"Lifestyle" vegans

[the_old_soul]

I have been hearing a lot about the distinction between diet vegans and lifestyle vegans lately. I consider myself a lifestyle vegan, but wonder what they means, exactly. Being vegan I take into account more Greenie principals, like not using plastic bags in markets, buying recyclable material (and recycling anything I can get away with) not

Comments

[wefoughthard]

i would say that diet vegans are those who are 'vegans' for reasons other than ethical and moral ones (avoiding animal suffering, being against the slaughter/exploitation of animals), and who might sometimes just not eat animal products, but would use non edible things with animal products in them freely. these people should actually be called 'strict vegetarians', because vegan is a term that is reserved for those who are doing their best to eliminate ALL animal products from their lives FOR ethical and moral reasons first and foremost, among other reasons such as environmentalism, health, etc.

such as:

'i don't eat dairy because it makes me sick, or the idea of it is just icky to me.' - strict vegetarian

'i don't eat dairy because i believe in avoiding animal suffering and alleviating environmental strains.'- vegan

i'm really not being 'elitist' here.

that's my opinion. i think the term 'vegan' gets thrown around a lot, like vegetarian. (pescatarian, pollo-vegetarian, etc. okay, NOT vegetarians!)

not wearing leather, wool or silk would totally be vegan, as those are animal products. not using plastic bags, recycling, and eating all organic are totally not necessary musts in the vegan lifestyle, but a LOT of vegans do these things because we tend to be a little more concious about our environment and what we put into our bodies. i know plenty of vegans who are extremely passionate about animal rights and envoronmentalism that eat mostly boca burgers, processed fake meats, other convenience foods, and out at restaurants all of the time because they can't cook, or just like bad food! haha.

i guess it takes all kinds to be vegan! i just think people tend to use that word a liiiiiittle too loosely sometimes.

[skirril]

What about someone who is vegan for both health reasons and ethical ones?

I was wondering this a short while ago, also, what about people who are vegan when they eat out (resturants, friend's houses) but eat animal products they know to be cruelty free (such as eggs from their own chickens) at home... Do they say "I am vegan" and avoid the complex explanation, or do they have another label...?

And what about if I choose to still have very small amounts of animal products in my diet? I am thinking of beeswax, a very small amount is used to coat certain sweets. Now, I know some people who call themselves vegans consume honey, I don't want to as I don't particularly like it anyway, but these sweets (liquorice: gelatine free and gummy bears: gelatine free) both have the beeswax coating, I wouldn't eat many, but if I chose to still eat them what label should I have?

[wefoughthard]

" eat animal products " = not vegan

vegans do not eat animal products or bi products, period. you're a vegetarian ('animal concious' vegetarian?) if you do that with the eggs.

and the beeswax/honey thing is something that's always been debatable within veganism. because they both come from living creatures that have eyes and hearts and are harmed in the production of harvesting these things, i choose not to use them, but some vegans do, depending on where they come from.

i am vegan for health and ethical reasons, but even if meat was super good for you, i still wouldn't eat it because of that ethical viewpoint.

[skirril]

BUT, what if that person is eating out and someone asks them what they do and don't eat, in THAT instance they would only eat vegan food... I know they wouldn't be vegan, but is there something to define someone who won't eat commercial animal products but will eat cruelty free animal products?

Yeah, I am not sure on the beeswax and honey thing. I reckon if it's easy to avoid I will certainly do it, but if there's a small amount in something that I wouldn't otherwise be able to have, that perhaps it is ok once every few months...

I'm still pretty undecided on it though, I would like to know exact figures concerning what percentage kill the bees over winter etc...

[wefoughthard]

you could say 'i don't eat anything that comes from animals unless its cruelty-free'

[skirril]

True...

No label then...

That's actually quite nice though, I don't like labels.