People who are anti-vegan have some reasons that being vegan is not a good thing. The problem is that all of these reasons can be counterargued, and you only realize that once you go vegan and stop holding onto the excuses that you had. Every vegan had an excuse not to go vegan before they finally decided to take the plunge. Here are some reasons that may resonate with you.
1. Dairy Is Good For You!
I’m sure lots of people can relate to this. When I was a kid, my mom had the food chart on our fridge, and dairy was up at the top. I believed I had to have milk products at least 2-3 times per day if I wanted to get enough calcium.
It wasn’t until I was older and started to hear things about how dairy wasn’t as good as most people claimed. I started educating myself with The China Study and listening to different talks about dairy’s impact on the body, and eventually, I watched the documentary What The Health and realized that dairy shouldn’t even be on the food guide.
2. Where Would I Get My Protein?
This is a huge belief that non-vegans have. Meat and protein go hand in hand because we have been told that our whole lives, just like milk and calcium go hand in hand.
The fact is that we can get a ton of protein without meat and a ton of calcium without milk. And it’s very easy to get your complete protein as a vegan. The meat and dairy industries may not want you to believe it and do everything in their power to keep you from believing it, but it’s true.
3. Cows Need To Be Milked
It’s funny how many people don’t understand how the dairy industry works until they go vegan. I think it’s because we all receive messages that cows like to be milked. They NEED to be milked! But, the truth is that they don’t need to be milked unless they have babies, so the dairy industry NEEDS them to have babies in order to keep producing milk so that they can be milked. That’s a simplified explanation of what they do in the dairy industry. I highly recommend educating yourself about it if you want to learn more.
4. There Is Such A Thing As Humane Slaughter
This argument is still a big one for a lot of non-vegans. Maybe even you believe it. But, once you go vegan and educate yourself on how animals are slaughtered and the horrors they go through, you won’t believe it anymore.
And, the whole being stunned before being killed thing is just a joke. Imagine being stunned before you were killed. Does that seem humane?
The bottom line is that no animal wants to die, and as they get sent to their death, the fear and pain are real. Animals aren’t stupid. They know what’s going on.
No being should have to go through what the animals in the meat and dairy industry go through.
5. At Least They Get A Life!
This is an argument that many of us tell ourselves, but isn’t it a weird one when you step back and think about it? I’m not sure where it stems from because I know a lot of people use this argument.
Maybe our grandparents said it?
Maybe it was a big meat company’s ad that made us feel this way?
Maybe the thought of free-range farms makes us feel like animals are at least getting a good life before they get murdered and slaughtered?
I don’t know. Do you?
6. It’s Too Hard To Go Vegan
This is a HUGE argument that many people have, especially people who want to go vegan.
They say that it’s too hard to find vegan food, make vegan food, and sustain yourself on a vegan diet. It’s too hard to find vegan food when you are out and about. It’s too hard to eat vegan food when your friends are not eating vegan food.
When you tell yourself that it’s too hard, you are telling yourself that you are not capable enough. If other people can be vegan with all these ‘obstacles in the way, then you can too.
7. It’s Just How Things Work
It’s traditional to eat milk and eggs and that’s just how it works. What a poor excuse many of us had.
Tradition is nice in many ways, but just because something is traditional doesn’t mean it’s right! This is why many traditions from the past that used to be acceptable have died out.
For instance, women used to stay at home and raise kids while men worked. That tradition held for a long time until it became apparent that it didn’t have to be that way.
There’s a word for things like this called Brules. Vishen Lakhiani coined it and it means ‘bullshit rules’. The thought that we must eat meat and dairy because that’s what’s been done forever in our world is a brule.
