Busting five vegan myths

Is veganism healthy? emasculating? difficult? Let’s get the skinny on the myths surrounding a vegan lifestyle. Adopting a vegan lifestyle is more about making easy and conscious choices than restrictive food practices.

Though former US president Bill Clinton isn’t technically a vegan, his embrace last year of a “plant-based” diet with “no meat” and “no dairy” and his accompanying 24-pound weight loss made headlines for a small but growing movement across the globe. But is veganism healthy? emasculating? difficult? Let’s get the skinny on the myths surrounding a vegan lifestyle.

1 Vegans have trouble getting protein
“Where do you get your protein?” is probably the top question vegans get. But protein doesn’t have to come from animals. Plant protein is neither incomplete nor inadequate and it’s high-fiber, low-fat and cholesterol-free. Animal protein, which does not contain fiber, is high in fat and cholesterol, and it is associated with increased risk of heart disease, loss of calcium from bones and poorer kidney function.

2 Vegan products are not easily available
To vegans, it appears that meat-eaters are the ones with lots of rules. If veganism seems to need an instruction manual, it’s because dead animals turn up in unexpected places. Most marshmallows contain gelatin, derived from animal bones. So do gelcaps and photographic film. Hostess fruit pies are made with beef fat. Dryer sheets have animal fat, too. Toothpaste may contain bone meal. And shampoo may have egg protein. Sure, the list seems long but at many supermarkets, more products than ever are vegan-friendly. In 2011, it’s not hard to live up to veganism’s one simple ideal: trying to do the least harm possible.

4 Animals are preferred over humans
Veganism is a social-justice movement that not only includes concern for animals but also many issues that affect humans. The food choices vegans make address the environmental costs of meat and dairy production, heart diseases, public health crises tied to obesity. In fact, eating vegan one day a week lowers your carbon footprint more than eating local, every day of the week.

5 It’s inconvenient to be a vegan
Try veganism for a day and see what happens. Is it so difficult to substitute marinara sauce for meat sauce? To get a pizza loaded with veggies instead of cheese and meat? To fix a big salad and add beans to it instead of turkey? Turns out that vegan produce is readily available in India and the chances of having a fresh produce is highly possible, if you are determined to go for vegan choices.