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22 Things Not To Say To A Vegan
When people find out I'm a vegan they tend to have a lot of opinions. And questions. And jokes. Want to know a secret? I've heard them all before. Here's a list of 22 things not to say next time you're talking to a vegan.
When people find out I'm a vegan they tend to have a lot of opinions. And questions. And jokes. Want to know a secret? I've heard them all before. (Really!) Here's a list of 22 things not to say next time you're talking to a vegan.
- Where do you get your protein? Plants.
- Just have a little of this (non-vegan food), I won't tell anyone! No, thank you. I'm not vegan for my "image", I'm vegan because I believe deeply in living compassionately and saving the planet. I'm not going to cheat on my fundamental beliefs, and I'd appreciate it if you'd respect that.
- I just love a rare steak. I prefer it still mooing! Really? You would rather bite into a living cow? You want to eat warm, uncooked, flesh? Are you sure about that?
- God wants us to eat animals. It says so in the Bible. Well, kind of. Jesus did state that eating meat was not an unclean act (Mark 7:19), but nowhere in the bible does it demand, command, or ask you to eat it. It does, however, state that no one should look down on or condemn someone who eats/does not eat everything (Romans 14:2-3). So, make your own dietary choice, but take responsibility for it rather than blaming it on God.
- How can you live without bacon?? Easily and happily, thanks for asking!
- You don't make friends with salad. Weird, I'm pretty sure I've made new friends since going vegan...
- Don't you care about people? What about the immigrants that harvest your fruit and vegetables? Or are animals more important than humans? Because you ONLY eat animal products and no vegetables or fruit or grains... And the animals you eat also don't consume any plant foods... So vegans are really the cruel ones in this scenario... Right.
- How do you know someone's a vegan? Oh, they'll tell you. Maybe we wouldn't have to bring it up if you didn't push dead animals in our faces within 5 minutes of meeting us.
- Human beings were MEANT to eat meat. It's the circle of life! Yeah, we're just like the lions in the wild who catch antelope and keep them in captivity for their entire lives in horrific conditions and then slaughter and eat them while keeping giraffes pregnant all their lives, taking their babies away, and making their cubs drink the milk meant for the giraffe babies. That's nature, for you.
- Just a taste! I made it especially for you. I'd really rather not. Usually when someone makes something especially for someone else they take their beliefs and preferences into account.
- You must be great at yoga. There's no law forcing vegans to do yoga. But yes, I am.
- Is breastfeeding vegan? Of course. Because feeding my babies is literally the only reason I produce milk. Just like cows produce milk to feed THEIR babies, and only their babies.
- Do you swallow? I'm not sure why you think this is an appropriate question for casual conversation with a stranger.
- So... what do you eat? A rich diet made up of a variety of delicious, whole, plant foods in incredibly satisfying quantities.
- Vegan. Is that the same as gluten-free? ...no, it's not.
- What would happen to all the animals if we stopped eating them? They'd get to live. How horrible, right?
- Aren't you worried you'll get osteoporosis? No.
- You would rather waste good food than eat animal products? First world problems, much? If you eat animal products with the sole intention of not wasting it, you're good intentions are misguided. All you're doing is sending a message to the establishment selling the food that animal products are in demand, initiating a chain reaction causing more animals to be held in captivity and slaughtered.
- Plants can scream and feel pain, too, you know. At least they aren't systematically tortured and the largest cause of global warming and environmental destruction. I will continue to live my life in the way I feel is the most compassionate, ethical, and environmentally responsible.
- You don't smell as bad as I expected. Um, thanks? I do still practice personal hygiene...
- You're vegan? I'm basically a vegan. I only eat chicken, fish, turkey, ham, red meat when I go to restaurants, eggs, and dairy. Right. Our diets are so very similar.
- Animals have the perfect complement of amino acids for us. Why would I eat plants, even if they DO have protein? Fine. If you're eating meat because you feel it has the most optimal amino acid profile for your muscles, I can understand that. But if that really is the reason you eat meat, shouldn't you be eating human flesh instead of that of a cow or pig? It is arguably the perfect proportion of amino acids for our uses...
Now that I've listed 22 things NOT to say, here are a couple that many vegans would welcome (and be happy to answer!):
- Why did you go vegan?
- What do you like most about being vegan?
- How long have you been vegan?
- What are your favourite meals and/or restaurants?
- Have you noticed any changes in yourself since going vegan?
Ask questions from a positive, genuinely interested place and anyone is much more likely to be open with you. I know that I love to have honest conversations about veganism, just so long as I don't feel attacked or judged by the person who is asking my help to inform them! I love educating people about the positive impact of veganism on health, the animals, and our planet, but some people don't. And that's ok! Not everyone wants to be a spokesperson for their lifestyle, and it's not their responsibility to be. If you really want to learn about what veganism is all about, feel free to do research on your own and then ask your vegan friends for clarification or further details when you feel you need to! (You can start on my resources page for tons of books, films, and podcasts to get educated!) I hope you enjoyed this list!
Until next time,
Have you asked a vegan any of these questions before? Or, if you are a vegan, which do you hear most often? Let me know in the comments!
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Take Control of Your Email!
Email can be be a major stressor in so many of our lives. Emails flood into our inboxes, accompanied by that tell-tale ding, at a rate faster than we could possibly read and respond. Day after day the un-dealt with emails build up until you have hundreds of emails in your inbox and are too overwhelmed to even start sorting through them. I have felt this way for most of my life, but recently I decided enough was enough and developed a system to keep my inbox under control for good!
Email can be be a major stressor in so many of our lives. Emails flood into our inboxes, accompanied by that tell-tale ding, at a rate faster than we could possibly read and respond. Day after day the un-dealt with emails build up until you have hundreds of emails in your inbox and are too overwhelmed to even start sorting through them. I have felt this way for most of my life, but recently I decided enough was enough and developed a system to keep my inbox under control for good!
ONE Only check your email once a day.
Set aside a chunk of time daily, preferably always at the same time, to check your email. Let the people who email you the most know that you will like check your email at 9am and not again until the next day at 9am (or whatever time works for you!). Obviously if there is a time sensitive situation you should check back in more frequently, but on your average day checking email more than once eats into your productivity without any noticeable benefit. Try checking only once a day and notice the immediate relief!
TWO Aim for an empty inbox.
Every day, in your preset email maintenance time block, aim to reach inbox zero. This way, even if you miss the mark, you will be keeping the number of emails sitting around waiting to be dealt with to an absolute minimum. Plus, there is just something so satisfying about an empty inbox!
THREE Go through each email in chronological order and deal with it immediately.
Go down the list and read each and every email, and make decisions about where they need to go and whether they require a response or action from you. If it's junk, mark it so that your email can recognize and sort it for you in the future, then trash it. If it's an email that requires no action and you won't need to refer to it later, delete it. If it's an email that requires no action but may need to be referred to at a later date, file it. If it's an email requiring an action or response from you and you can do it immediately, do so and file if need be! If it's an email that requires an action or response that will take more time, leave it and come back to it once you've cleared the rest.
IMPORTANT: Don't just file every email. Really think about it and determine if you will ever need to read it again. If not, and you don't need it as proof of an agreement of some sort, you don't need to keep it!
FOUR Reduce the number of mailboxes you use to archive emails.
Use very general categories making it easy to sort. You'll likely use the search bar to find emails anyway, so don't worry about having more emails in less folders! My mailboxes are as follows:
- Customer Support (confirmation of online orders, customer support threads, etc.)
- Family & Friends (self explanatory!)
- Finances (bills, etransfers, paypal confirmations, correspondence with my investment manager, etc.)
- Performance (emails from my agent, stage managers, creative team, and other performers)
- Websites (anything regarding this site or my performing website, elizabethgreer.ca)
- Work (all emails regarding my part time jobs)
This makes sorting a breeze and looks so nice in my email manager!
FIVE Create a signature for your emails.
Save your very valuable time by creating a signature to be automatically added to each email you send. Why continually type your name and email if you don't have to? A general template would be:
First and Last Name Email Phone Number Website
You don't need to have all of this information, or maybe you have other things you'd like to add, but the above is a good place to start if you've never used a signature before and are feeling unsure about what to include!
SIX Create canned responses for common emails.
Always get asked what hours you're in the office? Or what your favourite colour is? Create draft emails with responses to your most commonly asked questions so all you need to do is fill in the person's name and you're good to go!
SEVEN Use Unroll.Me.
I signed up for Unroll.Me and it's one of the best decisions I ever made. They make it easy to unsubscribe from subscription emails and then roll up the ones you're still interested in into one easily digestible email. (I am not affiliated with them. I just use their product and love it!) Best part? It's 100% free.
And that's it! My seven top tips top reaching inbox nirvana. Give them a try and see if your blood pressure lowers a couple of points!
Until next time,
Did I miss a great email tip? Let me know in the comments!
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38 Halloween Costume Ideas For Women That Don't Suck
Don't want to be a sexy judge or a brain surgeon babe for halloween? Me neither. Check out my list of awesome things you can dress up as this halloween, that can be as sexy or not sexy as you like.
Don't want to be a sexy judge or a brain surgeon babe for halloween? Me neither. Check out my list of awesome things you can dress up as this halloween, that can be as sexy or not sexy as you like.
Awesome Real Life Women
You May Also Like: 10 Vegan Halloween Candy Options
Fictional Characters that Rock
Make A Statement
See something that sparks your creativity? Great! Be sure to tag me (@elizabethturn) and use the hashtag #VeganFeministHalloween so I can see all of your amazing costumes!
Until next time,
Did I miss any costume ideas that rock? Let me know in the comments below!
How To Minimize Your Belongings Using the KonMari Method!
I am very new to the concept of a capsule wardrobe, but am absolutely loving the experience of living with one over the last thirteen days. Just in case this is your first time hearing of it, let me explain. The idea is to reduce your wardrobe to a small, well thought out collection of pieces that can be mixed and matched to create many outfits. I first learned of this idea from the Un-Fancy blog, so I am loosely following her instructions in my capsule attempt. (By the way, If you've never been to Caroline's blog, Un-Fancy, go now. I'll wait.)
I am very new to the concept of a capsule wardrobe, but am absolutely loving the experience of living with one over the last thirteen days. Just in case this is your first time hearing of it, let me explain. The idea is to reduce your wardrobe to a small, well thought out collection of pieces that can be mixed and matched to create many outfits. I first learned of this idea from the Un-Fancy blog, so I am loosely following her instructions in my capsule attempt. (By the way, If you've never been to Caroline's blog, Un-Fancy, go now. I'll wait.)
Back? Great! Let's continue...
Before choosing any items for my capsule wardrobe I wanted to go through all of my clothing and discard about 50%, minimum. I was inspired by reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.
If you haven't read this yet, you should. It's allowed me to finally get rid of things I've been carting around for years. If you're interested, read my review of the book here!
Using the method described in Kondo's book, I met my goal and allocated approximately 50% of my belongings to be donated, sold, or thrown out. With a newly halved closet, it was time to try my hand at capsuling (probably not a word, but I'm using it anyway.) I tried to look at my remaining clothing objectively, as if I were looking at items in a store and not my clothes with their multitudes of associations and sentimental connections. I wanted to create a minimal wardrobe of clothing that was comfortable, fashionable, versatile, and suited my body. Interested in the result? Go check out my Fall Capsule Wardrobe!
But how exactly did I minimize my clothing 50%? And what about all of the other crap that always seems to gather in my house?
Here is a recap of the KonMari method summary I wrote for my post: Living With Less: A Review of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up & How To Declutter the KonMari Way! in a super pretty and pin-able graphic! (You're welcome.)
Just like Marie suggested, I began with clothing and continued from there. I came across this book at the perfect time, just before I moved into a new house and got all of my things out of a storage container! As I unpacked I sorted into categories, and then I went through one category at a time. It was glorious: I sorted and discarded before I ever put one item away in my new home! I realize that not all of you will be lucky enough to have a move coincide with your desire to declutter, and that you may even see that as undesirable (since you need to transport all of the items you'll just be discarding when you get to your destination), so I suggest choosing the room with the most open floor area and making that your sorting room for the next couple of days. Let your family know what you're doing, and assure them the mess won't last long!
Putting Your Belongings Away
Once you've discarded, how do you organize? Marie has a whole host of awesome tips and tricks in her book, but the following are my favourites!
And there you have it, the simple ways you can minimize and organize your belongings for good. Are you going to pick up Marie's book and give it a read? It just might change your life!
Until next time,
ave you used the KonMari method? Tell me about it in the comments!
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