Veganism: dietary extremism that only about one percent of the United States is able to practice. Imagine what it’s like not to put a single animal product in or around your body for months, or even years. I couldn’t possibly. I suppose that’s why the theoretical council of vegans made October Vegetarian and Vegan Awareness Month.
I investigated what it was like to be vegan for a day because there’s no way I could hold out for two. It would mean no cheese, eggs, honey, leather, or film (Film and matches use gelatine— who knew?). Obviously, no meat either, but that wasn’t much of an adjustment for me.
This experiment would be difficult, but I was determined.
Assignment: Measure the effects of one day of strict veganism against the body.
Hypothesis: No animal products would make this lab rat (a.k.a me) irritable, tired and famished.
Materials:
One log, to chart my experiences during the day.
The willpower of someone stronger than me.
No animal products.
No preparation.
The Night Before: I found myself in my closet, checking the labels of sweaters, shirts and pants for wool or silk. This was not too difficult, merely annoying. The day of my experiment was forecasted to be cold and rainy, but I couldn’t wear my rain boots for fear that the glue that held them together was animal-based. I wore canvas Toms, bought under the pretext of being vegan. They weren’t the warmest, but they were the best I could do. I wrote “veggies” on my hand in bright green Sharpie, so I wouldn’t forget my experiment. Mood: apprehensive.
6:30 a.m.: When I scanned my shampoo’s ingredients for anything verboten, I found cochineal, a dye made from beetles. Seriously? My routine was already off, and I hadn’t been awake for 10 minutes.
6:40 a.m.: I had apple oatmeal for breakfast, with cinnamon sugar (instead of honey) for sweetener, with another apple on the side. I drank extremely strong decaffeinated tea instead of coffee, which would require milk.
6:45 a.m.: Still half asleep, I realized that driving to school meant leather, everywhere—seats, steering wheel and console. I chalked this one up to bad preparation, and reasoned that unless I walked the three miles to school, I would have to make an exception for this.
7:30 a.m.: First period gym meant sneakers, which were questionably vegan. I wasn’t about to send samples of the glue away for testing, so again, poor preparation called for another exception.
9:05 a.m.: I went down to the cafeteria to refill my mug, and was assaulted by the smell of tater tots. I felt my stomach growl. All I could think about was how I couldn’t eat these delicious tots. Tots tots tots tots tots.
I kicked myself for not having my computer. I needed to know what tots were fried in. What composed that delicious crust? Could I eat it? Please? I walked away from the cafeteria with my veganism (mostly) intact.
10:55 a.m.: Usually, I bring my lunch from home, but part of the experiment was to see what was vegan in the cafeteria. All I wanted today was something hot, but both soups were made with chicken broth. Bread was only questionably vegan, so sandwiches were out. Salad was cold and gross and thus eliminated. Though I truly loathe barbecue chips, I settled on a bag on the advice that they were vegan.
11:10 a.m.: Disaster. After eating the entire bag, I read the ingredients. Midway through the list, I found the dreaded natural flavors. In ignorance, I accidentally ate not only milk, but also chicken.
I ate chicken that I wouldn’t have eaten on any other day, on the very day I couldn’t have any animal products. I wish I had just eaten the cold, limp lettuce leaves.
2:20 p.m.: Still upset over the chicken incident. I went home sulking and hungry, with a headache from not having any caffeine all day. I ate a bowl of Cap’n Crunch with warm almond milk to cheer me up.
3:20 p.m.: Fatigued from the day, I slept for two hours. I decided not to continue veganism in my own self-interest. I had fish, string beans, and rice pilaf for dinner. It was the best meal of my life.
Conclusion: Hypothesis correct. I was groggy and irritable for the duration of the experiment. Failing at veganism, even accidentally, made me disappointed in myself. The amount of obsession over nutrition labels also seemed unhealthy.
What I learned from this experiment was that veganism, if attempted at all, must be done with much more research and preparation.
Me, I’ll take my Honey Nut Cheerios over oatmeal any day.
Emily Shafer • Oct 27, 2010 at 10:18 pm
I say good for you, Mel, for at least giving it a try!
Sounds like your heart is in the right place, and you did a very thorough job of researching the details, and striving to reach the ideal. I was ‘mostly veg’ for a few years and tried a bunch times to be more vegan, got discouraged, and fell back on familiar habits. But, somewhere along the way something eventually “clicked” and I had the right motivation and made it happen. 10 whole years later I’m still vegan, full of energy, and going strong.
So don’t be too hard on yourself or give up completely. It’ll be a million times easier when you’re out of school and can make your own food choices. Trying to be vegan when there aren’t any healthy or adequate vegan options to choose from is — as you have discovered — an exercise in extreme frustration.
I’d recommend a do-over using more realistic approach … Instead of trying to go 100% vegan overnight (100% impossible, in any case) maybe give yourself a week and try to figure out what the “veganer” and “veganest” choices you can make are that don’t leave you starving and grumpy. Forget absolutes. Aim for like 80-90%. At least in the beginning, don’t sweat the stuff you can’t even see like shoe glue or bread ingredients… that’s just crazy-making. If it’s cold and you only have wool sweaters, wear them for gosh sakes! Just don’t go out and buy a brand new cashmere for the occasion and you’re fine. Really, I promise.
Once you get the hang of it, maybe you’ll feel motivated to go further. Or maybe not. I mean, even if 85% of your meals are cruelty-free (up from 0%), that’s pretty awesome! And if you’re not increasing any cruelty in your wardrobe, bravo!! The point is to minimize cruelty when possible/practical … not to drive yourself nuts. 🙂
Good luck and don’t give up!!
Chris Hill • Oct 27, 2010 at 9:17 am
1) Being a vegan takes effort but isn’t as hard as you made it sound.
2) in the cafeteria there are vegan options, umm salad, hello?
3) obviously your body wouldn’t be used to not eating dairy and meat especially if you weren’t even a vegetarian before.
4) you clearly were not passionate about being vegan so why would you do it?
Bethany • Oct 23, 2010 at 11:09 pm
I agree with a lot of the vegan voices on here. However, what the author needs to realize is, veganism is a gradual process. Some vegans debate about honey. We will never truly know what is in our shoes, but for 1.5 years, I have worn my old leather shoes in addition to other shoes that I own that are accidently vegan. It takes time to be vegan, but also be an eco vegan. Vegans wouldn’t just throw away their goods all of a sudden because it’s bad for the environment. And not all vegans are rich! We can’t just start over in a day.
And the car incident? Practically unavoidable. Unless a vegan lives in a city where there is mass transportation. Maybe you can start biking to school instead of using your car?
And many things are surprisingly vegan, such as Oreos, Swedish Fish, most pretzels (make sure it doesn’t say butter on the front) and many, many more. I suggest you go to vegweb.com, peta.com, and thekindlife.com. Also look into Punk Rock Kitchen.
Hello • Oct 23, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Everyone’s being so uptight about this! I thought it was a great, funny article. Good job!
Stan Thomas • Oct 23, 2010 at 10:34 am
What this experiment demonstrates are exaggerations and misperceptions used to rationalize maintaining a non-vegan lifestyle. Being vegan is not really any more difficult than being non-vegan. In fact, it is a great adventure in learning a new and better lifestyle. New foods. New friends. New products. Better for your health. Better for the environment. And, of course, better for the animals.
babble • Oct 23, 2010 at 7:41 am
The underlying theme, here is that since the author couldn’t achieve “vegan perfection” on a ridiculous one-day vegan “experiment,” they’re somehow ethically justified in eating whatever they wish.
That’s a ridiculous conclusion, of course.
The fact that you couldn’t exclude things like probably animal-sourced glue from your shoes for your one-day vegan “attempt” is meaningless. That simply means you never took veganism seriously to begin with.
Of course actual vegan shoes exist.
Of course actual vegans make food choices about what they eat.
Of course actual vegans make clothing choices about what they wear.
That you failed to achieve any particular standard of “vegan living” in your one day “experiment” is utterly, utterly meaningless. The attempt itself is merely to reinforce your existing prejudices against veganism.
Quite an “experiment,” indeed.
Allysia K • Oct 22, 2010 at 9:03 pm
I agree with Eric. If animal products are staples in your diet, of course “depriving” yourself of them is going to seem like a challenge – you didn’t take the time to find any food to replace them with! What about almond/soy/rice/hemp milk, of which there are so many varieties you’re bound to find something you like? And of course you felt like crap after eating a bag of chips for lunch, who wouldn’t? A little research and some planning (or cooking lunch yourself) could have saved you some trouble.
Allysia K • Oct 22, 2010 at 9:03 pm
I agree with Eric. If animal products are staples in your diet, of course “depriving” yourself of them is going to seem like a challenge – you didn’t take the time to find any food to replace them with! What about almond/soy/rice/hemp milk, of which there are so many varieties you’re bound to find something you like? And of course you felt like crap after eating a bag of chips for lunch, who wouldn’t? A little research and some planning (or cooking lunch yourself) could have saved you some trouble.
Eric • Oct 22, 2010 at 12:34 pm
This experiment was a failure before it began, and it’s your attitude that was the problem.
Veganism isn’t about deprivation, lists, or perfection. It is about living consistently with our belief that causing animals unnecessary harm is morally unjustifiable. When you consider whether a human’s interest in deriving pleasure from the taste of cheese, for example, compared to the interest animals have in not being used as chattel property–things–to whom nearly anything can be done so long as it makes them more fit for use, there is no contest, and your experiment is revealed as the sick joke that it is.
Leaving behind animal exploitation for a bounty of plant foods and non-violent living is hardly irritating. I’ve personally met hundreds of vegans, and interacted with hundreds more via the web, and most of them (who’ve become vegan for real as opposed to some half-assed one-day “experiment” written most likely to generate attention like this), find that they are more at peace with themselves than when they contributed to unnecessary animal suffering and death.
And lest you mistake that for smugness, it really has nothing to do with the choices anyone else is making; it’s the peace that comes when one is living consistently with one’s principles and putting those first instead of satisfying trivial desires that result in so much harm.
bt • Oct 22, 2010 at 12:11 pm
how very disapointing. was this a joke?
how about i practice meat eating for a day.
first, i will get out of bed and kill a cow, eat it, and then kick my cats, after all meat eaters hate animals, righ? sound stupid, un educated, not at all how a meat eater lives?
i feel the same way about your ‘try’ as a vegan.
go vegan, it is easier than denying your natural compassion. feel the wonder of caring for our animal friends.
bob • Oct 22, 2010 at 10:42 am
Who knew – doing no research and spending just half a day doing something wouldn’t be as easy as doing the research and practicing it for years.
Great investgative journalism – create a bad name for something because of your own incompetence.
Rob Miller • Oct 22, 2010 at 8:20 am
This article was absolutely ridiculous! I suggest you talk to some real vegans if you want to know how we live.
“A philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment.” Donald Watson founder of Veganism
“but I couldn’t wear my rain boots for fear that the glue that held them together was animal-based.”
Your experiment was an absolute joke and an insult to vegans every where”
Rob Miller • Oct 22, 2010 at 8:20 am
This article was absolutely ridiculous! I suggest you talk to some real vegans if you want to know how we live.
“A philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment.” Donald Watson founder of Veganism
“but I couldn’t wear my rain boots for fear that the glue that held them together was animal-based.”
Your experiment was an absolute joke and an insult to vegans every where”