r/AskVegans

Even after learning about animal cruelty, it didn't turn me vegan. Only that it made me more aware as a consumer. The most it's done is deterring me from buying certain non-vegan things sometimes.

The idea of being vegan seems so overwhelming considering the inconvenience and the conservative loved ones in my life.

To be clear, I'm not asking for tips on how to go vegan.

So, how do you have the conviction and discipline to go and stay vegan? Did it feel overwhelming at first?

Why do vegan police even have the rights to decide who is not vegan enough? Why aren't they more inclusive?

For example, Vegan Gains calling Melanie Joy not vegan because he doesn't agree with her activism methods.

Okay so I just saw a question asking whether a vegan would save a human child, or their own cat. Most vegans chose to save a human child, because they value human lives more than lives of animals. But this is only in the context of animal vs human. This isn't life of animal vs eating beans over a chicken sandwich.

But it made me wonder how we define value of life.

I've heard people say something about how they dont know how someone could eat a dog or a cat, but they themselves eat pork and beef. Etc. This shows they arbitrarily give more value to animals like cats and dogs, but not as much to cows or pigs. So if our industrialised meat industry was cages crammed with dogs or cats being slaughtered for meat, would that make them object against it and turn vegan?

And what about insects? They are living things too. But I guarantee there is not a vegan here who cares as much about an ant as they would a dog. Or any other animal. Do the lives of insects have less value because theyre smaller and don't look as cute as cows or sheep?

Where do we draw the line? And how do we arbitrarily value the lives of some living things over others? What are vegan thoughts on this?

I feel like it makes sense but I'm quite doubtful of it. Have you ever doubted veganism? Why?

So, I recently watched Dominion. As much as I felt awful after watching it, I won't actively go out of my way to stop eating animal meat/products.

I don't eat much meat a lot anywaysdue to the reason that I have sensory issues and find a lot of meat disgusting, I primarily eat chicken if I do eat meat though.

Primarily, the prices of vegan things is insane where I live, and just in general. If I do see any treats I like that *are* vegan and are on a bargain price, I will buy it. But I won't go out of my way to stop eating animal products otherwise due to the fact I simply can't afford it.

Is it bad that I won't go out of my way to cut out anything non vegan out of my life for the sake of money?

Edit: Thank you all for your recommendations and genuinely helping me, I've been kind of scared to ask but I have found these comments to be very helpful! My first goal is to transition to a vegetarian diet before moving to a vegan one! <3

I want to try using more apples in my cooking and lean savory. Do you cook anything savory with apples? Recipes? I would love to hear them thank you (: 🍎

So, to make a long story short, I've identified as vegan for many years now. I personally would never go to a zoo, aquarium, circus etc. With that being said, I grew up watching Steve Irwin's show as a kid. I loved him and his passion for wildlife conservation, and his death years back affected me a lot. Since then, I've been a fan of keeping up with the Irwin family and their personal lives via their Australia Zoo channel on YouTube.

I watch while using an ad blocker, so they're not being paid from ads when I click. My main concern is that I've heard YouTubers are paid a bit of money for every 1000 clicks they get. Some people have said that ad blockers can prevent a view from even being registered, but I'm not 100% sure whether or not that's true.

With this uncertainty in mind, do you guys think me watching videos from Australia Zoo is unethical or is it not so different from watching movies with animals in them? Would love to hear any and all opinions on this.

The art does not necessarily need to be explicitly vegan, I’m just looking to support vegan people who happen to be artists. Specifically I’m looking to decorate my bedroom so things like posters, canvases, or online downloads I could turn into one of these things. If anyone is, or knows any, vegan artists and where I can find them online it is appreciated. Thanks!

I'll start with some context on where my head space is with my diet. For a long time my only goal regarding my food intake has been to do what's best for my general health within the constraints of what I enjoy eating, and beyond macros specifically aiming to reach a near-ideal intake of each vitamin and mineral to the best of my ability. The progress was iterative, mostly having the same meals daily for the sake of consistency and adherence but incorporating small changes over time, each of which I'd consider an improvement until I felt like my diet was functionally "solved".

What I assume will be unsurprising to many of you, without having veganism in mind at all at the time most of the core staples of my diet happened to trend towards being vegan-friendly; the exceptions were eggs, fish and (cow's) milk. For a while, I was satisfied with this by telling myself that while my influence on animal welfare wasn't as good as it could be, it was "better than most" and I'd stick to this diet for quite some time on that basis.

Lately however, I've come to the conclusion that if it's within my means to further reduce my impact on animal welfare then I ought to do so, especially given that I was "most of the way there" anyway so the change wouldn't be particularly abrupt.

My only problem thus far is that in spite of the understanding that a vegan can provide all nutrients to maintain a good diet, I've been having a tough time reaching an ideal intake of choline specifically. With the non-vegan components of my diet removed and replaced, nearly everything in my my diet contains at least some choline (quinoa, tofu and black beans accounting for most of it), but at 344~mg I'm a little over halfway to the AI and bridging that gap feels particularly tricky unless I go the supplement route (which I'll go with, if need be).

So, how do you maintain an adequate intake of choline? Is there something obvious I'm missing? Or, do you settle for less than ideal?

Do vegans enjoy, support Disneyland/California adventures?? They have horses but when I looked it up they are supposedly treated very well.

I'm born and raised a meat eater and I LOVE MEAT. I'm also african and grew up around farms. My grandmothers and Aunt own a chicken and cow farm, my mom and her siblings grew up eating freshly slaughtered chickens. And I've slaughtered a couple of chickens before. As crazy as it might sound I don't feel bad when slaughtering them, I think maybe, it's just that I was just raised to be numb to that.

But I've actually started following this german creator [diemilitanteveganerin100] who is vegan. And the more I watch her the more I understand the logic behind veganism, and truly I do consider this path.

My problem is adjustment, like I've said my family owns a farm. It's IMPOSSIBLE for me to escape meat while I'm still a free loader and living under my family's roof. So I was considering vegetarianism where I'd eat anything but meat. But I'm also afraid of being inconsistent. My family always has a ceremony every year during new years eve. Where we come together and pray, one of those practices includea slaughtering a cow.

So how do I adjust myself to not eating meat first.