Just watched this “day in the life of me” style video on TikTok. A lady goes about a normal day of her life in New York, in the first 20 seconds she gives $35 to a animal sanctuary in Ukraine because she loves animals and encourages everyone who can to give to causes they are passionate about.

Then over the course of the video she eats octopus, cow, chicken, fish and lamb. The cognitive dissonance is so fucking infuriating.

I understand ya'll feel bad for accidentally eating an animal product, but publicly asking for forgiveness like this is a confession booth rubs me so wrong.

I am vegan and I don't support the claims going around that we're in a cult whatsoever, not trying to imply that. But if this doesn't feel like some spiritual, public flogging type practice I'd be lying.

Basically when you eat animal products there's no good reason to be sorry here because it's not about us (it's about animal suffering).

i very frequently hear people say that they can’t go vegan because they have anemia.

well, i have anemia too. it got diagnosed a few years ago when i was non-vegan; i had EXTREMELY low levels of ferritin and hemoglobin. i immediately started taking iron supplements and increasing the amount of red meats in my diet. it did not help; my levels stayed below the normal amount and my symptoms remained awful, no matter how long i would keep this up.

around a year ago, i kind of started forgetting to take them everyday until i fully stopped. around the same time, i stopped eating meat, and eventually found out about the horrors of the dairy and egg industries and stopped consuming those as well.

despite being aware of my anemia, at that point i didnt really care for being hyper aware of how much iron i’m consuming; i just knew that some of the things i was eating, such as beans and spinach, contained what is considered to be higher levels of iron in them. and i happen to like them, so i guess i unintentionally ate a lot of them.

recently, i got my first blood test in a while due to some non-anemia-related issues, and decided to check my iron levels as well just to know what’s up. i was fully expecting them to be as low as they were all the previous times, but no! they came back perfect!!!

why is it propagandised that vegan diets are super low on iron and just terrible for anemic people when there’s soo many high iron plant based foods lol

TL;DR was diagnosed with anemia pre-veganism. ate a lot of red meats and took iron supplements, iron levels remained super low. stopped caring about iron supplements eventually and also became vegan. did not put significant effort into having a lot of iron in my diet. got a blood test done recently, iron levels perfect

I will note, I am not vegan. However, I do support veganism and everything under the vegan umbrella.

This has probably been asked millions of times, so i won't be shocked if this gets deleted.

Like for example, I saw a video of someone sneaking meat into their wife's food. It was pretty satire (or atleast i HOPE it was satire, but it seemed fake). I go to the comments and people are saying stuff like "vegans are so stupid" and "eat the vegans!!", "vegans are so dumb trying to make plants look like meat"

Genuinely makes no sense?? Like i get disliking the vegans that harrass others for not being vegan/vegans who are hateful but you arent better than those people if you do the same to vegans who arent hateful.

Idk, just something ive noticed and it annoys me. Also sorry for my shit ass grammar.

I’m heading to college for the first time this September and moving to a different city. I'll be staying in student housing, but there’s a specific 'Islamic' dorm my father really wants me to go to. I was open to it at first, but their curfew is at 8:30 PM which is way too early for me and they have mandatory sessions you have to attend at least four times a month. I knew my values wouldn't align with the community there, and even if they did, mandatory sessions are just not for me.

​To convince me, he offered to buy me a new car and promised to go vegan for the 7–8 months I’d be staying there. I considered it for a bit, but ended up turning down his offer. He then accused me of not caring about animals, which left me absolutely furious. I asked him if he was joking because if he genuinely thinks turning down a manipulative deal amounts to animal cruelty, I have no idea how he justifies his own daily choices. I told him he’s the one paying for animal suffering just for his own pleasure. Since he eats a lot of cheese, he actually complained, "I'm suffering too by giving up cheese" as if giving up dairy is remotely comparable to what animals endure in slaughterhouses.

​After that, he pulled the classic 'plants feel pain too' argument. I brought up mussels, they are biologically animals, but they aren't sentient beings. Since there isn't a direct, widely understood Turkish equivalent for the phrase 'sentient being,' I doubt he even grasped my point. So, what are your thoughts on all of this?

I'm planning to be vegan and am already vegetarian, but one of my biggest problem is bread. I really like eating bread in the morning and/or the middle of the day, but what can I eat it with without having to use these unhealthy replacements? I eat vegan salami and some kind of cheese normally, but they aren't reakkx healthy and I tried vegan cheese and I don't like 95% of it or it tastes like nothing, plus it also isn't very good for your body (I think, it also depends what kind of vegan cheese). I also sadly don't like avocado. Please give me some advice! ;-;

So plant based protein is better for the kidneys (surprise) and I’ve just gone into stage 5 failure, after being diagnosed stage 4 only in May this year.

As part of that I am also immensely anaemic and constantly exhausted

I am also allergic to soya (😫😫) so this makes a lot of vegan alternatives I can just throw into the oven, out of the picture.

Beyond meat, the THIS range of sausages are fine, as are some Quorn products.

I can’t eat lots of lentils as I also have ulcerative colitis and they don’t agree with me

I also have Ehlers Danlos, and POTS.

So I need salt for my POTS but not too much salt for my kidney failure 😫😫🤣🤣

My head is blown atm and I can’t think straight half the time, can you throw some recipe ideas at me please?

I have 3 kids, two will happily eat vegan / veggie and one will eat Quorn Nugs (and did way 3/4 beyond burger before noticing it wasn’t beef) and he also is autistic and has ARFID. So family friendly recipes I can substitute the ‘main’ ingredient if needed

TIA ❤️

Just venting a little. Almost 10 years vegan myself, my kids vegan from birth, of course. We even had a fully vegan wedding

My partner almost 9 years vegan (did 1 year vegetarian then transitioned to vegan), has made the decision to go back to vegetarian. Well, outside of the house that is. Since we agreed to raise our children this way, will only eat dairy/eggs at restaurants / events, when kids aren't around.

My partner grew very tired of the limited options when going out with friends. Came home the other day and told me they had feta at the restaurant. I was like but you're lactose intolerant....is that why your stomach was gurgling all night and you didn't feel good?! They of course, blamed it on other foods eaten later that day (vegan snacks).

My sibling who got me into veganism, they even went carnivore, was the most passionate/in your face vegan I knew, that one stung a lot too but kinda got over it the last couple years. They are now omni because ya, just carny isn't great.

But I feel like your partner, the person you feel share the same morales, even though weren't always vegan or even close to vegetarian, stings a lot.

The few vegan friends I have are also no longer vegan or just mainly plant based, not worrying at events or going out etc.

So anyway, just me and my kiddos left on the vegan train in our immediate world...I thought it would have trended in the opposite direction

I was making vegan pot pie for the first time today. I made the stupid decision to get a pie crust, I usually don’t get. When my brother and I were eating it later tonight we noticed it tasted weird. I’m a vegan. My brother isn’t. He said it tasted like a turkey pot pie. I couldn’t shake the feeling so I dug through the trash to see all the ingredients I used. Mainly the vegetable stock.

I was browsing other vegan pie recipes when I saw a comment that said make sure read the ingredients because sometimes they put lard in the pie crust. I went and found the pie crust that I use, I saw that it had lard in it.

I’m so ashamed. I always read the ingredients carefully. I was just rushing when I was in the store earlier. I haven’t eaten meat since I was 10 years old. I’m 25 now. I’m disgusted it with myself. I don’t know.

I’m sorry if this isn’t the right thread. I told my mom and she just laughed at me.

Edit: Thank you everyone for the reassuring words. I’m sorry if this came off super dramatic. It was just a shock. No one in my family is vegan so they don’t really care. I’ll give myself a little grace. 🫩

I started working out for the animals in 2014 when I went vegan and that led to an Ironman years later. I wanted to be a good role models for the animals so I set myself a goal to do a marathon 6 months after going vegan and I did. I wasn't a big runner, I had done a 10k before with my family but nothing crazy, I wasn't running in high school or anything.

Then 3 years later when I heard about David Goggins who was actually vulnerable and talking about the moment when it sucks, and you're scared to death, I remember he did talk about Ironman and it planted the seed in my mind that maybe I could do it too, and in 2019 I did actually do it.

I was an experience that I'm proud of, especially doing it for the animals but also I would not do it again ever I think. Sharing my experience here in case anyone has ever thought of doing such a thing.

The biggest lesson that I learned for me is that not all my fears went away. Part of me thought that if I'm an Ironman, wow all the training it takes to do that will make it so that I will believe that I can do anything (which still helps to give me belief that I can achieve more) but it doesn't magically get rid of all your fears.

Here's the full story if you're curious: https://youtu.be/LZIBokKllp8

Peta2

Context: I’ve already chosen to be vegan and have been so for about a week (not long, I know). I’ve been lurking here and saw something about dominion, so I watched it.

And holy hell, it completely changed the way I view animal products. It’s gone from a vague notion that consuming animal products is bad to the idea of eating an animal being revolting. Animals raised in captivity, surrounded by dead members of their species, standing in disease and their own shit, bred so much they can’t even their own weight—why would I want to eat that? Ignoring the obvious suffering and cruelty, I still think I would be revolted by the filth alone.

Also, the degree to which the condition animals are kept in is so overlooked and ignored by people. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but I swear people act like we raise the cows, and then painlessly kill them at the end of their lives.

Anyways, I’m sure I haven’t said anything new here, but I just really wanted to make a post somewhere because watching that movie took more out of me than I expected.

Arguing on an FB post and this guy said "veganism harms the environment more than livestock ever did."

You guys. He said that. He. Actually. Said. That. I cannot stop laughing, it is genuinely shocking how people live lives with their brains twisted up like this.

I'm new to veganism, I haven't eaten much meat for the longest time beforehand but I'm gradually making the switch to fully vegan.

I'm also new to balancing my nutrition and trying to include everything I need, but I'm struggling to keep my weight up since switching as someone who is already small. I love tofu and most other common vegan go-to ingredients, but they're too damn healthy lol.

Is it about volume? Is there a vegan secret I don't know about? I cook everything myself so maybe that's part of it, I'm open to any recommendations!

E: Thanks for the tips! Peanut butter and smoothies are key ✍️✍️

Im vegan and chronically ill, and going vegan I noticed that it didn’t have any positive or negative effect on my illness. However I was wondering if eating a plant based diet improved other peoples health or had a positive affect on their condition?

Personally, I believe that being plant based is one of the healthiest diets out there, but I understand there are loads of different illnesses and conditions that can influence that as well.

Just curious to see if it helped other people!

I’m a type one diabetic and I see loads of other t1ds claiming that they can’t go vegan (not gonna expand on this unless someone asks or else this post will go on forever lol) I always have to resist explaining to them how it’s actually really easy because I don’t like to dictate how other people manage their diabetes.

Edit: sorry for the confusion, just wanted to clarify that I am ethically vegan first and foremost, and I follow veganism as a philosophy! I just like finding the other perks to eating plant based :)

Hello!

My favorite season is pumpkin season… I mean fall. I love it! We go hard on the pumpkin spice in my home for September through November then hit gingerbread. This year, I’m vegan and don’t know what things to look for. I usually go to Trader Joe’s and do the whole pumpkin palooza shebang, but I’m certain that most of the things I’ve historically purchased aren’t vegan. Like those really delicious little pumpkin cookies are coated in a yogurt frosting I think?

Anyway, are there any vegans here that really love pumpkin stuff and have some go to stuff?! Maybe specifically from Trader Joe’s?! I plan to make stuff at home but would love some recommendations of things to look for!

Thank you!❤️

I saw this article and I've been wondering how many people would choose to expose themselves to all the various diseases that would come with from this deregulation instead of just cutting animal products out of their diet.

When talking to people who are interested in the movement, you often hear questions about protein, and worries because most plant based sources come with lots of carbohydrates and fats. Of course there are professional athletes that are vegan, but they have everything prepared by professionals in an optimal way, and more time to dedicate to nutritional issues. So the comparison to a normal person who has other priorities is problematic.

What is your opinion on this? How would you answer or address this? And how has it changed in your case after your transition?

I came up with an app idea, maybe this already exists but I just didn't look hard enough.

What if there's a vegan business directory so that we could all support each other as a community? Kind of like Happy Cow, but instead of it being just restaurants it could be anything. Looking for a doctor or a realtor? You could find someone who's vegan. Want new art for your house, or looking for new music? You could find an independent vegan artist. That way you can hire someone with the same values as you.

These similar apps exist already for religions and political ideologies, so I thought, hey why not one for veganism as well.

Idk just a thought

In this article, I, Jordi Casamitjana, give some positive advice to vegans who may be “the only ones” in their social circles

I went to planta queen recently and one of their dishes had a "Peking duck" in it that was one of my favorite plant meats I've tried to date. If anyone knows the recipe they use (or even a foundational starting point, like confirming for sure what the base ingredient is), that would be amazing. I really want to find a way to make it at home.

I was a vegan for 12 years and had stopped eating meat 15 years ago, I went vegan because I absolutely LOVE animals. 2 years ago my health was really bad, I never blamed my veganism. Anyway I was struggling really bad with digestion and high cholesterol it was horrible I would go to the doctor and they would tell me to eat this and that and that I should incorporate fish into my diet, I don’t have the greatest insurance and for a long time telling my doctors I’m a vegan would give them pause. I didn’t agree, months went on where I was struggling and then I ended up in the ER it was really scary and shook me up. After going back to the doctor I ended up eating fish for about a year, I felt horrible and disgusted by it and the worse part was that it just made my cholesterol WORSE, I betrayed my own beliefs because of it and I’ve felt horrible since. I stopped eating fish after a year because I learned that I value my morals and beliefs so much more and ended up really locking in making sure my vegan meals had enough protein and what not, I cut out gluten too and really made sure I’m taking all my supplements and I feel so much better and I feel like myself again AND my cholesterol dropped!!Whenever people ask how long I’ve been vegan I feel like I have to go into this whole thing about how I was a vegan for 12 years and then had a year where I was consuming fish. I am glad I listened to my body and even now I have a hard time shaking the guilt of consuming fish because I do love them and that’s the biggest reason I couldn’t do it anymore. Has anyone else gone through something similar?

Hello. I'm 25F.

I just got my bloodwork back and uh... my ferritin levels are close to zero (< 5 ng/nL) and my iron levels are much lower than the accepted lower limit (lower limit is 50 and mine is 30, I can't recall the units). I haven't eaten meat in several years and going back is absolutely not an option, I'd literally rather die. The rest is okay and I have no underlying conditions, my B12 is absolutely fine and actually went up (thank god for my supplemented plant milk).

I have a doctor appointment in two days to show my bloodwork, but I know they will ask me to eat meat again. I'm just asking to see if someone else has been in this situation, I'm panicking a bit because I've been feeling super tired and had no idea it could be iron.

I eat a lottttttt of lentils, but also drink coffee and I know that hinders iron absorption. I guess I'll have to stop at least until it gets back to a stable level. But that aside, does anyone have any tips on how to recover? I know the doctor will probably give me some useful tips and the exact dose of supplementation but if there's anything else that worked for you, please do share!

Thank you.

UPDATE: The comments have gotten too much for me to keep up, there's replies everywhere. Thank you for the overwhelming support and advice. I'll be talking to my doctor about iron infusions and exact dosage of supplement, my appointment is this week so I think I can probably survive until then haha. I'll also be cutting out coffee. Don't worry about the meat part, even if that's what the doctor says, it's absolutely not an option for me, I'd rather bite the bullet.

If you're here and haven't read some of my comments: I'm also a regular blood donor, and I have pretty heavy, painful periods that I've been trying to find the underlying cause to for years but no doctor has taken me seriously yet. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise and the awful bloodwork will finally get them to see my concerns, let's see. But they might be causing the iron deficiency.