I apologize for this long ranty post full of typos. I’m a little worked up.
I have a recipe lined up to be posted today but I have to get this off my chest. Some of you who know me in real life have heard me say this before… many times before actually… so I also apologize that you’re going to have to sit through this again. I also apologize that this post is more mean-spirited than I try to be because I’m going to be honest this topic really pisses me off.
So this morning I went to check Facebook to read all the nice comments on the photo I posted to celebrate our daughter turning 9 months old because I’m a mom now and do that kind of thing and she was dressed like a bear on a swing while being a little goof-ball and that felt like something I wanted to celebrate too…. and there is was… numerous notifications that my vegan FB friends were pretty upset that a blogger I had never heard of before today had announced she had stopped being vegan because of self-diagnosed “health problems.”
Despite my better judgement I went and read this woman’s story… I feel like it’s important to note that this blog has written in the header “How to attract money and miracles into your life” – No Joke – Across the top of this blog is clearly says this. It‘s not a blog as far as I can tell that has one single things to do with being vegan, health, food, animals or any kid of relevant topic. It’s about making money. Back to our story… The blogger goes on to tell her story. A contrived and not very compelling story about a man collapsing outside her home and how it was the universe telling her that she needed to listen to what her body was trying to tell her about her health. Nope – I’m not kidding. Real.
She mentions that she researched other bloggers and ex-vegans to see if she could relate to their experiences and SURPRISE – she could. I know I’m shocked too. Though I would guess it’s probably all the sharing, liking, comments and drama those other blogger’s posts caused that really spoke to our ex-vegan whose blog as far as I can tell has never really gotten much attention.
She mentions in her post that people like Ghandi have had issues staying vegan and that numerous spiritual leaders have never even tried. Leading one to wonder if her home in San Francisco and her access to fresh produce, well stocked grocery stores, vegan products, vitamin stores and well all the vegan luxuries that come from living in a first world country in a city known for being pretty vegan friendly has anything to do with Ghandi… I mean does it? Really? Because I’d bet Ghandi’s experience being vegan in India in the 1930s is pretty different than a woman in San Francisco today.
I know it seems like I’m making a mountain outta a molehill with this post and the Ghandi thing but I feel like I needed to get that off my chest because two reasons:
1. I’ve noticed that people who want to justify doing something they know they shouldn’t always feel a need to bring up a beloved historical figure out of context – like a Ghandi – to justify what it is they’re doing.
2. I don’t like this woman and you’re about to find out why and honestly the Ghandi thing really offended me. Sorry “Money Making” lady – You’re not Ghandi.
After this she went on to tear into what she called “vegan culture” and acting like she even knew what she was talking about. She was comparing it to a religion but making it sound more like a cult than a title given to a lifestyle that celebrates finding a balance between your love of food and fashion and loving animals.
I know a lot of vegans who are as dedicated if not more to their compassionate lifestyle as someone would be to a religion but honestly when you allude to it being cultish I have a problem. You can be dedicated to living a life where you do as little harm as possible and are a compassionate consumer and still have your own thoughts and beliefs on other socio-political issues like having children, feminism, gay rights, processed foods, education, gentrification of urban areas – whatever! It’s actually pretty impressive to me how many different types of people are drawn to living a cruelty-free lifestyle and I think that’s the key to how successful we’ve become at mainstreaming and how much progress has been made in the world – that so many different types of people have found a way to live a life that’s better for the environment and obviously animals.
But that wasn’t even the part that really pissed me off. She went on to describe this “vegan culture” in a list of topics she thought were hypocritical “inconstancies” such as someone caring about animals but believing in a woman’s right to choose and vegans not eating fish but eating non-organic produce. She basically outlined how she never really understood the golden rule per say of veganism – DO THE BEST YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN.
She outlined basically that she didn’t understand how conscious consumerism worked and that by buying vegan products and vegetables (even if they’re not organically grown) you’re letting stores know you want more animal friendly things to be available at their stores and that can lead to more farms growing vegetables instead of building sheds to hold animals.
The post was just off and wrong. So off and wrong – it was offensive and excuse my language FUCKED UP – I felt I needed to post this because this post was so fucked up it is SO CLEARLY BEGGING for attention and to make us all offended and upset. She wrote this post to upset vegans. She wrote this so we would read it and post it around in a frenzy and leave comments on her blog. She wrote this post for traffic that she thought it would bring and for the book deal – about discouraging the vegan diet I assume – that traffic could come with. She wrote this post for the reason she clearly points out in the header of her pointless blog to “Attract Money and Miracles”.
So I’m not going to link to this crap and I’m begging you all to not let this person lure or trick us into posting and commenting on it if you do happen to see it and giving her the attention she is so clearly asking for. Because unlike the real world – in this situation – you can ignore bad guys and they will go away. That’s one of the beautiful things about the internet.
SO that’s brings us to the point of my rant today. I’m asking you all to do me a favor. It’s easy and honestly literally asks you to do nothing. I’m asking you to please stop posting ex-vegan click bait posts. Let’s just stop paying attention to all these ex-vegans or really anyone who posts a click-baiting post about why they’re not doing a vegan thing like raising kids, writing books, being vegan, dating vegans – whatever it is and celebrate the heroes who are working everyday to make this world a better place for our animal friends. They deserve the attention, likes, comments, traffic and book deals not some bozo (yes I talk like that now that I have a baby) who admits their knowledge of nutrition comes from a few days worth of googling and has self-diagnosed themselves with mysterious food allergies that can only be cured with eggs.
OK- End Rant.
Recipe coming up in about 2 hours.
Pretty simple... Come with us if you want to live. 
-0.png)
amen.
Here Here Annie. Here. here freaking Here.
YES. And thank you.
I can’t believe you took the troll’s bate. As an ethical compassionate vegan you have better things to do with your time. Same thing happened to me when I volunteered to monitor a FB page on the Canadian Seal Hunt. All of the sudden trolls of seal bashes appeared. I took the bate and wasted most of my time first setting these people straight, blocking them and then removing myself from the entire mess. This guy had like 30 aliases. I could barely keep up with blocking him. So please next time just ignore it. There are people who have nothing better to do than harass us ethical vegans who are trying to save this planet. Thanks for caring enough to take the time to express your moral outrage!
I actually have been saying and avoiding these people for years. The reason I read her post was that it had started a “fight” amongst a bunch of my Facebook friends as to whether you can be “a feminist and a vegan” – so I was curious as to what it said that made everyone so upset and expected some kinda new insight that would be worthy of people freaking out about but really what I found was a single sentence calling feminist vegans hypocrites with no context or explanation really. It was the epitome of click baiting trolling and it was so blatant it finally inspired me to write this out.
At least others will get hip to Vegan Bashing and see it for what it really is … Insult to our intelligence and a waste of time. I know take many deep breathes and move on. BTW, thanks for all your cool recipes!!! Bill Gates article today frosted my ass … Projection of an increase in eating animals by 2050. I Wrote one short blurb in response to this on FB, pinned it and moved on. The older I get the less patience I have for the absurd. 🙂 Have a lovely evening. Looking forward to your cheese bread recipe (gluten-free challenge).
Just picking up on the feminist point here, I saw a very good picture recently presenting how you can’t truly be a feminist if you’re NOT vegan, as by consuming dairy you’re saying it’s okay to exploit the female reproductive system – was put a little more gracefully & compelling in the original author’s words!
I agree with the above post, & am glad you didn’t share the link, she really doesn’t deserve the clicks.
(Sorry for the interruption!!)
So, I had never heard of this “blogger” before this but went to her site where the three latest post headlines read, “Why are vegans so angry? A half-baked theory about Omega 3”, “My break-up with veganism … I’m now an ex-vegan” and “Alternatives to veganism: Should we reduce consumption of meat and other animal products?”.
Um, she sounds like a nut, straight up. Good post by you and relevant to a lot of self-serving ex-vegans, but I think it’s time we stop even acknowledging them. It never goes well. 🙁
I love it when you rant!!! LOL — now B-R-E-A-T-H-E 🙂
I was disappointed with her line about how vegans have to live a life of scarcity and harm ourselves in the process in order for animals to be unharmed. Soooooooo untrue.
Preach, sister.
I always assume that anyone who becomes ex-vegan was never really vegan because if they were, they would never be able to go back. I am not vegan for my health (though it has helped my health immensely). I am not even vegan for the health of my fellow humans (though I believe they certainly benefit). I am vegan for the animals. So, if I am following a vegan diet (no such thing) but not stopping the consumption/purchase of other animal based products wherever possible, I am not vegan. I am just following a plant based diet. I would guess that this blogger just used “vegan” for the attention in the first place and found non-humans (and, frankly, other humans, including themselves) are not important enough to take on the actual lifestyle. I want to be angry because it feels better than how I actually feel… sad. So very very sad.
I am an ex vegan and I hate it. I’m also humbled by it. I feel like nothing more than an animal myself. My son was vegan from 2nd trimester to 4. (I’ve been a vegetarian since 1995) His health was my reason for including “you know what” in his diet. He wasn’t talking and had low muscle tone. Sadly, he’s doing much better on his diet. I have only been able to add egg whites and goats dairy. I get very sad (and disgusted) when I think of what I’m eating. One positive for me is my much improved anxiety.
Well stated “ex-vegan…hate it…humbled by it.” I feel for you and can really relate because that is where we might be headed. It is a hard place to be but it sounds like you are doing what is right. Blessings.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading and agreed with your posting. You didn’t take anyone’s bait. I totally get why you wrote your post and I thank you for it! Well done!
http://40.media.tumblr.com/23d923fabdb0ef23f639988d74117ea4/tumblr_n7ckp6jWCQ1tesa20o1_500.jpg
I’m so glad you wrote this. I fell for it too. I read her post and yup, totally agree- someone wants a book deal – badly.
I became vegan for health reasons. Now I am aware of many other valid reasons. I also know a number of people who feel that they have found it necessary to eat animal products, including, in some, but not all cases, meat, itself. The difference between them and the ranting ex vegans is that they don’t try to condemn others who make different choices and they don’t claim to “debunk” being vegan as a healthy choice or condemn “vegan culture.” I would point out, however, that some vegans do display similar judgmental tendencies. Lecturing or indicating that being vegan is somehow morally superior does not promote veganism.
I am in a mixed marriage in this regard. My husband loves and probably needs to eat meat. He has it once a week for Shabbat. And our omnivore guests enjoy having it with him. In the meantime, during the week we are both vegan and our vegan guests have vegan food (which we graciously share, once we’ve had our fill, with the omnivores.) Our omnivores are often pleasantly surprised at the quality and tastiness of the “vegan option.” A little less judgmental behavior is good. Finally, I have to confess, due to feet problems, I can only wear leather shoes. At least until a stretchable sturdy alternative is found. But I don’t consider myself a “sinner” or hypocrite.
I love this post so much. I also read her post (unfortunately) and my gosh, I could hear the chants of “me me me me me me” as I read. It was all about her.
So I used http://www.donotlink.com/ to read her post and it was laughable. Just silly and ridiculous. Made me feel a bit better about the situation because I was like, no one can take this seriously.
Right?! It’s so awful it’s begging for people to share it and sadly a lot of people were sharing it this morning. BUT I’m really happy to say that a lot of people I know on FB who had previously shared it – have taken it down now. I wish I had posted this rant earlier now.
Thanks for the link sdelin, I did not know about the ability to do this. And sorry to Annie, I Googled to find out what site you were talking about so I registered as a “hit” on her site when I found it. I won’t do it again (or I will do it under the cloak of anonymity)! But what a piece of work. One of the most bizarre things I’ve seen recently.
Ugh this woman is crazy. She didn’t just write 1 article bashing veganism she wrote 3! I couldn’t read through it with out wanting to scream at her insanity! I had never heard of this women and now I’m sorry I do. I don’t understand how when some one becomes an ex-vegan they all the sudden must bash veganism, like it is the plague. People like her just want attention. I agree with you about not giving it to them.
Thank you so much for your post!
How does someone embrace an ethical, compassionate diet and lifestyle and then change their mind? Being truly vegan is an ethical lifestyle which goes well beyond food. It requires one to adopt a comprehensive world view which is anchored in the concepts of peace, freedom, non-violence, respect for ALL life, and a total rejection of exploitation in all its forms. It is a lifestyle which is both complex and comprehensive, embracing all aspects of ones thoughts and actions.
Veganism is about nonviolence. First and foremost, it’s about nonviolence to other sentient beings. But it’s also about nonviolence to the earth and nonviolence to yourself. If you are not vegan, please go vegan.
Olga, I’m not sure why your are telling me this. I know all this. I am an ethical vegan and have been for several years. My comment simply was stating that I don’t understand why people who leave veganism feel the need to bash it. I have seen several ex-vegans do so and I find it annoying. Either you didn’t read my comment or you didn’t understand it.
Whenever I see something which says in the headlines they are ex-vegans, I pretty much know what’s coming next. Usually it’s a litany of excuses and bullshit scientific “evidence” (see, we have these canine teeth) that follows. Then there are the “but it was harming my health” claims that make me roll my eyes. I am 64 years old. I went vegetarian at 19. I went vegan at 60. The health problems I have are from an autoimmune disease that has nothing to do with not eating meat – though some would say it is (the ex-vegans). I have more energy than many, look younger than many of my meat-eating counterparts and will explain my lifestyle to all who ask and listen. These people who give excuses to me need not explain. Why publish it? Why try to tell me, a vegan, why you are no longer one? I don’t rat’s tush. Just go away and gnaw on a bone or whatever you do. I don’t know this person, don’t want to know this person and am glad for the heads up because invariably, I will hear about her. Thanks for the rant Annie – I like the idea of pretending she doesn’t exist.
I have no idea who this blogger is, and I’m glad. It gives me the sads when a blogger I know stops being vegan. People like this though? Just make me shudder!
Really good rant. Good for you. These posts always annoy me also. It never occurred to me that by reading and commenting on these ex-vegan posts I’d just be contributing to their hype. I won’t be doing that again. Thanks!
There are a lot of ex-vegans (and nearly-ex-vegans) like myself and Bonzai Aphrodite etc whose stories ae genuine, but there’s something a bit fishy about this. She doesn’t even seem open to listening to commentors suggestions about how she might improve her health and be able to stay vegan. 🙁
Thank you. God. Someone posted a link to the article in question and my eyes rolled so hard. I too noticed that the article was pure click bait and clearly a ploy to get more people interested in whatever kind of coaching she’s offering.
The reason she was experiencing those symptoms is because she wasn’t eating enough calories. I’ve been veg since 2002 and vegan since 2008. And trust me – when I first went vegan I couldn’t cook and knew nothing about nutrition so my diet was pretty bad. The ONLY time I’ve ever experienced those exact symptoms she described was when I was trying really hard to lose weight and ate 1400 cals a day while exercising for 2 hours a day. Once I wised up to the fact that I was eating too little, the symptoms went away literally overnight. It had nothing to do with veganism and everything to do with eating too little, which is a common problem even amongst people who do eat meat.
Also as a spiritual person, her comments about Gandhi and the Dalai Lama made me mad. There are plenty of contemporary vegan spiritual gurus out there, Teal Swan being an extremely notable one and in my opinion the most advanced spiritual teacher of our time.
JUST SAYING
Nothing annoys me more than the vegan bloggers who go non-vegan for “health reasons.” Keep ranting Annie! You are a shining light and I’m a huge fan!! xoxo
I have felt called….from the inside….to stop eating meating for most of my adult, sober life. Other people’s opinions and feelings about my “callings” if you will – is really just a head trip. Rock ON Girl! I love what you do!!
A-fucking-men!
A twist on a common non-vegan joke:
“How can you tell if someone is an ‘ex-vegan’?” Don’t worry – they will blog about it! Along with vast amounts of “look at me” selfies and accounts of their histories of fad dieting and food restrictions. I don’t know how anyone can take this woman seriously. As far as I’m concerned, I am happy to give her back to the non-vegans – we don’t need any more woo hampering our efforts to stop animal exploitation!
She didn’t even see a doctor, FFS!!
Love this post. This women sounds crazy.
Thank you Annie! You are so right! Ugh.
Thank you for this!
There’s good money to be made in being an “ex vegan.” I try not to take people like her seriously or to let them bother me because I know what their motivation is.
Well said!!!
Amen!
These type of people are super irritating and super damaging. However, they are best ignored. Unfortunately there are always going to be deniers. Climate deniers environmental deniers veg deniers. Etc. A lot of this is a media stunt. Many of these people may not have been vegan in the first place but industries get articles from people like them to promote meat. It’s an effective marketing tool to have somebody say that they tried something wholeheartedly and from their experience it doesn’t work. Also they try to draw vegans into the battle by making them rant and rave to look like a bunch of annoying idiots. The best thing that we can do is to ignore such people and just play Neicy nice, and then save our energy and passion for other areas where we can be more effective. Also, I think that some of the people who rant on their posts are not really vegan, but I just planted there to make vegans look bad. Some of these people, celebrities etc. are just idiots, when you see them go vegan take advantage of using them to promote veganism. But remember, most of these guys are going to stop being vegan so once they do so the best thing to do is ignore them after we have used their veganism for promotional purposes at an earlier stage.
She said she was a Vegan for 3-1/2 years 2012, that was pretty much yesterday! I began my trastition to a transformative plant based lifestyle back in 2006. I still remember by baby steps out of the Dead animal DIEt. Being at a drive thru for example with friends, “I’ll just have fries guys”. How I eat today is like comparing a Tesla Model S to a gas guzzling, oil leaking, unreliable rust bucket.
As long as I’m on this PLANet the PLAN is to eat the PLANts!
THANK YOU. that is all.
Thank you, for posting this, Annie. I think you are wonderful, and I really get a lot out of your work (I loved seeing you and Dan on Our Hen House’s TV show last season!). It does help me to hear some “ranting” from my fellow vegans, who I respect so much, every once in a while. Like you, I don’t even want to add any fuel to these “ex-vegan’s” fire, so I generally just ignore them and move on. But, once in a while it is nice to rant/vent in a safe space. Nice to know I’m not the only one who thinks these people are just trying to grab some attention, so they can ultimately profit, and what they say is total bullshit. Phew, I feel better getting that off my chest, too!
I’m so sorry I missed this when you originally posted it but I’m with you 110% and understand, feel & support your frustration. I’m pissed that so many people spend so much time & energy on things like this instead of using their power for good. Fuck them. That’s all I’ve got to say about this. Weeeeeell, maybe I’ll add another, FUCK THEM AND THEIR BAD VIBES.
Ugg… I hate when people say a vegan diet isn’t whole. It can be or you can make it. A lot of people say they HAD to for their health, but part of my feels that they could of taken a supplement, or found ways around it. I think the biggest problem is self diagnosis and doctors who don’t know other options. The more I learn about nutrition and I track mine I am finding that half the stuff vegans first freak out about are nothing really to worry about. Like omega-3s?! Yeah I get the whole gist of why people want fish based omega-3s, but there are so many people who never eat fish. I mean ever. So why are vegans singled out?
OMG, that was too funny! “you’re not Gandhi” LMAO!
Clearly this woman was just trying to justify her choice any way she could to relieve her own guilt, not even worth your time. I’ve been vegan 5 years and never had any health problems – the opposite. I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been and not been sick once since going vegan. Vegan for life – I would always find a way!