Philosophical Vegan Forum

Fayrow wrote: I could not disagree with this more. I went vegan instantly. For two days it was a little difficult because I hadn't properly researched what to eat, but the change in how I felt on the third day was amazing. It was like I was 8 years younger. Once I figured out how to be vegan, it was easy and I couldn't imagine eating animal products again.

If you start vegetarian, you may fall into the trap of adding egg and/or cheese to all things. I see this quite frequently. If you give up all animal products, it's much more rewarding from a moral standpoint. It gives you a bigger sense of satisfaction.

Not everyone's experiences are the same. For you going vegan may have been easy. However for every meat eaters this can be a difficult transition. I like to think of it as coming off of an addiction (for this example I'll use cigarettes.). You don't just stop smoking cigarettes all at once. You little by little smoke less and less each week/month, and eventually will see no need for a dependancy.

dan1073 wrote:You don't just stop smoking cigarettes all at once. You little by little smoke less and less each week/month, and eventually will see no need for a dependancy.

A number of studies have suggested that the "cold turkey" method may be more effective. Although, of course it's hard to control for motivation and purpose.

brimstoneSalad wrote:Although, of course it's hard to control for motivation and purpose.

Right, but this is the precise reason why I wouldn't recommend the "cold turkey" method to people transitioning to vegansim. People are most likely to try this method give up, and then when brought up in conversation by a peer, ends telling them that it's too hard and they shouldn't try it discouraging people.

dan1073 wrote:
Right, but this is the precise reason why I wouldn't recommend the "cold turkey" method to people transitioning to vegansim. People are most likely to try this method give up, and then when brought up in conversation by a peer, ends telling them that it's too hard and they shouldn't try it discouraging people.

I had to wean my son off breastmilk, humans need to wean themselves from cow's breast milk !

It's time for humans to grow up and stop suckling off the tits of other species !

dan1073 wrote: Right, but this is the precise reason why I wouldn't recommend the "cold turkey" method to people transitioning to vegansim. People are most likely to try this method give up, and then when brought up in conversation by a peer, ends telling them that it's too hard and they shouldn't try it discouraging people.

And by telling them to do it gradually, you are implicitly saying that occasionally using animals is okay thereby undermining the vegan argument.

I have a bet that I've made over 20 times. Basically, if you stay strictly vegan for a week and don't cheat, and you don't feel way better, I'll pay $100. No one has ever taken the money. Granted, most switched back to eating meat or vegetarianism, but everyone said that they felt better.

Fayrow wrote: I have a bet that I've made over 20 times. Basically, if you stay strictly vegan for a week and don't cheat, and you don't feel way better, I'll pay $100. No one has ever taken the money. Granted, most switched back to eating meat or vegetarianism, but everyone said that they felt better.

That's awesome.

Can you make a thread about your experiences with this method? It sounds really interesting.

I'm currently turning from vegetarian to vegan, giving up dairy was hard at first but now I'm fine with it. But my problem is that when my friends or family invite me to a restaurant I sometimes only find one or two vegetarian meals if any, and rarely find something vegan (in which case I order something with dairy and later feel bad about it).
I only know 3 fast food restaurants that serve vegan meals where I live (vegans and vegetarians are so rare here), and two of the restaurants' vegan meals taste like sh*t and one tastes good, so I only regularly order from one restaurant and order the same thing. Any suggestions on what I should do? And also please name some globally common restaurants with good vegan foods I can check out. Thanks!

Hi Donald. Happycow.net is great, have you checked there? I'm afraid there aren't many globally common restaurants.

Most of us don't eat out at restaurants much; it's cheaper to prepare food yourself, really.
For food on the go, consider grocery stores to be restaurants. If you pop into one, you can buy fixings for a sandwich pretty easily. There's never really a case where I can't find something to eat at a grocery store that I can prepare quickly. Most grocery stores also have microwaves.

Of course, the drawback is that for $5 you get more food than you can eat. So, you have to carry the rest with you.

Fayrow wrote: And by telling them to do it gradually, you are implicitly saying that occasionally using animals is okay thereby undermining the vegan argument.

I have a bet that I've made over 20 times. Basically, if you stay strictly vegan for a week and don't cheat, and you don't feel way better, I'll pay $100. No one has ever taken the money. Granted, most switched back to eating meat or vegetarianism, but everyone said that they felt better.

That's great, but as you've said most of those people have switched over still invalidating your method. Since the majority of vegans that I've met have said that they've gone through this method and have stayed vegan for over 2+ years, I have no choice but accept this method over any other.

Granted while you don't necessarily have a crowd of people to test your method on, how many people have stayed vegan with this method, and if any, how long?

Generally i have addressed the ethical, environmental, health and poverty aspects of veganism but i generally haven't made any suggestions as to how to go about transitioning.

Personally at first when I had spoken to vegetarians and the pain component began to make sense, i started phasing off mammalian meat (beef/pork/mutton), and only after a year or so did I at one point decide I'd give off chicken and fish too and went cold turkey on that overnight. Finally after about 4 months i decided i was no longer going to have eggs and dairy too. So it wasnt the diet/nutritional angle, rather than me making a decision that was the way i approached it. once it made sense to me I didnt revert.

That said I dont think theres any one way that people go vegan and imo i don't see why a small start shouldn't deserve some praise as people might just take some time to make these decisions and every bit of animal suffering avoided is a success.

In this vegan survey in question 2 two different results are seen, about 45% of the people did take time to transition while a smaller 27% turned immediately:
http://thevegantruth.blogspot.in/2013/0 ... 3.html?m=1

also according to this source, http://www.theveganrd.com/2015/01/why-d ... vegan.html
people who adopted their plant-based diet exclusively for health reasons and *those who transitioned very quickly to vegetarianism* were more likely to return to eating meat. i guess that was more to do with the health angle though.

what is your take on this video, warning NSFW that there is a lot of curse words/profanity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6-HJV9Zj9o

i generally prefer to talk about the reasons to go vegan per se rather than how to, only if someone asks me or says they intend on going vegan to i suggest how. idk but my approach could have flaws, any idea?