r/exvegans

One of the main reasons I dont think I'll ever be vegan again is because of what I guess I see as the veganism trolley problem.

If I buy half a cow from a local farm and keep it in my freezer to use over the year- I have killed one cow.

If I eat vegan, eating brazil nuts and avacados flown in from half way around the world, eating so much quinoa that the communities it origionate from have been forced to become crop monocultures, using agave syrup and causing the bats that survive on agave to become almost extinct due to over harvesting... in harming hundreds.. maybe even thousands of animals and polluting the atmosphere far more than the production of one cow could...

And vegans just, refuse to see this.. they keep pulling the lever to kill the four people on the track instead of the one and patting themselves on the back for doing it... bizarre dissonance.

As a non-vegetarian, I’ve noticed that my vegetarian friends are usually very relaxed about my food choices. They don’t question or guilt me. But I’ve noticed something else too. Some of my non-vegetarian friends often poke fun at or question vegetarians, like asking, ‘Why don’t you eat meat?’ or jokes about their food choices. I’ve noticed people rarely ask a Muslim why they don’t eat pork. But they often ask vegetarians why they don’t eat meat. That double standard stands out.

ow leaving veganism saved my height, weight, and mental health (158cm/43kg -> 172cm/62kg at 18)

Hey everyone my name is devrim

I wanted to share my story here in hopes that it might resonate with someone who is currently struggling with veganism or hesitant to make a change.

During my time as a vegan, my health hit rock bottom. I was stuck at 158 cm (5'2") and weighed a miserable 43 kg (94 lbs). (Doctors said it was impossible for me to grow taller.) I was constantly sick with chronic respiratory infections that took weeks and rounds of antibiotics to clear up. My mental health was in shambles, and my body simply wasn't developing.

At 17-18, I decided enough was enough and completely pivoted my nutrition toward a raw/animal-based primal approach—focusing heavily on raw milk, raw eggs, quality meats, and fats.

The transformation in my body and mind has been nothing short of surreal:

Growth & Weight: I grew from 158 cm to 172 cm (5'7") and put on nearly 20 kg of healthy weight (now sitting at 62 kg / 136 lbs). My body finally had the bioavailable building blocks (D3, K2, cholesterol, animal protein) it desperately needed during puberty.

Immunity: Infections that used to wipe me out for weeks are gone. Recently, when I felt a respiratory issue coming on, I fueled my body with raw dairy and eggs, and recovered completely in just 2 days without any medications.

Mental Health & Diseases: My brain fog, anxiety, and psychological struggles completely vanished once I introduced proper fats and vitamins (B12, DHA, choline) back into my diet. I also reversed 3 chronic health conditions I was dealing with.

Shifting away from plant-based dogmas and giving my body proper, bioavailable animal nutrition genuinely gave me my life and potential back.

I currently teach people about proper nutrition online, and I've helped several people overcome veganism.

You must turn off your context filter otherwise this absolutely makes no sense!

>When a movie starts/ends with the statement “No animals were harmed in the making of this movie,” does that mean anything beyond the animals used in filming? For example, does it mean the actors, actresses, crew, etc. were eating vegan food during production?

I have heard some stories about people who lived for more than a hundred years, and their longevity was attributed to following a diet based on vegetables and fruits. There are also other spiritual sources and teachings from some ascetics that recommend eating vegetables and fruits and avoiding meat example " Ramana Maharshi " ( The food served at his ashram was strictly vegetarian, and he emphasized the importance of Sattvic food — that is, food regarded in Yoga and Vedanta as conducive to mental calmness and clarity. He also explicitly said that those who wish to gradually become accustomed to a vegetarian diet can do so.)

My question is: Is following such a diet considered unhealthy, or should I abandon this idea?

Hi all,

I'd like to here about your motives for stopping veganism. Was it purely for a nutritional stand point or were there other factors at play?

I used to be really passionate about things like the environment, animal rights and feminism, but after ruminating and having bad experiences with people I thought were good and on my side, It just started to become meaningless. Trying to do the right thing was stressful, isolating and punishing, and wasn't even making an impact anyway. I now feel so silly having tried so hard to be selfish for animals that don’t have morals or don’t care anyway. I feel embarrassed holding such high regard for the opinions of unpleasant, obnoxious people who would sacrifice me to save a rat. it was very exhausting being scrutinized for tiny mistakes whilst everyone else was being hypocritical as well.

I remember a while ago I was in an icecream shop with my family. I wanted to get vegan icecream, but the only flavor option was chocolate which i didn't want. It really made me think because i had learned that chocolate is almost ALWAYS made with slave labor, so i still wouldn't have been consuming ethically anyway. It really made me realize how meaningless and arbitrary It all was.

there is really no such thing as ethical consumption. Im seriously tired of being made to feel guilt and losing luxuries over things that don’t actually have an effect or benefit to my life anyway. have you seen nature? if we had to destroy forest, milk cows and test on animals so i can live in a house, be comfortable, healthy and fed then so be it. I feel so much better being a terrible person who does not care and keeps to themself.

Also I missed real icecream so much lmao.

I posted this on another subreddit page and I'm curious to see how it lands here.

I (27NB) was seeing this girl (25F) for a few 2 months and we got along really well. We have really good communication and a really beautiful connection. I used to be vegan for almost 2 years and decided to stop being vegan for 6 years because of the fact that I had an eating disorder while being vegan. The person I'm doing is also vegan and while I do believe in the values veganism has to offer, my personal relationship to veganism had to change because of health/mental health reasons. She ended up ending things with me because of values and although there could be more to get picture I was wondering what others in the group think about this. Ive been vegetarian for the last 2 months and have considered going vegan for the relationship but I have a lot to work on in terms of my relationship to food, especially while being vegan. Is her decision fair? And has anyone else been through something similar?

I have also considered working out my relationship with veganism and food out with a therapist.

Hi all, as title suggests I’ve recently stopped being vegan. I was meat free for the past 10 years or so and vegan for about 8 of those. It’s been probably 6-10 months of slowly incorporating very small amounts of meat and cheese to the point that I can now tolerate most animal products in normal quantities. The only items that still really bother me are gelatin, hyper processed dairy, and any form of beef or pork. I do deal with high quality dairy and fish + chicken very well. Eggs are also not my favorite but cause no issues for me. I really love to cook and make fresh meals at home but am struggling with knowing what to make. I work from home so I do have the freedom to cook every meal. I love white fish but how much is too much??? Are people really eating an animal protein at every meal? Atleast for every dinner? Seems a bit boring to have just chicken or fish every night lol, but maybe I need to experiment with how I make it. My husband grew up with simple meals and a lot of beef so he’s not much help. I’m looking for any advice in how to plan my meals around animal protein. And any healthy snacks too! I’ve lived the past decade of my life on veggies beans and tofu. Thanks in advance!

Quite a few vegans I talk to claim that I have an ideology that consists of torturing animals.

What are they talking about?

Is atheism a religion?

Not having an ideology is not an ideology.

https://preview.redd.it/b7c4czxx20kh1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=06f5b859c9385fdc180e3cc4ced4ab52bae8640b

What parent gives a child a book with graphic violence and traumatizes them from a young age? That‘s right, a vegan parent wanting to indoctrinate their child with an “ethical stance” or “morals”. Never mind that most kids can barely handle Charlotte’s Web.

I will admit, I am not a vegan, but I want to ask you guys for some perspective.

I am part of a wildlife rescue organization. We're fairly niche in our area, so it's not very big. Almost all the members are vegan, except me.

I see them casually discussing their vegan beliefs in our staff discord sometimes. They're heavily anti-breeding of animals and anti-use of animals, which like, fair enough. But then they also one day discussed the overlap of vegans with animal rescue, saying it wouldn't be possible for a non-vegan to be an animal rescuer as that's hypocritical.

I'm scared to out myself in the group so I've refrained from saying anything about myself that might suggest I am not vegan. Luckily whenever we do real-life social events it's always a vegan restaurant so I never have to justify eating meat.

Anyway, I just want to know, is this a common sentiment with animal rescue? I just really want to help animals that are sick and injured.

So this question is sparked by a conversation I had with a non vegan family member

Mostly about factory farming

I did say to them " You kill animals, just because you pay for someone else to do it you do still technically kill them"

I'm thinking like it's like the bystander effect where if you see let's say, someone innocent getting bullied to the point of violence, by standing around and you aren't helping. Not sure if that's a good example

The family member in question is, in my opinion, extremely out dated on all their information and they run on the "if I haven't seen it with my own eyes it's propaganda"

They have similar views for LGBTQ, Politics, like they don't believe the Epstein files are real and like they don't believe it was ever anywhere illegal to be gay/lesbian etc. based in the UK rn.

vvvv

But my question for you ex vegans, or anyone lurking, is:

Would you consider yourself to be a killer of those factory farmed animals. Even though someone else is doing it, you are paying for it.

^^^^

Side note: Please do not debate me on me being vegan, or question me on why I am etc. If it's to do with this question somehow then I happily may answer

I hope I'm allowed to post this here, I do find some of you on here to be reasonable in your non vegan ways and it definitely feels friendlier than the actual Vegan subreddit lol

I know why many vegan people may get upset when you frame it as a cult (and no, hivemind, animal sacrifice isn't a thing in all cults, the opposite), because framing a lifestyle and ethical choice as a cult isn't fair.

The fact is that, even thought you won't admit it, the internet and social media made it so easy to create cultish spaces, so that extremistic ideas vegans show on internet (from Disney - esque ideas about animals, forcing carnivorous animals to become vegan, thought it isn't healthy for them, even ideologies that frame any domesticated animal as a slave) have more ways to spread.

Online spaces often create echo chambers that dictate what one from that group has and cannot do. Reddit, for example, just makes echo chambers an easy phenomenon, so the "us vs them" mentality gets way stronger, alongside the cultish behaviours (and cults now spread even thanks to social media)

This isn't just about veganism, as even media fanbases act too often like this, creating a toxic environment.