Vegetarians: What's holding you back?

Question

I'm curious to know what the barriers are that keep vegetarians from becoming vegan.

Is it stigma? ...lack of knowledge? ...a belief that veganism is hard? ...a belief that egg and dairy foods don't cause harm?

Please don't take this question as an attack or judgement on your lifestyle - I truly believe that ANY effort to live compassionately is commendable. And I love vegetarians!

I ask out of sincere curiosity. :-)

Answer 1

I think it's because people are not willing to give up those things...out of selfishness...laziness...and lack of care for the animals...

There is also that free-range myth thing.  There is no cruelty free chickens.

All milk has blood and pus in it.  That is not a myth.  Also by drinking milk people are supporting the veal industry.

I think it's funny that people call themselves vegetarians and some of them say it's for moral reasons.  How can you not eat meat but still promote the suffering of animals by eating animal products.

Chickens die for their eggs by being slaughtered after 11 months when the laying production slows down.  As they are hung upside down and have their throats slit they cannot see ovo vegetarian's efforts.  They have their feathers scalded off while they are still sometimes conscious.  All they see is suffering...the same thing they saw all their life.  (boys killed, beaks seared off, battery cages)  Also for the person who said that they lay eggs anyway, so why not eat them- they are jammed together in tiny cages and fed unnatural things.  They never see the light of day until they are on their way to slaughter.  

Milk cows are killed too...In the same way as beef cows.  That's where all the fast food joints get their hamburgers.  Also to the people who think that cows have to be milked anyway:  NO THEY DON'T.  That milk is for their babies.  They are impregnated annually so that they will have a baby every year.  That is where the milk comes from and guess what!  That baby that they give birth to is veal if it's a boy.

With all the vegan options there are now I find it fishy when people say it's because they can't find enough things to make.  When you are vegan you don't have to just sit around eating plates of vegetables.  We eat great stuff like my chili and cornbread, sloppy joes, tacos, spaghetti, soup, stew, and practically everything that meat eaters eat except we replace the meat with faux meat.  

If you have already given up the meat then I don't understand why giving up eggs is so hard.  And soy milk is great once you get used to it.  It works in almost everything...and where you can't use that you can use rice milk.

I personally don't care how many thumbs downs I get.  What I am saying isn't that alien.  People know this stuff.  It's just the selfishness that holds them back.

WENDY:  No you can't have both.

And give me a break.  Thanks for asking this question because it brings to light people's stupidity and the way people will act like they don't know this stuff just because they are selfish and it is easier to ignore things than to actually get up and do something about it.

Answer 2

Some people who are vegetarians are not vegetarians because of animaly abuse or it grosses them out. Some are vegetarians because of religious beliefs. So the fact that animals are abused everyday just so they can eat meat means absolutely nothing to them. My neighbors from south asia are vegetarians and still eat cheese and dairy products. I highly doubt they know all that goes into it and I highly doubt they care. As long as its not meat.

Answer 3

Im a vegetarian, not a vegan, because...

1. I'm only 13, I don't get enough iron as it is, and I'm still growing so I can't give up calcium.

2. My mom is cool with me being a veggie, but I doubt she would let me be a vegan.

3. I'll be honest, and say it's hard, I mean I love honey!

4. I don't like milk or eggs, but I like foods such as bread, and other things that use milk, and eggs.

5. I know dairy products can cause animals harm, but poultry production is alot worse.

6. By human nature I am a little selfish, and perhaps lazy, but I try, and maybe someday I will go vegan.

That's about it, oh and I'm new to being vegetarian so going vegan right away would honestly be a little too much  for me.

Answer 4

It depends why the person is vegetarian in the first place.  

Someone who is vegetarian for moral reasons is more likely to eventually become vegan.  

Someone who is vegetarian for religious or health reasons, or who just doesn't like the taste of meat, is less likely to become vegan.  

This is kind of like some people that don't eat red meat but keep eating fish and chicken.  They want to make some contribution to a good cause, but they don't want to make a big sacrifice.  So they try to compromise.

Answer 5

Stigma?  No.

Lack of knowledge?  I'll leave this one blank as what I would want to do is scream a long list of profanities.

Difficulty with veg*nism?  Sometimes.

Eggs & dairy dangerous?  Guns and drugs are dangerous.  I seriously doubt fat free yogurt is going to put me six feet under.

So, what's holding me back?  The nonexistence of a magical plant made of omega 3 fatty acids and B12, the complete lack of vegan restaurants and/or grocery stores close to me, and condescending a******s.  I gave veganism a try for two months and felt like s*** the entire time.  And before anyone asks I took a multivitamin as well as a B12 sub-lingual and followed the PCRM's dietary recommendations like a religious zealot.  It just didn't work.  I'm not saying it can't or that I won't ever try again... but it didn't work.

Answer 6

i honestly just don't know enough about it yet to know how to cook around it and still keep myself healthy! i know that's not a good reason, but that's the truth.

i'm learning how to cook without eggs already and when i do still use them i buy free range.  

i'm also lactose intolerant so i drink soy milk (we don't buy cow's milk) and i limit my dairy intake anyway.  i've never been one to use honey unless it's in premade breads and such.  i am REALLY bad about cheese because i'm pretty much in love with cheese.

......but i grew up in the south and i'm used to cooking with a lot of butter, cheese, eggs, etc....and i'm still learning how to use less.  

i found out just a year or so ago that i'm lactose intolerant, so between that and going veg (again) i've had a lot of learning to do.

i do want to be vegan one day, but it's going to have to happen at the right time when i am sure i can still round out my nutrition without the help of dairy products.

Answer 7

I like eggs and dairy products, but want the animals given humane treatment.  you can have both, if you are careful where you buy them.

Answer 8

I've been a lacto-ovo-vegetarian for many years, though I would certainly like to become a vegan. However, it seems to require a certain degree of planning and organization, and since I have ADHD, planning and organization are very difficult for me. However, I'm working on this, and I still plan to become a vegan one day.

Answer 9

I'm curious as to why vegans seem to think the only way to live healthy is to eat nothing but plants and fruit. I am a meat eating, dairy loving woman and I'm quite healthy. I have been known to lose weight faster and easier when consuming dairy. Not to mention I love milk and asking me to go without cheese would be a dangerous move/

Answer 10

i guess the difficulty

Answer 11

I am working on it, and I take offense to some of the vegans answers on here.  Just because it was easy for some people to go vegan does not mean it is as easy for others.  I am not selfish for still consuming dairy and eggs.  I love animals more than most people could ever understand, I am doing what I can for them.  I have cut my milk intake to less than half of what I used to eat, and eggs have been becoming really gross to me anymore.  Yes, I love cheese and that is the hardest thing to give up.  And there are a few other reasons but I don't feel like explaining myself.

I just wish that vegans would leave us alone, they make me feel bad for what I am doing for animals and that is not right. It seems sometimes that it is not good enough for them, and that staying a vegetarian does not help animals.  Seeing some of these answers make me see what some meat eaters claim about vegans.   Why can't we all just love each other? We are all wanting the same thing and just because some people do more for animals does not mean that they are better than others.

Answer 12

I'm working on becoming vegan. I still haven't been able to see enough vegan foods to become completely vegan, though. There are also a few foods that I haven't gotten used to just yet. But, like I said, I'm working on it and should be able to convert fully in the next few months. I'm hoping to have the money to buy everything vegan by the end of the summer.

Answer 13

i'm a meat eater. i'm not going to try to tell you that you should be eating meat, but that's what's natral to us. i love animals so much, but like the lion king says, it's the circle of life. we need the checks and balances.

Answer 14

I don't use eggs.

But giving up dairy is too complicated for me. My wife is Vaisnava Hindu and follows the traditional diet of lacto-vegetarianism. I doubt if I could convince her to give up dairy. And I think it would be too much of a hassle for us to have different ways of eating. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to marry a vegetarian in the first place.

Also, there aren't many vegan options in St. Louis Missouri restaurants. For at least 35 years, St. Louis had only one vegetarian restaurant (run by the local Hare Krishna temple), and I'm pretty sure there are only 3 or 4 vegetarian restaurants now. I think it might be easier to be vegan in some other cities.

Answer 15

because animal products are freakin everywhere, and i havnt really been a veg that long so i want to at least be veg for a couple years before i turn vegan. i really do want to one day thats fersure. also i live in pretty small town and we dont have any health food store where i can get like alternative foods, im already dying without marshmallows.

Answer 16

perhaps they need the protein that they get from eggs and milk?

Answer 17

Well, your question is biased a bit.

To "hold back" is suggesting that we all actually have veganism as a goal but cannot achieve it yet - some on this forum have said that very same thing.

For many, vegetarianism IS thier goal and they don't see themselves as "holding back" at all.

And thankyou for describing vegetarianism as a "commendable" effort (do you realise how patronising and judemental that sounds ? ). i'd be more than happy to put my veggie "efforts" up against your vegan supremacy any day of the week. I've got over 25 years of actively supporting the veggie community, reducing cruelty, giving 35% of my fairly significant earnings to such causes ( every year )  and supporting veggie businesses under my belt, have you ? Rather that sit here and criticise vegetarians for not being up to scratch, i go out and actively seek cattle from dairy herds to bring onto our land so they can live a natural life free from the early death of a dairy farm. Do you do that, ? Why not ?

whats "holding you back" ?

and look at another answer, apparently we're veggies  "out of selfishness ...laziness...and lack of care for the animals..."

How f***ing unbelievably judgemental is that !!

I'm almost done with this forum to be honest, the vegans on here do really seem to look down on the vegetarians.

EDIT:

Thankyou for your additional comments. However, they do tell quite a lot. You've assumed I was having a "bad day", Could it be that perhaps you were wrong ? Look at the thumbs up that agree with me. What ?? We're all wrong and you alone are right ?

Sorry, thats all part of the same "vegans are better" attitude

Your subquestions as potential reasons for not being vegan ( Is it stigma? ...lack of knowledge? ...a belief that veganism is hard? ...a belief that egg and dairy foods don't cause harm?)

are all negative. What ? we can't cope with a littel stigma, we don;t ahve knowledge about where our food comes from, we're too weak to rise to the mightly challange of veganism....

You could have equally used other examples that show the choice to be vegetarian as postive, but you didn't. That all contributes to the tone and sub-text of your question.

and the "ANY" in capitals, whether you beleive it or not, carries a sub-text that ANY means miniscule. It does, its normal English interpretation to believe that ANY in capitals menas "very small".

You could have used the word "all", but no, you chose to use the word ANY

Maybe these are little things to you that i have wrongly interpreted, but they do add up a bit.

And if you ever have to start a sentance with "don't take this question as an attack or judgement...." you need to pause. Thats in exactly the same category as "no offense but...." it invariable means you are about to do, or have just done, what you've just made a disclaimer over. You should pause and think "why do i feel i have to say that". The answer will be "some people WILL think its an attack or judgement". At that point, you chose to either change it so it ISNT a judgement, or continue down your path.

and you can see that some vegans took your question as i did, look at the comment "Thanks for asking this question because it brings to light people's stupidity"......I know you can never be responsible for other peoples comments, but it does illustrate that some other people also took your question to be negative towards vegetarians.

Best wishes with your veganism, but its probably worth remembering that most vegans started out as meat-eaters, then went veggie. Without vegetarianism there would likely be considerably less vegans in the world. So, give them a break eh ?

Answer 18

well, i really love cheese.

and cheese is dairy.

so if i became vegan i couldn't eat cheese.

and i couldn't eat dairy ice cream either.

that's why being vegetarian is easier.

good question though. :)

Answer 19

I made the switch from veg to vegan only a few months ago. But the major barrier for me was dairy. I love cheese, and dairy, and milk solids are in soooo many ingredients. Giving up dairy was a bit difficult and dealing with my family's reaction to veganism was another thing which made it hard. But I'm glad I made the switch. And like you said... every contribution to the veg*an cause is very much appreciated. :)

Peace )O(

Answer 20

I'm vegetarian, don't eat eggs or drink milk, but it's the cheese factor I'm having to get over. Cheese (paneer especially) has been used in practically every meal I've eaten since childhood.

Answer 21

I find most vegetarians ("normal" adults, not teens in a meat-eating family or adults with special dietary needs/allergies) I've met won't go vegan because they think it's too hard (this is a mental roadblock, nothing more) and the "I like cheese too much." Not to be a jerk, but that's kind of selfish. "I won't eat meat, but I'll keep letting all the cows and chickens that produce dairy/eggs suffer."

This is why I never did the vegetarian to vegan transition. I went straight vegan, because to me personally, there's no point in being vegetarian if you're serious about animal rights and your health. "Normal" adult semi-vegetarians or vegetarians are that way because of reasons in the vein of pleasure (can't pass up that chicken/fish/cake with eggs/cheese pizza)...plain and simple. And that's something they're not going to want to admit, or will be offended by these comments (I have no doubt about that).

Seriously, if you stopped eating cheese for a month and then tried eating a pizza, you'd vomit (I nearly did). You then realize how nasty cheese, eggs, milk actually are. Man, that stuff is NASTY. And look, I literally, every Sunday, would go to the grocery store and buy all these exotic cheeses (I LOVED cheese) and basically have that with crackers and fruit for dinner. I'm a recovered cheese-a-holic.

"Humane" milk, eggs, and cheese are an option, but I really don't trust those sources. "Humane" is a loose term in this country these days regarding those types of products. Unless I had direct access to see where those items are produced, I wouldn't purchase them.

Answer 22

Interesting. It was actually you guys on this Forum that made me take a look at what I was actually eating and drinking.

Not all vegetarians want to go vegan. Veganism is not the goal of many vegetarians. However I do want to be vegan someday.  How easy did I find it to cut out milk itself? Easy. Milk products? Not as easy. I swapped cow's milk (which I used to have on my cereal every morning) to soy milk, and buy vegan 'butter'. Swapping to soy milk was a no brainer.

I was never a fan of cheese, so that wasn't too much of a problem. I love Tofutti 'cheese' slices on sandwiches. Vegan chocolate is very available, and my fave chocolate just happens to be vegan (Green & Blacks Organic Dark 70% Cocoa).

The only thing that stops me being vegan right now is honey- I have discovered it is an ingredient in one of my fave wholegrain breads! I'm still searching for agave nectar to replace honey as a sweetener. Other than that, my diet consists of fruit & veg (obviously), wholegrains, nuts (for *calcium* and a plethora of vitamins & minerals) and beans, tofu (& soy milk!) and vegan chocolate. I pretty much love most vegan meals. (How can you beat jacket potato and beans on top?!). I take a daily multivitamin from Holland & Barretts to help 'plug the gap' and ensure I don't become deficient in anything.

A while ago, I made a few attempts to go vegan. I am still on a learning curve. My diet isn't completely vegan due to the honey. But eggs & milk are not missed and were very easy to veganize. I love natural foods such as fresh fruit, nuts and cereals.

However, vegetarians reduce animal suffering too, and I think any efforts to minimize the suffering of animals should be applauded. I love vegetarians and vegans!

I have so much respect and admiration for my fellow veg*ns. Keep rocking, you're doing great. :)

[EDIT] Note:Veganism is not for everybody. My sister is happy being a vegetarian, and that's fine by me. I have MANY relatives that eat meat- I won't ''disown'' them or make them feel bad- it's *their* choice. We all have the freedom to eat whatever we like, right?

I must admit, I do feel that this question unfairly implies that vegans are somehow ''better'' than vegetarians. I'm not trying to offend, I'm sure you are not too. It's just that it can be interpreted in a negative way. Sorry, that's just how I feel.

Answer 23

I've tried to go vegan on several different occasions, but always lack the will power. I've been a strict vegetarian for over 2 years, but somehow can't maintain veganism.

One big thing is that, while eliminating meat was easy on my palette, I'm devastatingly addicted to cookies and ice cream (yes, I know they make vegan cookies)

Also, being a vegan means being much more concientious - while meat is easily avoidable bc it's the focal point of most meals, dairy is often slipped in.

Answer 24

DAH!!! Chease and eggs.

Answer 25

I've been vegan for 12 years and was vegetarian for many years before that.

I didn't answer this question when I first saw it because it wasn't addressed to me, it was addressed to vegetarians. My initial reaction to it though was much the same as Michael H's. The question assumes that all vegetarians are aspiring vegans, or would-be vegans who just can't cut it. This clearly isn't the case.

Some of the answers from vegans here have embarrassed me as a vegan; they're patronising and holier than thou. And I don't want to get personal but one of the vegans claiming people are vegetarian not vegan through laziness, selfishness,lack of care for animals, stupidity etc has been  vegan for around a week and was eating fish up until then while declaring their .opposition to animal suffering - a commitment I didn't and don't doubt by the way.

Michael your answer puts that person's answer and some of the others to shame

Answer 26

In my opinion, it would be difficult when you have the rest of the family to think about.  My husband is fine with me being a vegetarian but because I do include cheese and eggs, it's much easier to make one meal at dinner time for all 4 of us.  It's hard enough to get my kids to eat veggies as it is!

Answer 27

I'm vegan, mostly because I could die if I eat milk, eggs, fish/shellfish, gelatin, honey, and many many other non-animal-related foods.

Answer 28

I agree. Fighter, animals kill to survive, while ignorant humans like you eat meat that was killed for your taste buds. I'm very border line vegan, i don't eat eggs or milk, but i still use totthpaste and other non vegan things. i guess its too expensive to buy all this organic and vegan make up and essentials like toothpaste, soup, etc.

Answer 29

During my vegetarian stint I was no healthier than I am now. My dairy and egg consumption (btw, it isn't a detriment to everyone's health) allows me to cook w/variety and enjoyment and I don't believe it is wrong to use either of those products....I know vegetarians that feel the same way. I don't think most of the vegetarians you are referring to are holding back.

Answer 30

The reason I am a vegetarian is because I don't want to contribute to the needless killing of animals.  Obviously veganism goes farther, avoiding foods that contribute to any kind of harm to anmals.

Mainly I don't take that extra step because I do believe it would be too hard and expensive.  Maybe I should just try it for a week, like I did when I became a vegetarian over 10 years ago, and see how it goes.  

EDIT:  I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately.  Recently I have found myself not eating eggs and I haven't actually drank a glass of milk in years.  But there's still bread and lots of other things to worry about.  I am going grocery shopping tomorrow, and I just may go vegan for the week.

Answer 31

im neither- im a meat eater, but see, my thing is this: a chicken will lay eggs if you do or if you dont eat them...they do not sit on every egg for it to hatch, so why not eat it? cows MUST be milked, so why not drink it?