Debunking false believes

It lacks protein

Protein is essential to building bones, and body tissues, such as muscles, it plays a part in metabolic reactions, immune response, protein provides energy, assists in cellular repair, form blood cells, and more. So, if I not eating fish, meat, and dairy, where do I get my protein?

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Despite what most people may think, protein is very easy to obtain if your calorie intake is adequate. There are many ways to get enough protein on a plant-based diet. We have lentils, tofu, tempeh, beans, quinoa, nuts, seeds, edamame, chickpeas, just to name a few.

The only issue about being plant-based is that not all plant-based proteins are complete proteins, meaning that they don’t contain adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids.

But, as long as you’re eating a wide variety of whole plant-based protein sources, you can manage to get enough of each essential amino acid throughout the day and you are good to go.

And don’t worry about if you are an athlete or if you are a very active person. There are lots of professional athletes who are on a plant-based diet. Here are some examples:

• Six-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton
• world record marathon runner Fiona Oakes
• Olympic weightlifter Kendrick Farris
• the first surfer to win back-to-back gold medals post-1996 Tia Blanco
• Vegan Ultraman and Ironman athlete Rich Roll
• Retired strongman and former bodybuilder Patrik Baboumian
• (…)

If you’re interested in nutrition or fitness, I recommend watching “The Game Changers,” a documentary film on Netflix about the benefits of plant-based diets for athletes, it’s very interesting 🙂

It´s cultural

Food is part of our culture, traditional foods and cuisine are passed down from one generation to the next within families and communities. Fish and chips from England, “cozido a portuguesa” from Portugal, cheesy pizzas from Italia, Chinese dumplings… And what about festivities? Just we just stop eating boiled eggs and roasted lamb on Easter or eating turkey on Christmas, for example?  Should we just end with years of history and change our traditions for the sake of the animals and for the sake of the planet? That doesn’t make much sense…

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The reason why society progressed is because we looked into our actions and we question if they were moral and acceptable. Just because we have done things for millions of years, just because it’s part of our culture and our traditions it does not justify an action.

Slavery, cannibalism, human sacrifice, torture, and sexism have been once cultural traditions. Just because everyone does it or because it has been done for a long time, does that make it morally justifiable? I don’t think so.

Look, I know that eliminating animal products entirely from your diet may be difficult because sadly we live in a society that is not very vegan-friendly. But please consider reducing your consumption of animal products. Whatever route you choose just remember that you vote with your money, and together we can decrease the demand for food choices that compromise the well-being of our planet and increase the demand for foods that will help us sustain a healthy earth and healthy people.

It´s part of our nature

We have been eating meat, fish, and dairy for so long, and eating animals contributed to the evolution of our brains. So, what is wrong about eating animals?

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Let me start by clarifying that we started eating animals not because it was tasty but because we need them to survive. We started eating animals in times of food scarcity. And, although there are some studies that claim that the human brain developed because of our consumption of meat, there are a lot of other studies that claim the opposite: some studies claim that humans have evolved large brains because we started eating and cooking starchy carbohydrates like potatoes, for example, and others claim that we expanded our consciousness by consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms which allowed us to access parts of our brain previously unexplored, which therefore made us more self-aware and intelligent.

Still, many successful societies have eaten a primarily plant-based diet, including some of the healthiest and longest-living populations. Religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism have incorporated plant-based diets for thousands of years.

Also, I don’t think people are actually worried about brain development every time they eat hamburgers or fried chicken. Quite the opposite in fact. If you actually care about humans evolution, please reconsider switching to a plant-based diet and reducing animal products as is it shortening your lifespan, destroying our planet, and causing an unimaginable amount of unnecessary harm to innocent, living beings.

It’s expensive

There are so many high-priced vegan products hitting the shelves in grocery stores. If I were to go vegan, I will end up broke!

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The cost of a vegan diet is very dependent on your grocery list. Let me explain:

First of all, rice, pastas, legumes, vegetables, fruit, beans… are the cheapest and more affordable food you can buy in a supermarket. Actually, the most expensive foods you can buy in a supermarket are fish, meat, and dairy products.

The only area where vegan products may be more expensive are substitutes (which you totally don’t have to purchase to be on a healthy plant-based diet!) For example, a plant-based burger may be more expensive than a regular burger. But that has to do with the law of supply and demand: as more people buy plant-based products, the price will come down. And we are already seeing this! It´s becoming even easier and more accessible to be on a plant-based diet.

Annnndddd even if eating plant-based was more expensive, I think that it is better to spend a little money on quality food now than spending much more money on medical bills in the future and contributing to the unnecessary suffering of animals. Your health is an investment.   

People around me are not vegan and won’t support me

This is actually what I consider the most challenging part of being on a plant-based diet, especially if you are still dependent on your parents.

I think the first thing to do is try to explain to your family why it is that you want to change your diet: Show them the documentaries that influenced you (I will link some documentaries for you, if you need to), find some medical studies, find research that proves that a plant-based diet is healthier for us and for the environment. Find what it is that you think your family will resonate with most. If you live at home, offer to cook them food, dinner, lunch, breakfast, whatever it is and show them that vegan food is affordable, accessible, delicious, and nutritious. Tell your family that you want to change your diet because you want to feel better. Tell your family all the reasons why it is that you think a plant-based diet is the best way to live. And, before that conversation, arm yourself with all the knowledge possible, so when your family asks you the typical questions about a plant-based diet you can answer them in a calm and respectful manner.

I would also suggest doing the same thing for your friends as well. Send them the documentaries, send them the videos, send them the articles that inspired you to want to make the change. Because it might just be that they have never thought about a plant-based diet before. They too might want to make the change and change their diets or even become vegan.

But I think the important thing is, is to not give up and to stay strong in your convictions, don’t be disrespectful to other people who are not vegan or plant-based, be a good example and over time, I promise you that your friends and family will grow to respect that and maybe you can inspire them to change their diets too.

Meat is tasty

I just can´t give up cheese/pork/fish/eggs/(…). It’s so good!

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The questions that you have to ask yourself are: Do I value taste over life, over my health and over the sustainability of the planet? Are my taste buds more important that a life of a living animal? Please note than when we eat a non-vegan meal, it lasts about 20min, but the animal is gone forever or being exploited.

Also, the thing about being on a pant-based diet is that you don’t have to give up any of your favourite foods! There are vegan alternatives for all the animal products we eat: fish, meat, eggs, milk, tacos, pizza, hamburgers, Mac and cheese, cake, cookies, ice cream…literally everything! It has never been easier to get recipes for plant-based foods. There are lots and lots of delicious recipes on YouTube, Instagram and blogs. Restaurants are implementing vegan options and vegan menus, supermarkets have more vegan alternatives than ever before and the good thing is that its expending all the time.

And, even if still answered yes to the questions below, please reconsider reducing your animal consumptions. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good—you help animals every single time you choose the veggie option. It’s all about doing what you can and what feels right to you.  Consider becoming flexitarian, for example, or try a meet free Monday. It won’t cause you any harm. It will boost your health, ease pressure on the planet and you will have lots of fun making and eating really interesting food.