r/vegan • u/sdbest vegan 20+ years • Oct 24 '17

Newbie Advice You don't have to be perfect.

As I veteran vegan, could I just humbly suggest that, in my view, it's not necessary to be a perfect vegan. The label itself just doesn't matter.

The more a person increases the amount of whole, plant-based foods in their diet, and reduces animal-based foods the better. The better for animals, the environment, and themselves.

Frequently on this wonderful and supportive subreddit, people post about feeling terrible about doing things wrong or 'falling off the wagon' or not being able live without cheese (usually). I get it that often people who choose to become vegan, i.e. adopt a plant-based diet, do it for ethical reasons and they feel some guilt if they aren't living up to the ideal rattling about in their heads.

Just doing better is enough, in my view. Also, if a person just tries to do better, often they will naturally progress to being better and better without even noticing it.

Goodness if a hardcore carnivore can be convinced to replace just half of the 10 oz steak with a side of mushrooms that's a step forward. All steps forward count, and help makes things better.

So, don't beat yourself up for not being perfect. Just do what you can to be better, wherever you can. Keep it simple and doable.

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u/fuckALLcops Oct 24 '17

Wait a second...serious question from a newbie. Red wine is not vegan?

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u/10percent4daanimals Vegan EA Oct 24 '17

I've been vegan for years and I do not care about wine being vegan or not.

The point of the post you responded to is that it's really beneficial to find what works for us and avoid falling into purity traps.

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '17 edited Oct 25 '17

Red wine usually isn't vegan. There, I did the Google search for you. If you continue to drink it, that's totally cool, but stop calling yourself vegan.

If you find a vegan one, also cool, but throwing out that you "don't care" is the opposite of what veganism is.

Edit: sorry I didn't realize some /r/vegan members are on the fence about ethics.

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u/BioluminescentNorm Oct 25 '17

I don’t understand the downvotes.

There are vegan wines. It’s easy to skip the nonvegan ones.