it a point to explore a wide variety of ethnic cuisines. There are many, South Indian, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern….that have a large amount of vegan (or easy to convert to vegan) food options. If you are lucky enough to live near a city, look for a vegan/vegetarian restaurant and check out their menu. You’ll surely run across a few dishes that you really enjoy and can replicate on your own. There are also a few good vegan cookbooks out there to check out.
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No Support Group
Our peer group has a profound impact on our actions. We all experienced peer pressure as a kid, and it works in adult life as well. If you are the sole vegan in your peer group, you can expect to have lots of pressure (overt or not) pushing against you. In my own experience, I found the majority of my friends to be supportive of my decision, but many would also take the occasional jab at my lifestyle choice. I am good at brushing off these little pokes, but over time they built up.
Solution: For me, I have used the online world to build a support group of folks that has been invaluable in motivating me to stay on the vegan track. I attend some events sponsored by the Seattle Vegan Meetup Group and also frequent the forums at Vegan Bodybuilding.com. For the latter, many of us also meet in person all over the country, at various bodybuilding, fitness or Vegan Vacation events. Don’t go it alone. Find a support group. Check out Meetup.com for a Vegan group in your city, ask your local Vegan Restaurant or Organic Market for pointers, search online for a user community/forum (Facebook or MySpace have many)…..or make up your own support group!
Lack of Compelling Reasons
I wrote an entire post about this, “The Why Matters More Than The How.” It amazes me how people will make radical changes to their life, without really thinking about why they are making the changes. This is not just dietary changes. I see this behavior for people who make changes to their relationships, careers or the places where they live….among other things. It is the reasons that will carry you through when times get tough. Do you know why you decided to go vegan? Was it about the treating animals the way you would want to be treated? Was it about health? Was it about nutrition? Was it because you thought it would be the trendy thing to do?
Solution: Sit down and write a full page about why you are vegan. Don’t write bullet points…write it as if you are a writing a letter to yourself to explain why you are Vegan and how you will feel, act, and live as a result of being a life-long vegan. Get clear about your compelling reasons, and you’ll be able to stand up to peer pressure or your own cravings without trouble.
Poor or No Role Models
We all want someone to look up to. No matter your reason for being Vegan, it will help if you can identify a few role models that have achieved a level of success that you admire. For me, many of my friends at Vegan Bodybuilding.com are role models when it comes to health and fitness. Several of these folks are successful amateur bodybuilders or endurance athletes. Their achievements motivate me and demonstrate that you can be vegan and still be a top athlete.
Solution: Figure out what you are motivated by. Is it health and fitness? Is it success in business? Is it having a loving and successful relationship? Once you’ve gotten clear about these motivations, start paying attention to people in your peer group (or seek them out proactively if you have to) that are vegan and have achieved some level of mastery over these aspects of their life.
Not Being Prepared
If you always had a never ending supply of your favorite gourmet organic vegan foods, it would be easy to stay vegan. If you felt like pizza, you could just eat a vegan pizza. If you wanted chicken, you could eat “mock-meat” chicken made out of veggie protein, etc. If you want ice cream…you could dig into a Soy-based pint of Rocky Road. The problem is, having the right vegan food takes time and preparation. The biggest pressures will come when you are really hungry…and there is no convenient (and tasty) vegan food available. You are going to have cravings…..accept that fact and prepare your kitchen, office, locker, car (wherever you spend time) with great vegan snacks so you don’t feel like you are going without.
Solution: I keep my home, car and office well-stocked with vegan food. In my car I have cashews, granola bars, protein bars, fruit and other things. At work I have trail mix, boxes of sprouts (in our fridge) and fruits. Our work cafeteria also has a lot of vegan options(I am lucky in this regard. At home I have a variety of vegan “junk foods” like veggie burgers, soy hot dogs, frozen vegan pizza, Indian spicy snack mixes and more. I never feel like I am going without or have to starve. It makes it a lot easier to stick with my diet when I have my favorite foods on hand.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the well thought out information! Been vegan for almost 2 years, and your tips are right on the spot.
It’s amazing how many new foods I eat now versus before.
I really appreciated this post! I’ve been vegan for almost 2 years, too, and everything you said was right on.. It’s nice to know that other vegans have felt the same way. I live in a small town in Oklahoma, and it gets hard sometimes.
You should check out veganadam.com.
Have a great day!
Hi Maigan, thanks for checking out my site. I will veganadam.com for sure!
Hi KS,
What are some of your favorite vegan foods?
Ravi
I just wanted to thank you for listing solutions instead of simply the reasons people fail.
Thank you for this encouraging article, I’m sure it will help many folks to ease the transition to becoming vegan. My wife and I have been vegetarian for 14 years and vegan for the past 6. Being veg for a while first really helped us to acclimate well and learn quite a lot. Becoming vegan after that was a cinch, and we’ve never looked back. There are a set of ingredients that I always recommend being stocked in the veg or vegan kitchen to insure total nutrition, in addition to a well balanced diet of fruit, vegetable, nut, seed and bean products of course. They are…
1.Nutritional Yeast (the Red Star VSF variety) – this is a powerhouse of nutrients, and quite tasty to boot.
Great for making all kinds of cheezy sauces, pizzas, pastas, etc.
2.Flax Oil/Flax Meal- the ultimate source of Omega-3’s, as well as great fiber and such. Drizzle on toast, salads, rice & beans dishes, in guacamole dips, hummus, etc.
3.Blackstrap Molasses- one of the highest sources of Iron, Calcium, Potassium and Vitamin A available. Goes great in veg baked beans, on pancakes, waffles, in veg Sloppy Joes, etc.
4.Iodized Sea Salt- provides the very necessary nutrient Iodine, especially for those of us who don’t care for the taste of seaweeds.
Have you read ‘The Omnivores Dilemma’? I just finished it a few weeks ago, and was floored by the expose of the food industry. It’s not a book that prescribes a particular diet, but it’s just really informative about the food industry in the US. Michael Pollan takes 4 different meals, and traces them back to where they came from.
Pollan is also coming to Seattle next week. The 13th at Town Hall and the 14th at Microsoft. He’ll be talking about his new book ‘In Defense of Food’, but it should be good. He wrote an article called Unhappy Meals in the NYTimes if you want a good sample of his new book.
Hey Craig, yup I’ve read that book. It’s a good eye opener. I also really like John Robbins books “Food Revolution” and his latest “Healthy at 100″ that looks at the diets of some of the healthiest ethnic groups on the planet.
I didn’t realize Pollan is coming to Seattle though, I will definitely check his talk out.
thank you so much for the post, i also wanted to add one which i have been finding in my circle, more and more.
i have been vegan 11 years, and began having severe digestive problems about 4 years ago. after going on rotation diets, and several years of testing, i have found i am now intolerant to soy and gluten. the reason this applies to your list, is because my intolerance formed from years of me eating these foods in nearly EVERY meal for 10 years. a little tofu here, an entire loaf of bread there. several of my friends, who have also been vegan from 15-20 years, have developed similar problems, from overdoing these foods.
so here is another reason long-term vegans, too, stop being vegan, and that is after having developed food intolerances. this is for a simple enough reason: food intolerance often develops when we overload our systems with too much of a particular food or food group.
there is a simple solution to this as well. it is SO IMPORTANT to eat all your vegan foods in moderation, and include a lot of variety! PLEASE try to include almond milk or rice milks instead of soy when you can, get creative with portobellos instead of tofu as “steak” in recipes, and try not to do the “default” vegan diet of spaghetti and bread when you’re out and about in restaurants…opt for salads, beans, rice, quinoa, “new” grains, seaweeds, nuts, and as mentioned in this article, often more “ethnic” foods.
so for all you wheat and soy “addicts”, learn to vary your diet! otherwise there is a very real possibility of becoming a vegan, like me, who no longer is able to eat soy or gluten of any kind.
living healthy as a soy and gluten intolerant vegan is very possible, with some creativity, and there are more and more great resources available, but it is very trying at times. and let me tell you, i really miss soy. i really wish i hadn’t overdone it. i ruined a lot of my pleasure in eating. don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of great vegan food which excludes soy and gluten, but some days i would do anything for even some soy sauce, or a vegan candy bar with soy lecithin in it. i can’t have it. it is no walk in the park.
i promise you you can live a much healthier, much more enjoyable, long-term vegan lifestyle for much longer if you learn to appreciate your tofurky sandwiches and tofutti ice cream in smaller, less frequent servings now! then you will be able to enjoy them in the future as well. as for me, i overdid it. now i just have to stare at them at the grocery store.
p.s. i’m a professional vegan pastry chef, who has had many meals of vegan cheesecake and cinnamon buns. now i just have to stare at those, too.
…even in vegan diets, moderation is key!
@ Sally: Thanks for your sincere and well thought comment. You are so right that vegans need to enjoy certain food products in moderation. Too much soy or processed foods can be disaster for a vegan diet.
ive been veg for 6 years, vegan for 4 (im 16) and just this past 2/3 months ive been having skim milk (in coffee) and eating food that likely have animal products in them (cafe muffins, ect ect.)
but im recommitting as of now,
although protien bars (90% of my diet) are hard to find vegan ):