Hi it’s Emily with Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today’s video is
another installation of my interview with vegan activist Gary Yourofsky and the subject
matter may be a ilttle touchy- is it enough to be vegan solely for health reasons? Before
you get all huffy and storm off the channel, watch the whole video to hear the entirety
of Gary’s take on this matter. And then I’ll come back in at the end to wrap things up.
Emily: There is some controversy in the vegan community about vegans who focus primarily
or exclusively on just the health aspects of being vegan. What are your thoughts on
that?
Gary: Well, I think that is a selfish reason to be vegan. I’m always honest, I don’t
pull punches. Veganism is about altruism, doing something kind for somebody else. If
you become healthy with veganism as you probably will, enjoy the kickback, but don’t do it
for your health. When I preach, when I’m teaching, I’m teaching people to be unselfish,
to think about the cows, who have their babies stolen from them in the dairy industry who
are raped every year, think about the baby pigs having their teeth cut off, think about
the animals, the animals’ health, don’t think about your own health, but I will say
this, at the end of the day, as long as you’re vegan, I don’t care why you’re vegan,
I don’t care what type of vegan you are - raw vegan, junk food vegan doesn’t matter
to me. The animals don’t care why you don’t eat them. It’s just my concern is the people
who do this for health reasons are the ones that don’t stay vegan or the ones that end
up cheating . But don’t you cheat? I’m an ethical vegan for 18 plus years. I don’t
cheat being vegan like I don’t go out on Tuesdays and molest kids and rape women okay?
It’s evil and unethical to me so I would never cheat. But the health-based vegans…
Hey listen, if you’re 6 days a week vegan and on day 7 if you want a double cheese pepperoni
pizza, I doubt it will do much health wise it’s gonna bother you, just as if decided
to smoke two cigarettes on Sunday and not smoke the rest of the week. It probably won’t
bother your health but ethically speaking, when it comes to the double cheese pepperoni
pizza you’ve committed a crime, you’ve now viewed animals as your commodities, you’ve
now taken someone else’s life for you own pleasure and that is unjust and that’s what
I wanna teach people.
So I hope you enjoyed hearing Gary’s perspective on this topic. I personally agree with Gary
on this. When people go vegan solely for health it’s often not enough on it’s own to keep
them vegan. Now going vegan for health is not a bad thing by any means. As Gary said,
it's not what brings you to veganism that's important- it’s what keeps you here. Fortunately
there are people who come to veganism for health reasons and stay long enough for the
ethical aspects to sink in- and it’s that conviction that keeps them vegan. It’s the
difference between being on a vegan diet and being vegan.
A vegan diet is something you can go on and off of. But being vegan is a lifestyle. It’s
an ethical foundation. If you fall off the vegan health wagon you may feel bad for ruining
your diet or gaining a couple pounds. But the real ethical impact of returning to animal
products is what will solidify your commitment to being vegan- the fact that those products
are literally the pain, suffering and lives of other beings. They’re not "cheat food"
or “one time treats.” They are processed and packaged abject misery.
Now if you are going to fall of the health wagon, there's plenty of "cheat food" that
is vegan. You can eat the most decadent, sinful food you desire on a vegan diet. Just check
out this video for some epic options. The point is, you don’t have to deprive others
of their lives in order to not feel deprived in your diet.
So if you want to go vegan to look good and have a flat tummy, more power to you- the
animals don’t care if your motivation for not eating them is to have a cute butt. But,
in order to stay vegan, you might have to dig a little deeper. And hopefully during
your cute-butt quest, you’ll make that connection and stay vegan for life.
Now I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. If you’re vegan, is your reason for
staying vegan different than your initial reason for going vegan? If you’re not vegan,
what reason would motivate you the most to make a transition? Do you think being vegan
for health alone can be a lifetime commitment? Let me know in the comments!
Give the video a thumbs up if you liked it and please share it around to spread the message.
Stay tuned to the Bite Size Vegan channel for more installations of my interview with
Gary. I’ll also be posting bonus footage and questions that didn’t make it to the
channel in the ViV Area of BiteSizeVegan.com which you can access for free by clicking
below. And for even more behind-the-scenes action and the best discussion of all things
vegan, join us in the Nugget Army on Patreon. If you’re new here, be sure to hit that
big red subscribe button for more awesome vegan content every Monday and Wednesday and
some Fridays. I would love to have you as a subscriber. Now go live vegan and I’ll
see you soon!