Common Questions
Being a vegan during the holidays can come with some social and mental struggles. You will inevitably get some of the cliche questions from friends and family about your diet and lifestyle, especially if you are new to a vegan or plant-based lifestyle.
Where do you get your protein?
Vegans actually have lots of great protein options. Tofu, tempeh, seitan, TVP, and many more.
Vegans with fitness goals should consider protein for optimal gains, but regular healthy vegans don’t need to worry much about protein.
“What do vegans even eat?”
Non-vegans often seem to think that vegan food is some kind of special and mysterious cuisine that they’ve never tried before. Obviously, this doesn’t make much sense because a lot of what omnivorous people eat every day just happens to be vegan.
Vitamins and Nutrients
You may get all sorts of questions about vitamins and nutrition at a very high level. Mostly people concerned or convinced that you will drop dead from a deficiency at any moment. One reason for this is that vegans need to take B12 supplements.1 Many people think this means they lack other important nutrients.
It is important to understand your personal dietary habits, and ensure that your diet is diverse enough to provide all the nutrients you need. This is also true for non-vegans, but there are a few things that vegans cannot get as readily from their diet. 2
The Inquisition
Most of the time you just get a simple question you can answer, or a snide remark that you can just laugh and brush off. Sometimes though, people really want to get into the weeds on this stuff. Maybe that’s from a place of curiosity or a place of contempt. So how can we handle these situations and awkward conversations while keeping our cool and sticking up for our beliefs?
Live and let live
First and foremost, it’s important to realize that you aren’t going to convince most people to adopt your personal belief system. This doesn’t mean that you need to feel negatively towards friends or family that disagree with you. Obviously if they are showing their disagreement in ways that feel more like harassment or abuse, that is a different circumstance and should not be tolerated.
Don’t feel guilty about your choices
You shouldn’t feel guilty that you have different beliefs and/or goals than those around you. Whether that’s limiting what you eat to hit your fitness goals or turning down food because it’s not a vegan dish, don’t feel bad for acting in accordance with your goals and beliefs.
Standing Up
Make sure you have meal options
If you know the holiday gathering won’t have vegan options, you’ll need to plan ahead. Most people eat before they go, but I’m not a big fan of that. Being the only one not eating in a room can feel a bit lonely and ostracizing.
Instead you could try a couple of different approaches:
- Convince a friend or family member to make some easy vegan swaps in the dish they’ll be bringing
- Make your own dish!
- This has the added benefit of being able to share delicious vegan food with your loved ones who might otherwise not have tried it
- Check out this collection of high protein Thanksgiving recipes
No is a complete sentence
If all else fails, remember that “No.” Is a complete sentence. If you aren’t comfortable with the dinner arrangements or are being offered some food you don’t want, you can just say no. There is no need to justify yourself or apologize or feel pressured. A simple “No”, or even a “no, thank you” if you’re feeling generous, will do just fine.
Outside Pressure
Being a vegan and working towards fitness goals are both uncommon things when compared against the general population. You will face challenges and some level of opposition every day, and you will need to process and deal with them in the best way you can.
It is important to always keep in mind your “Why?” when you’re working towards your goals, especially when peer pressure is involved. Think about this in the context of both the short-term and the long-term.
You know that eating well and getting in your workout make you feel better and more focused short-term, and wouldn’t it be great to feel that way every day that you can? That can be your short-term “why?”.
If you had a conversation with yourself one year from now, would future you be satisfied with the choices you are making now? Be sure you are making decisions today and every day that align with those long-term goals.
Remember that the realization of a long term goal is actually the culmination of a lot of tiny decisions made correctly throughout each individual day, so the short-term and the long-term are very strongly linked.
Live with the mindset that you are committed to health and fitness as a lifestyle, and not just as a short-term fix.
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10030528/ ?
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-nutrients-you-cant-get-from-plants ?
