In my 8 years of volunteering for several Animal Rights/ Animal Welfare groups, including The Humane League, PETA, Anonymous for the Voiceless, and Direct Action Everywhere, I have observed that most volunteers and paid staff are truth-seeking and completely truthful and transparent with the public. For example, we do discuss amongst ourselves and with the public how to have a healthy and balanced vegan diet. For example, we discuss that as vegans, we should make sure to get supplements of vitamins and minerals we need, including vitamin B12 and omega 3. Also, we sometimes discuss eating enough protein. There’s even a PETA brochure that is a vegan starter kit that shows mock meats—a brochure that we sometimes offer to those interested. Furthermore, we sometimes mention this great resource to learn more about how to optimize nutrition for a long and healthy life:
https://nutritionfacts.org/
Also, I sometimes share the website of PubMed for reading of primary research on food and health.
To add to this comment, I grew up in a vegan household, and one of my mothers runs the local vegan society in the city where I grew up. Ever since I can remember, education about vegan health and nutrition has been a central point to broach in vegan advocacy, and nobody that I’ve encountered in various vegan (non-EA) communities throughout my life have been any different (note that I’ve had a lot of exposure to such groups, in many different countries & cultures). For example, most of the free leaflets on the website of my mother’s vegan society website are concerned with vegan health, and while the leaflets have changed over the years, they’ve always sought to promote healthy methods of dietary transition.
I think veganism is a good thing for EA to promote, and I think the fact that most EAs are vegan or support veganism is central to the movement’s non-speciesist agenda. EA may indeed have a problem with not providing relevant information concerning vegan health and nutrition—especially to newcomers—and I agree that this is something that should be emphasized. At the same time, I disagree that veganism necessarily entails health trade-offs; this is likely true for some, but I think that most people could transition to a vegan diet without preparation and not suffer for it (primarily because of how nutritionally enriched modern food products are).
(N=1: I’ve never eaten animal products, and would place myself in the 95th percentile regarding my personal health & well-being, if its relevant to your analysis of vegan EAs)
In my 8 years of volunteering for several Animal Rights/ Animal Welfare groups, including The Humane League, PETA, Anonymous for the Voiceless, and Direct Action Everywhere, I have observed that most volunteers and paid staff are truth-seeking and completely truthful and transparent with the public. For example, we do discuss amongst ourselves and with the public how to have a healthy and balanced vegan diet. For example, we discuss that as vegans, we should make sure to get supplements of vitamins and minerals we need, including vitamin B12 and omega 3. Also, we sometimes discuss eating enough protein. There’s even a PETA brochure that is a vegan starter kit that shows mock meats—a brochure that we sometimes offer to those interested. Furthermore, we sometimes mention this great resource to learn more about how to optimize nutrition for a long and healthy life: https://nutritionfacts.org/ Also, I sometimes share the website of PubMed for reading of primary research on food and health.
To add to this comment, I grew up in a vegan household, and one of my mothers runs the local vegan society in the city where I grew up. Ever since I can remember, education about vegan health and nutrition has been a central point to broach in vegan advocacy, and nobody that I’ve encountered in various vegan (non-EA) communities throughout my life have been any different (note that I’ve had a lot of exposure to such groups, in many different countries & cultures). For example, most of the free leaflets on the website of my mother’s vegan society website are concerned with vegan health, and while the leaflets have changed over the years, they’ve always sought to promote healthy methods of dietary transition.
I think veganism is a good thing for EA to promote, and I think the fact that most EAs are vegan or support veganism is central to the movement’s non-speciesist agenda. EA may indeed have a problem with not providing relevant information concerning vegan health and nutrition—especially to newcomers—and I agree that this is something that should be emphasized. At the same time, I disagree that veganism necessarily entails health trade-offs; this is likely true for some, but I think that most people could transition to a vegan diet without preparation and not suffer for it (primarily because of how nutritionally enriched modern food products are).
(N=1: I’ve never eaten animal products, and would place myself in the 95th percentile regarding my personal health & well-being, if its relevant to your analysis of vegan EAs)