Over the seven years of my vegan journey, I faced many interesting myths about veganism and approaches to my lifestyle preferences, so I wanted to address them in this post.
If you’ve been vegan yourself, we can all laugh at those myths about veganism. However, I can’t blame anyone; the information available to us nowadays is often confusing. How can you know what’s true when you find both favourable and unfavourable answers to questions like ‘Is meat healthy?’ or ‘Is meat unhealthy?’
There are so many myths about veganism out there, so which ones are true and which ones can be debunked?
Top 10 Myths About Veganism and Plant-based Diet
#1 Vegans don’t get enough protein
Number 1 vegan myth must go to vegans’ favourite – Do vegans get enough protein?
This is a tricky one. Since a young age, we have been taught that protein comes from animals. This is not wrong, but it also comes from plants. Besides protein, plants also offer plenty of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fibre, which are detrimental to our bodies.
The counter question is, do non-vegans get enough micronutrients? Nowadays, many individuals consume double the amount of protein that is recommended. This can lead to kidney and digestive issues, unwanted weight gain etc.
To debunk the myth – you can get more than enough protein as a vegan plus bonus points (micronutrients). One of the best sources of protein from plants are tempeh, tofu, edamame, beans, lentils, nut butters etc.
#2 Vegan food is expensive
Depends on what kind of vegan food you consume. If your diet consists of processed vegan food, your food bill will most likely be high. If you focus on whole foods such as whole grains, beans, lentils, fruit and vegetables, your weekly expenses will be significantly less.
A couple of tips for your vegan shopping
- Buy in bulk – buy dry legumes and beans instead of canned ones
- Buy in season – fruit and vegetables in season are more affordable and contain more nutrients than the ones shipped from overseas
- Choose frozen fruit and veggies – frozen berries, frozen sweetcorn, edamame beans, mushrooms – all of those are great to buy frozen and way cheaper than fresh.
#3 Vegans are judgmental
I must say, this one might be true. But only partially. Vegan activists and those who are focusing on fighting for the animals can be judgmental and so-called “pushy”. And I totally understand them.
Why? Because they know what’s happening behind the scenes, they’ve been well aware of what animals go through in slaughterhouses and how much pain is inflicted. And trust me, if you see a couple of minutes of that footage, you will want to shout at everyone to go vegan, to stop the torture and abuse.
Most people dislike being judged for their dietary preferences; I get it. But try to understand why you feel that way.
Not all vegans are the same. Try not to generalise. It’s similar to saying blue colour is for boys and pink is for girls.
I understand if you don’t want to be labelled vegan because of the bad rep, but that’s alright. There’s no need to label. Focus on your why, share your experience with others or don’t. It’s up to you.
#4 Plant-based diet lacks essential nutrients
I will go back to the first myth, where I mentioned protein. If anything, an omnivore diet lacks nutrients. A plant-based diet has plenty of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fibre. I do agree it might not be as convenient as popping a piece of chicken in the oven and roasting potatoes on the side but eating a variety of whole foods provides so many benefits for your body. I will talk more about it in the next myth.
- Calcium can be found in green leafy vegetables, soy products, almonds, broccoli
- Iron can be found in beans and legumes, soy products, fortified cereals, green leafy veg
- Iodine is another crucial mineral which can be found in iodised salt, seaweed, potato, cranberries etc
#5 It’s hard to be vegan
Every change can be hard. If you’ve been eating one type of diet your entire life, it will be challenging to change it—the same goes for everything else. If you’ve been smoking for quite some time or drinking coffee, it will most likely be hard to change the habit.
Take your time, educate yourself, read, watch, listen, explore, test it out. All the information is out there. You can start with ‘veganising’ your favourite meals. If you like lasagne, bolognese, roast dinners, risottos, pizzas, you can try to look up vegan versions and i can assure you you will find plenty.
I won’t tell you it will be easy but if you are devoted and ready for the change, nothing will be an issue.
#6 Plants have feelings
Plants do not have feelings, and they do not feel pain; to feel pain, one requires a nervous system.
It’s really as straightforward as that.
Plants lack the functional neurotransmitters and signalling pathways required for sentience in animals
#7 Soy is bad
Again, it’s the media. The same as there is a scarcity of protein deficiency, we are constantly bombarded with the information that soy contains estrogen, will make you grow boobs and so on. I mean, I wish it did. I’m sure it would be a bestseller at pharmacies.
Jokes aside, soy contains fibre, iron, magnesium, potassium, protein, and zinc. And talking about estrogen, soy contains phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are estrogen-like compounds derived from plants. Studies show that the phytoestrogens in soy don’t have any effect on hormone levels. (intake of 2-3 servings per day).
“Soy consumption has also been shown to benefit our kidneys, which appear to handle plant protein very differently from animal protein. Within hours of eating meat, our kidneys rev up into hyperfiltration mode. But, an equivalent amount of plant protein causes virtually no noticeable stress on the kidneys.”
#8 Vegan equals health
I would like to say that being vegan automatically equals healthiness, but unfortunately, it does not. You can live off of chips and Coke (yes, the big brand with a polar bear in the ads) and still be vegan, but we all know it’s far from thriving on it. You can consume processed vegan food, sugary drinks, chocolate, and other sweet and savoury snacks, or you can consume whole foods.
Veganism does not equal health. Some individuals are vegan for the animals and health, some for only one or the other, and some for the environment.
#9 Plant-based food makes you bloated
A plant-based diet can make you bloated, especially if you’re not used to consuming a lot of fibre or have any underlying issues. You can slowly incorporate fibre-rich food into your diet. If you’ve been eating pastries for breakfast every day, start having lemon water with chia seeds with the pastry. Or swap one or two days a week for oatmeal with berries. Snack on berries, hummus, carrot sticks, double or triple the amount of fruit you eat in a day, incorporate beans, whole grain bread instead of white etc.
#10 Vegan food is restrictive
When I heard this one, I’m not entirely sure I understood it. If you look from the animal products side, then yes. Vegans do restrict animal products and byproducts. If you take it from the vegan point of view, vegan food is absolutely abundant. I have never tried so many different foods since going vegan—and not just tried, heard. Tofu who? Tempeh what? Nutritonal yeas… eh?
So no, vegan food is not restrictive.
Summary – Top 10 myths about veganism
Let’s sum this up: Plants have protein, plants do not feel pain, vegan food is not restrictive, plant-based diet might make you bloated at the beginning but taking the right steps will help you feel better than ever, vegan food doesn’t equal health, soy is good, some vegans might be judgemental but so can everyone else, plant-based diet contains plenty of nutrients, and it’s not hard to be vegan.
References:
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/soy/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6390141/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22210487/
https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/
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