“Moralism and guilt produce short-term gains in behaviour change.”

Living a vegan lifestyle is a journey, not an endpoint. I discuss my own circuitous path living as a vegan, the bumps along the way, and the lessons I have learned. My vegan choice started over a decade ago. Over the years, my adherence has not been perfect. I reflect on my own challenges and where the vegan community fails in approach and messaging. In the end, if the vegan community cannot evolve, it risks becoming irrelevant once the hype fades.

Welcome to Episode 56: My Vegan Choice

1. What We Do:
   
   • Behavioural Medicine and Health Psychology
     
   • Providing easily accessible content designed to help you design your own transformative experience.
     
   
   
2. Today:
   
   • I provide transparency about my own journey with my vegan choice.
     
   • I challenge the vegan community to raise the bar regarding what causes we align ourselves with, etc.
     
   
   
3. Services Review:
   
   • Finding My Psych offers three core services focused on promoting physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness.
     
     • Foundations: Wellness Planning Workshop
       
     • Walking For Vitality: Powering Up
       
     • Running For Fitness: 5k Build-Up
       
     
     
   
   

My Journey – My Vegan Choice

1. Health Journey:
   
   • HDL
     
   • Discovering Ornish in grad school.
     
   • I went vegan in 2010
     
   • There has been three times when I jumped off.
     
   
   
2. Why I am back after a month and why you should know:
   
   1. I took one month off my vegan diet.
      
   2. I reaffirmed my commitment to a vegan diet because I was feeling sluggish, brain fog, guilt.
      
   3. My identity, as with everyone, is a tangled mess of wall posters and causes. Vegan living is one of those, but not the most important.
      
   4. 80% for my health – 20% for the animals.
      
   
   

Raising The Bar

1. Extricate the fringe (antivax movement).
   
2. Stop with the label shame – Vegan vs. Plant-Based
   
3. Stop with the moralism – Guilt equals short-term gains.
   
4. Nobody has a perfect vegan journey (Rich Roll and honey) – Be inviting not shaming.
   
5. Remember the science and stop arguing with it – Nobody cares!
   
6. Balance protesting with public events promoting the positive aspects of the vegan choice.