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ohboysoy
Feb 4th, 2005, 08:36 PM
I wanted to know people's opinion on this: I believe there is a vegan continuum with people who follow a vegan diet but not the lifestyle per say on one end and the vegan police on the other end. I became vegetarian for health reasons mainly and for animal rights. However, I personally am eating a "vegan diet," and I use quotations because I eat honey, to lose weight and be healthier in the long run not necessarily for animal rights. In this forum it seems my choice would be less moral than the consensus. Do people who are vegan in every aspect of their life feel that people who do what I do are "less vegan" than they are?

Poison Ivy
Feb 4th, 2005, 08:43 PM
In this forum it seems my choice would be less moral than the people who if it has anything to do with animal would not let it come within 5 feet of them unless it was a pet.

Okay, this may just be because I am REALLY tired, but I SO do not understand this last sentence. The rest of the post I got - but what exactly do you want opinions on, is it that you eat honey and are vegan for predominantly health reasons as opposed to ethically???? :confused:

gertvegan
Feb 4th, 2005, 09:18 PM
Is the Is veganism a diet? (http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=993) thread what you are after ?

eve
Feb 5th, 2005, 08:09 AM
I wanted to know people's opinion on this: I believe there is a vegan continuum with people who follow a vegan diet but not the lifestyle per say on one end and the vegan police on the other end. I became vegetarian for health reasons mainly and for animal rights. However, I personally am eating a "vegan diet," and I use quotations because I eat honey, to lose weight and be healthier in the long run not necessarily for animal rights. In this forum it seems my choice would be less moral than the consensus. Do people who are vegan in every aspect of their life feel that people who do what I do are "less vegan" than they are?
Hi, no I don't think you are "less vegan", but "not vegan". There are no vegan police - it's a joke. If you deliberately consume honey, then you are contributing to the suffering of bees. After all, it is their honey, not yours or mine.

you are perfectly entitled to eat whatever you want, and if you want to eat vegan foods without following a vegan lifestyle per se, that is your choice. Incidentally, honey is only bees' vomit.

Artichoke47
Feb 5th, 2005, 11:11 AM
I concur. You are not a vegan, so it's not possible for you to be less vegan. You eat an animal-product-free diet, with the exception of honey. That is how you should describe yourself, in my opinion.

Vegans (who properly call themselves such) avoid cruel clothing items, such as wool, leather, fur, silk; avoid products tested on animals and with animal ingredients in personal care items, such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste; and further, most vegans are against the exploitation of animals and causing animals to suffer, which is far from "health" reasons.

Hope that helps.

gertvegan
Feb 5th, 2005, 07:46 PM
I became vegetarian for health reasons mainly and for animal rights. However, I personally am eating a "vegan diet," and I use quotations because I eat honey, to lose weight and be healthier in the long run not necessarily for animal rights.
ohboysoy, what would you do if there was no improvement in your health ?

John
Feb 5th, 2005, 08:50 PM
Please don't take this as a personal condemnation because I am friends with plenty of people who would never give up meat. If you eat honey you are missing the point of veganism. Vegans don't believe in animal exploitation. We do what we can to avoid participating in it. There are some gray areas but it is very plain that exploiting bees to satisfy a sweet tooth is not the vegan way.

And trust me, I'm far from a vegan cop. I'm just stating fact.

ohboysoy
Feb 6th, 2005, 02:32 PM
ohboysoy, what would you do if there was no improvement in your health ?

Actually there has been a tremedous improvement in my health. I have dropped 40lbs from eating this way.

ohboysoy
Feb 6th, 2005, 02:36 PM
Personally I think many people on this forum has a problem. I know many vegans and hanging out with them I never get this perception, but on this forum I feel everyone is competing for the title of "most vegan." Although some of you think there are no vegan police on this forum I have to disagree and say I've ran into my fair share.

MzNatural
Feb 6th, 2005, 04:23 PM
Just curious if you eliminated the honey do you think your weight loss would stop? Personally the occasion I do eat sweets I prefer agave nectar. However I’m definitely not going to tell you how to live your life since I would not appreciate someone doing that to me.:o

I do disagree with you that many on this forum have a problem. Look through the threads you will see a lot of support/information for all members including those who aren’t but have questions relating to Veganism. The majority is extremely helpful/polite, which is why I post on this forum. I have visited one in particular where I felt stating I was Vegan was a reason to attack and this was on a vegetarian forum. I encounter that, at times, in real life. If I have control of the situation I definitely am not going to subject myself to that brand of negativity online. :)

Korn
Feb 6th, 2005, 04:35 PM
Personally I think many people on this forum has a problem. I know many vegans and hanging out with them I never get this perception, but on this forum I feel everyone is competing for the title of "most vegan." Although some of you think there are no vegan police on this forum I have to disagree and say I've ran into my fair share.
I don't know who you are thinking about, but communicating with words alone often leads to the sentences you write coming out in a more negative way than intended. For example, when someone writes "You are not a vegan", it might 'sound' like this person is policing others who are doing a lot not to harm themselves and animals by eating a plant based food, while it just is an attempt to 'police' the meaning of the word vegan. See what happened to the definition of 'vegetarian'. We don't want ovo-vegans, pesco-vegans, crueltyfreechicken-vegans or idonteatanimalsbutidoiftheydonthavebigbrowneyes-vegans... I mean, it's always better for both humans and animals to avoid harming and exploiting other animals, and every action counts. But it's also important not to distort the meaning of 'vegan'.

However, I think it's important to remember that most of us have been meat eaters, dairy eaters and so on - there is no need to be arrogant because others aren't doing or eating or wearing the right thing.

Artichoke47
Feb 6th, 2005, 08:24 PM
Just FYI, I was stating a fact as well, and I didn't mean to come across as rude.

And most of us on this forum view each other as friends who talk or help in time of need. The people on this board are hardly my competitors. I don't know how everyone else feels about that, though. I imagine it's the same.

Korn
Feb 6th, 2005, 08:27 PM
And most of us on this forum view each other as friends who talk or help in time of need. The people on this board are hardly my competitors. I don't know how everyone else feels about that, though. I imagine it's the same. I think so too. :)

John
Feb 7th, 2005, 12:34 AM
...I eat honey...Do people who are vegan in every aspect of their life feel that people who do what I do are "less vegan" than they are?

You asked. Don't act as if I am going around policing people.

gertvegan
Feb 8th, 2005, 03:23 PM
Actually there has been a tremedous improvement in my health. I have dropped 40lbs from eating this way.
I glad to hear you have seen a tremendous improvement, though you didn't answer the question.

If someone saw no improvement in their health when changing from omni to veggie, to vegan, and it was done for health reasons, there would be no reason to carry on with the diet.

If however, someone saw no improvement in their health, but was doing it for animal rights reasons, they would stick with the lifestyle.

A vegan lifestyle is from the heart, was as a vegan diet isn't.