Anti-Vegan-Myths – The 10 Most Common Arguments Against Veganism and a Plant-Based Diet Debunked

What are typical vegan prejudices and myths about a plant-based diet? In fact, there are countless persistent clichés and misconceptions that prevent many people from engaging with the Reasons for veganism to deal with.

Often it is enough to pronounce the word "vegan" in order to get a strong reaction the counterpart or even a emotional conflict trigger. This is only logical - after all, most people are particularly concerned about their own eating habits and animal welfare. But there are ways and means to make the general discourse more objective in future. I would like to introduce you to one way of doing this here.

In this article, you will learn about some of the most typical clichés about veganism and plant-based nutrition. I will present them to you one by one, refute and refute them. So that you too can form a more informed opinion about a diet and put aside any possible prejudices against vegans. Let's go!

You can find a brief overview here in advance:

1. Eating animals is my personal choice.
2. Without animal products you lack proteins.
3. Vegan is way too expensive.
4. Plants also have feelings.
5. No animals die for eggs and milk.
6. The soy consumption of vegans is destroying the rainforest.
7. That's how the food chain works - we're at the top.
8. I only eat meat from happy and humanely slaughtered animals.
9. If you were stranded on a desert island, you would also eat meat.
10. The whole world will never become vegan.

The most common prejudices against a plant-based diet and vegans

Let's not waste any time. Whether dangerous half-knowledge, myth or cliché - these are the most common prejudices against vegans that I personally hear in everyday life.

Vegan Prejudice #1 - "Eating animals is my personal choice."

Similar prejudice: What you eat is your own business - live and let live.

A personal decision is a decision that only affects you. For example, if you decide tomorrow whether to wear the red or the blue sweater. But when we decide to eat the body parts of animals, it is definitely a personal choice. always involves a victim.

So eating meat is no longer a decision that affects only yourself - and therefore it is also no personal decision. Especially in light of the fact that we no longer need to eat animals to survive - and that the consumption of animal products exacerbates other problems (e.g. the Rainforest deforestation and climate change), which have consequences for all living beings on earth.

Tip: Everyday discussions often end with the fact that meat, cheese and other animal-based foods simply taste too good to stop eating them. After all, taste is one of the most honest arguments for not being vegan. In the linked article you will get to know more of them.

Vegan prejudice #2 - "Without animal products you lack protein."

Similar prejudice: A vegan diet is unhealthy.

In fact, many plant foods even more proteins than in animal meat. Particularly rich in protein are for example Pulses, in particular Soybeans, also Seitan, nuts, seeds and Whole grain products.

But also Broccoli or Mushrooms have a high protein content in terms of calories. Pumpkin seeds, peanuts and Oats are also good alternative sources of protein. So no one needs to fear a protein deficiency due to a meat-free diet. How you can Cover your protein requirements as ideally as possible with plant-based foodsyou can find out in the linked article.

A balanced one, A vegan diet is not unhealthy. Definitely unhealthy, however, are residues of Antibiotics, pus or feces in animal foods. Animal products are even responsible for many of the nutrition-related widespread diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure).

There is generally no essential nutrient that you can only find in animal products. As with any other form of nutrition, a plant-based diet is all about providing your body with the nutrients it needs for long-term health.

Therefore, to be on the safe side when switching to a plant-based diet, you should Regular blood tests to ensure the supply of the so-called "potentially critical nutrients".

Tip: It is just as often said that do not build muscle on a vegan diet can. In the linked article, you can find out why you can become or stay fit and fit with a purely plant-based diet. You will also learn vegan competitive athletes:inside that prove this.

Vegan prejudice #3 - "Vegan is far too expensive."

Similar prejudice: I can't afford vegan food.

I actually hear this vegan prejudice quite often. But to refute it directly: vegan food doesn't have to be expensive: pasta, rice, potatoes, pulses or regional Vegetables are even the cheapest food in the supermarket.

However, the vegan substitutes are comparatively expensive for meat and cheese, for example. The Price differences However, this is mainly due to (currently still) lower production volumes and few competing offers, the state subsidization of the Factory farming and the moderate tax rate for cow's milk, meat and other animal products.

Ready-made products with meat are also expensive. But if you only occasionally resort to vegan meat substitutes and otherwise cook mainly fresh with pulses, pasta, rice or vegetables, your vegan diet can ultimately be even cheaper than a mixed diet.

Vegan Prejudice #4 - "Plants have feelings too."

Similar prejudice: Animals also die when plants are harvested.

There are no scientists:inside who could prove that plants are a central nervous system that could indicate a possible sensation of pain. It has been clearly proven that animals have feelings. Dogs, for example, wag their tails or throw themselves on their backs when they feel pleasure and chickens start pecking each other when they get stressed in the dark, cramped conditions of factory farming.

So animals clearly have feelings - Plants not according to current knowledge.

But even if plants had feelings, you should still be vegan. Because For example, around 25 kilograms of grain are needed to produce one kilogram of beef₁, which means that many more animals are at risk when the animal feed is harvested.

Vegan Prejudice #5 - "No animals die for eggs and milk."

Similar prejudice: I don't eat their body parts.

Unfortunately, this is another common misconception that has accompanied me for a long time. Through the one or other vegan documentation I then learned that laying hens have a natural life expectancy of up to eight years. And since their Laying performance decreases rapidlythe hens are slaughtered after just 1.5 years for economic reasons.

Male chicks are a by-product of the egg industry. And as they are useless to the industry, they are treated in exactly the same way: shortly after hatching, on the very first day of their lives, the male chicks are thrown into industrial meat grinders and shredded or gassed alive. This Chick shredding is a common practice for cage-free, free-range and organic eggs.

Male calves are in a similar situation. As they give no milk and are too lean to be fattened, they are also largely worthless for the industry. They are therefore also used as unwanted waste product viewed and killed.

Their mothers are also real high-performance machines - and the female calves will soon be too. The However, they can provide the required "milk yield" for a maximum of 6 years₂ before they lose their value to the industry and are killed. This often happens much earlier because they have collapsed from exhaustion. Their average life expectancy is around 20 years.

Tip: Why a vegetarian diet is not enoughif you do not have Cruelty to animals more, I will explain in another blog post.

Vegan prejudice #6 - "The soy consumption of vegans is destroying the rainforest."

Similar prejudice: only vegans eat soy and other imported products anyway.

Of the global soybean harvest, in reality around 80 percent as ground animal feed in industrial animal feed production, as cows, pigs or chickens grow particularly quickly as a result. Around 18 percent of the harvest is also processed so that the product can be used as biodiesel or frying oil, for example.

Only around 2 percent are actually made into soy patties, schnitzels, plant-based milk or other delicacies of the meat-free diet.₃ These are then usually European organic soy from GMO-free agriculture. Genetically modified soy is not even approved as food for end consumers in Germany - but it is approved as animal feed. Soy cultivation for animal products is therefore destroying the rainforest.

A similar prejudice is that vegans consume so many imported products - for example Gooji berries and avocados. Whether vegans or meat eaters consume more imported products cannot currently be proven. From my own experience, however, I know that someone who is vegan at heart is very consciously concerned with the ethical, social and ecological consequences of their own actions and tries to make the best possible choices. to live as sustainably as possible.

Tip: About the Prejudices against soy I have also recorded a separate article for you. Look gladly times purely!

Vegan prejudice #7 - "That's just the way the food chain is - we're at the top."

Similar prejudice: We are intelligent omnivores who have always eaten meat. Moreover, other animals also eat animals.

For one thing, we are not at the top of a natural food chain. Otherwise you wouldn't be afraid of encountering a lion unarmed or swimming in a pool with crocodiles or sharks. On the other hand, a food chain is a group of organisms that are dependent on each other in a certain order as food. However, we are not dependent on eating animal body parts. We can eat a purely plant-based diet and do not have to fear any negative health consequences.

Even if we were at the top of the food chain, how could we justify killing around 74 billion farm animals every year just to get their food? Eating body parts even though we don't have to?₄ And why do we humans feel so uncomfortable when we see pictures of how animals are treated for our food? Malaise is not exactly the behavior you would expect from an apex predator.

And what about the argument of intelligence? Every human and non-human animal is more intelligent in some discipline than the other. But even if we were more intelligent in every discipline, intelligence cannot be used to justify the deliberate suffering inflicted on other living beings for a steak or a bologna sandwich.

As you can see, there are other clichés and misconceptions in this prejudice. So that this paragraph doesn't get too long, I'll explain and refute them for you here, further contributions:

• Are we humans carnivores, omnivores, or herbivores?
• Animals eat other animals, too - so I can, too.
• We have always eaten meat.

Vegan prejudice #8 - "I only eat meat from animals that have been slaughtered humanely."

Similar prejudice: I eat very little meat - and when I do, it's from happy animals that have had a good life.

Humane slaughter is a so-called Oxymoron - two terms that contradict each other. Human means merciful, humane, indulgent and without harshness. You cannot kill a living being in a merciful, humane way if it does not want to die.

Or how would you slaughter or kill someone in a humane way? Certainly not with a captive bolt gun, upside down in an electric bath and certainly not in a gas chamber. But these are precisely the most "humane" methods of killing in factory farming, from which around 98% of meat in Germany originates.₅

Try to put yourself in the position of the cow or the pig. and then decide which of these methods of death you would prefer. Whether organic or conventional farming - in the end, all animals end up in the same slaughterhouse.

Assuming that an animal could actually be killed humanely, how would you ensure that the animal was killed humanely for you when you buy your meat? You can't guarantee whether the animals were happy and had a good life. And even if they did, wouldn't you rather save the animals that have a bad life so that the happy animals can continue to live out their joy of life?

Vegan Prejudice #9 - "If you were stranded on a desert island, you'd eat meat too."

Similar prejudice: When it comes to survival, you would also kill an animal - besides, you have leather shoes and a smartphone and you're not perfect.

Veganism is not about making everything perfect. Rather, it is about the fact that one's own daily actions do not demand any sacrifices.

But suppose I really were standing on a desert island: if there are animals on this hypothetical island, then there is also vegetation - i.e. plants that you can eat. In reality, we have the good fortuneto live where we can get all the food we need to live at any time. We are not fighting for our survival, but are free to choose whether we eat animal body parts or a plant-based diet.

On the Lack of perfection is also often alluded to with the smartphone or leather shoe argument - because child labor may have been used or you can simply not 100 percent vegan is. But apart from the fact that no one is perfect, a smartphone at least helps you to take part in daily social life - and vegans' leather shoes are usually old stock or even made from vegan leather.

Vegan Prejudice #10 - "The whole world will never go vegan."

Similar prejudice: You alone can't change anything anyway.

Veganism is more than a passing trend. It describes a heartfelt commitment to animal welfare that does not suddenly stop. Veganism is a global movement and an animal-friendly way of life that so many injustices in the world eliminated at the same time - but that also takes time.

It also took 400 years, for example, to convince white Americans to stop keeping slaves. However, injustices do not exist forever. You don't become a vegan because meat tastes so bad, but because your heart tells you that it is wrong to exploit, torture and kill animals for your own pleasure - and to let 800 million people go hungry₆ while we feed 56 billion farm animals at the same time.₇

So veganism actually counteracts several injustices at once - this is the reason why, at some point in the future, basically feed all people vegan be Eating animals will then be socially frowned upon.

In any case, you are not alone on the way there. The movement is growing rapidly. The only question is: Which side of history do you want to be on? On the side of the people who have spent their lives paying for animal suffering or on the side of the people who have stood up for the welfare and rights of animals?

Dispelling prejudices against veganism in everyday life

I hope that with the usual Sayings that vegans are currently still exposed toclean up a little further and Reduce possible prejudices could. There are so many more misconceptions and clichés, but naming them all would have gone beyond the scope of this article.

Just listen to your heart, let go of old habits and create new routines. Personally, after the Dominion film and some Street interviews with animal rights activists my prejudices were suddenly set aside, because since then I have been making my nutritional decisions Viewed from the perspective of animals have.

Finally, I would like to present the Book "Vegan ist Unsinn!" by Niko Rittenau, Ed Winters and Patrick Schönfeld. They really do refute all the prejudices against vegans in a logical and plausible way. Here you get it*.

Do you have questions or do you know more vegan prejudices and quick-witted answers to them? Then feel free to leave a comment!

Stay animal-friendly,

PS: For more information and a good start to vegan everyday life, I recommend the articles on Veganism and the vegan lifestyle.

References:
₁ Things explained - In a nutshell: Meat - The most delicious evil in the world, YouTube, 24.01.2019, Web, 18.01.2023 at 10:54, in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6f3dwxexZM.

₂ F. Enzenhofer: Let the chickens have their eggs!, available at https://www.veganblatt.com/huehner-eier. [18.01.2023].

₃ Albert Schweitzer Stiftung für unsere Mitwelt: Why soy sausage does not harm the rainforest (as of 01.06.2018). https://albert-schweitzer-stiftung.de/aktuell/warum-sojawurst-nicht-dem-regenwald-schadet. [18.01.2023].

₄ Things explained - In a nutshell: Meat - The tastiest evil in the world, YouTube, 24.01.2019, Web, 18.01.2023 at 08:53, in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6f3dwxexZM.

₅ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Animal welfare label - a way out of factory farming? (05.10.2022), available at https://www.daserste.de/information/wissen-kultur/w-wie-wissen/tierwohllabel-100.html. [18.01.2023].

₆ Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V.: Hunger: Spread, Causes & Consequences (as of 04.05.2020). https://www.welthungerhilfe.de/hunger. [18.01.2023].

₇ M. P. Rowland: 11 Facts About Your Food That Will Shock You (as of 03.01.2017), available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpellmanrowland/2017/01/03/shocking-food-facts/#62b4a09d1574. [18.01.2023].