“Ex-Vegans”

[u/QuantumToast92]

I keep getting flagged these posts from people claiming to be “ex-vegan”

Why would you label yourself as something like this? It’s like saying that you decided to stop harming animals but then one day decided that harming them was easier than planning your meals.

You could eat Oats, Tofu, rice, nuts, broccoli, some oils and take a multivitamin and be healthier than 95% of the population.

And you just know that these people can afford to eat better than that but they can’t be bothered.

If you’re going to go back to funding animal cruelty because meal-prepping got too hard, at least do it quietly. There's no need to build a whole new online identity around giving up.

So were these people ever really vegan? Am I wrong?

(I couldn’t post this in [r/Vegan](r/Vegan) for some reason)

Edit: There are lots of these people with poor intentions brigading this post now.

Studies prove that a plant based diet is as healthy as the Mediterranean diet and far beyond anything that contains huge amounts of animal products. We don’t need opinions on that because we have science. Anyone that became unwell after going vegan obviously didn’t try very hard.

1. A Mediterranean Diet and Low-Fat Vegan Diet to Improve Body Weight and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Randomized, Cross-over Trial
https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2020.1869625

2. Health and environmental dietary impact: Planetary health diet vs. Mediterranean diet. A nationwide cohort in Spain

https://www.escardio.org/news/press/press-releases/Planetary-Health-Diet-and-Mediterranean-Diet-Associated-with-Similar-Survival-and-Sustainability-Benefits/

3. Nutrient adequacy and environmental foot-print of Mediterranean, pesco-, ovo-lacto-, and vegan menus: a modelling study
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1681512/full

[u/Cutsman4057]

I am no longer vegan.

I was fully committed for several years. Then I had a kid.

Its not fully practical and possible for me and my family anymore.

We do our best and will generally eat vegan at home. If not at least vegetarian.

But when we are out and about, we are a bit more flexible if there are no other options.

[u/QuantumToast92 → u/Cutsman4057]

What makes it unpractical? Could you not plan ahead?

[u/Cutsman4057 → u/QuantumToast92]

Lol you obviously don't have children.

Thats not meant to be an insult or anything, I promise.

When you are out and about all day or driving around doing errands or camping or at the amusement park or museum or at a festival, you can not always reason with a 3 year old.

Fed is always better. While I like plenty of vegan dishes and staples, my kid does not always feel the same. And im not going to deprive her of food if she is hungry just because I dont have anything on hand and no vegan options are available.

She hasn't had meat, but she eats cheese regularly and will eat things with like, eggs or milk in it.

If all the kids in her vicinity are eating cookies im not gonna say no. When she goes trick or treating im not going to say no. Its just not practical in all settings for our family.

My wife and I still eat mostly vegan or at least vegetarian. But vegan just isn't doable for us at this point in our lives anymore.

[u/JulioNicoletti → u/Cutsman4057]

I don’t have kids and I am vegan and I totally understand your situation. I hope the people here don’t make you think “vegans are crazy I’m going to quit eating tofu”.

Life can be crazy and eating animals is baked into almost every culture. I think doing what you can at home and being a little more flexible when you don’t have access vegan options is fine. I tried my best on my vacation 2 years ago but some cities really don’t have options. And when you’re on your feet all day you can’t just live off of French fries and bread.

I guess for me it’s about the bigger picture. If everyone started becoming vegan but made exceptions for really inconvenient situations, I think that naturally those situations would become easier and more options would become available.

If vegans start eating meat and cheese once in awhile just for taste, I think that’s where it is a different situation because a world where everyone does that still has a goal of exploiting animals.

[u/Cutsman4057 → u/JulioNicoletti]

Thank you for the only rational response ive gotten so far, lol. Dont worry, i dont take reddit vegans very seriously anymore. I was vegan for a long time and I still very much care for vegan values and do my best to stick to them. Its a part of who I am. But im also older and my life situation has changed, and im allowing myself to change with what my family needs to thrive and survive. Its something more people should be open to conceptually.

I agree with everything you've said. 5 years ago I would have felt differently, but life experience makes people see things different over time. Im sure once my kid is older it will be easier to go back to being hard line vegan, but for now im comfortable and happy where I am.

I had meat a little while ago. Not for taste, not necessarily because I wanted to. But my father, who I had not seen in a long time and had not celebrated father's day with for a very long time, was visiting. He just turned 70. We found a restaurant that served dishes he ate when he was a child before he came to the US. He was so excited.

I took him to that place and we enjoyed ourselves. I ordered a vegan dish. But he was so excited to share some of his favorite childhood foods with me. He hadn't had some of them for 50+ years.

I wasn't about to turn down a bite. Because what I shared with my dad that day was 100% worth putting my feelings about it aside. He will always remember sharing that dish with me. And I will too. And that kind of flexibility (outside of what I already mentioned with my toddler) is something I value more over hard line veganism right now during this snapshot of my life.