Understanding the Psychology Behind Why Some Vegetarians Don’t Go Vegan



https://www.onegreenplanet.org/life...-dont-go-vegan/

The "psychology" of vegetarians not going full vegan. 🙄

That was an empty bunch of nonsense about vegans being so much more educated about their food choices, and vegetarians having persistent habits and "mental blocks" against going vegan. (And despite their insistence to the contrary, it's the vegans who have cognitive dissonance regarding ethics and health implications of the vegan lifestyle)

Psychology has nothing at all to do with the fact that vegetable matter is missing vital nutrients (particularly B-12), something that is only available from animal products.

Perhaps it's because vegetarians are better educated about dairy products, eggs, and honey.

Perhaps vegetarians understand that the use of responsibly sourced dairy products does not harm any animal. You simply wait until after the calf has had it's fill of the mother cow's milk, then milk off the excess. The more milk you take, the more milk the cow will produce. If it were not so, there's no way the mother cow's milk production could keep up with a growing calf's needs. If it were not so, there's no way the cow's milk would be able to keep up with the needs of twin calves.

This is the very principle by which wet-nurses were historically able to provide milk for babies whose mothers were unable to breastfeed or had died. Today, it's a method that many women who have breastfed a baby understand - after the baby is fed, they can pump off extra milk to build up their supply and production so that they can return to work.

Perhaps vegetarians understand that the vast majority of eggs available are not fertilized, because an egg can only be fertilized in the oviduct of the hen, so if the hen has never even seen a rooster, much less mated with one, her eggs can not be fertilized - and therefore no matter how long those eggs are incubated, they will never produce a chick. And yet, the hen will continue to produce an average of one egg per day - because that's what hens do.

We can compare this process to a woman's monthly cycle: she releases one egg monthly, but if that egg is not fertilized, it will never produce a baby. [This is not in any way a political statement, it's purely biological fact]


Perhaps vegetarians understand that honey bees produce far more honey than they can ever use, and are far more protected in a human controlled hive than if they build their hive in a hollow tree, where sweet-seeking animals (bears) can invade and feast on their honey, as well as eating the bees and their larvae, utterly destroying a hive.




Me thinks it's the vegans who need to seek better education and realize how silly their adamant refusal to use any animal products at all really is.

That must have been written by a vegan fanatic.

Oh absolutely!

If you click on the link, there's lots of animal welfare and climate change articles (no doubt blaming meat eating), but their recipes seem to be all vegan.

I even looked under quiche recipes and they all say that they're vegan. I clicked on one of the quiche recipes to find out what they're using instead of eggs - vegan egg substitute, of course. So as usual, they won't eat any animal products, and yet they want foods that imitate animal products or can be used to imitate foods made from animal products.

(I can see where this might be useful for my sister who is highly allergic to eggs. Otherwise, there's no logical reason to avoid eggs)

A collection of vegan based links popped up today:

This first one is a short illustrated "all the feels" comic-style explanation of why this person switched from omnivore to vegetarian and finally vegan, with how wonderful it is to be vegan - for the animals and for the planet.

I gave up meat and gained so much more

__________


Then there was this article:

Calls for plant-based alternatives to be labelled with warning signs

Not much we don't already know about plant based alternatives to animal foods - they're saying they're "technically" UPFs , and don't have as much actual nutrition compared to the foods they're replacing.

No "technically" about it - they are definitely UPFs, just based on the sheer number of ingredients and the amount of processing which needs to be done to come up with a patty that vaguely looks and sort-of tastes like a hamburger.



But of course they're concentrating on fiber, saturated fats, salt and added sugar content, because that's all that's needed for health - kind of surprised they even mentioned micronutrient deficiencies.


________


Later on today, a post that showed up on Reddit that is a more real-life illustration of what dealing with a vegan can be like:





Many vegans replied to this, and they all agreed that offering a separate grill for the vegan was the thing to do, because a vegan won't want to risk having bits of meat or meat juice "contaminating " his food. Some vegans said they'd bring a package of impossible burgers with them, cook those up on the separate grill, and they'd gladly let anyone try them who was interested.

There may have been vegans who responded in a "how dare you not change your entire menu to accommodate me!" attitude, but they must be buried in the comments, because I didn't see any of them.

This is one of the more extensive and well thought out responses from a vegan:



This was probably the best response though:



__


All that to say that I don't think MOST vegans are as crazed as what we generally see presented in the media.


Perhaps after they've been full vegan long enough to start feeling really terrible, craving meat, not realizing that the reason they crave meat (or cheese - a lot of them mention cheese) is because animal products nutrients they can't get from vegetable matter. I'd say that it angers them that they've been so invested in this vegan idealism for so long that needing to admit that they really do need animal products in their diet just terrifies them that they could have been so wrong, and infuriates them.

It's very hard to shift an ethical stance. I tried vegetarianism "for the animals" but realized the extent we used animal products in EVERYTHING and switched to ethical farming support. Since, in only 2-3 months (I had brain fog!) I was already getting fat and sick. Some of it was the constant hunger. I also think many vegans are also junk food addicts: there is plenty of vegan goodies out there, of course.

They can have be a honeymoon period, for people who get some nutrients from plants. Moving forward, I'll never believe the vegan lie that "there's protein in everything!" that they use to excuse a donut and soda for lunch.

One theory is that the abrupt shift to high Omega 6s have a temporary "housecleaning effect" on their bodies. But when the time comes to rebuild, there is not enough protein.

Some of the clips of longtime vegans show how they put out whole foods and then surround them with snack foods. And this is for the camera. Because they are always starving and snacking and craving: thus, the "fat vegan" syndrome.

Even ones who turn to starch don't understand that is also sugar. And vegans seem well-informed because they repeat elaborate rationales about supplementation. Which doesn't make sense out on the veldt where we used to graze, I gather. Since this is supposed to be our own -- species specific -- diet. They are not only psychologically addicted to the ethics as presented, they are free to indulge in the high sugar/starch foods which turns their soups into syrups.

The sad part is that I know wonderful people who became vegan through animal rescue, probably got the "honeymoon," and now it's a belief system. Maybe their doctor will save them in time, when they are facing anemia or osteoporosis.

Or someone hired by Big Food. That is a known conspiracy: Fat Acceptance, anti-diet nutritionists, and Instagram influencers are all being paid to sell people the idea that it's not the junk food, it's that they aren't eating the junk food properly.

Here is the problem with vegetarianism as I see it.


I don't care. Unless it's necessary, I don't need to know how you eat.

Now if we are going to dinner together, we'll find a place that can fed both of us on our different, but unconventional diets.