We've seen the term "vegan" watered down like the term "vegetarian". But if you are "pretty good" but just eat a little cheese or turkey every other year but otherwise reducing animal product consumption and use, are you vegan???? I'm not going to try to answer that but wanted to introduce two sources for your consideration :

1. a thread from Dr. McDougall's website [www.drmcdougall.com]

and

2. a video from Professor Francione on veganism and animal rights and animal welfare. [vimeo.com]

yeah, it's a link and run. But it is one with an informed view point to take each person's viewpoint to help you decide your own. I'm not preaching here. I'm vegan. I support animal rights. And it's how for me it's going to stay. That said. I benefit from watching and learning from others in making their decision on where to draw the line. John Kohler's announcement that he was no longer vegan did affect me. I'd not have anticipated that. But it does not diminish what he has accomplished on this forum and elsewhere. Will continue to buy from him. In any case, please listen carefully for Professor Francione. I was moved even more.

Paul

dressing up like a clown one day a year doesnt make me a clown the rest of the time ..slipping up once in awhile doesnt make me any less of a vegan in my mind

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I just don't label myself and there is never a problem with who I think I am .
My focus is on my behavior, how I feel about what I do, no hard and fast "rules" other than my own conscience.

Thanks for the links though, I'll watch them when I get a little chunk of free time.

I'm like coco, I don't label. Most of the time I eat vegan, if I feel the need not to, it is what it is. I've found I work better on a day to day basis verses locking myself down into a label and feeling horrible if I don't stick to it.

Thanks to all. I agree that as long as we don't label ourselves as vegan, if someone wants to eat honey or a piece of turkey as John McDougall does at Thanksgiving (he doesn't refer to himself as vegan either), no problem. My concern is, as always, for those of us who want to keep the label to prevent it from being coopted as the label vegetarian has been. You would think with all of the other labels one could choose for someone who eats a plant based diet and a little fish : flexitarian, pescatarian, nutritarian (for Dr. Fuhrman's followers), or planetarian (I saw this on a vegan site recently) that people wouldn't feel the need to identify themselves as vegetarian, but continue to do so. When I read study results online and I see "vegetarian" "omnivore", this issue becomes more problematic. Health outcomes between authentic vegetarians (or vegans) and wannabe vegetarians (or vegans) are distorted by poor self-selection. Recall bias is a hard enough problem to deal with without delusion bias.

Paul



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2011 07:18PM by pborst.

Sounds like my partner who for years called himself 'vegetarian', because he doesn't like the taste of pork, beef or lamb. That leaves plant materials, and dairy, and fish and seafood etc... He doesn't digest dairy well,so its just sea life. For a lot of people that qualifies as 'vegetarian' because most people limit their concept of meat as things with feather or fur. Its not quite accurate in my opinion. But I don't know what else to call him. I guess a plant and fish eater?

Mislu,

Lot's of people as seen above don't label themselves (I do I'm vegan and proud of it). And your partner may or may not want a label. Pescatarian is someone who eats no animal products but fish. Or he may just want to say "I eat a ... diet" if someone asks and avoid the labeling.

Paul

Hes not so much into labeling, I guess its just the closest to how he wants to eat. He doesn't even eat that much fish. I think hes mostly interested in 'health' as far as common consciousness about the topic goes. He avoids really greasy things. Also avoiding hydrogenated oil and corn syrup. We discovered that if one avoids these two, one can avoid a lot of the worse junk foods. But doesnt always cover everything.