Meat Eaters Everywhere Jumping for Joy at Veg Statistics - But What Can We Really Learn From This?

One of the biggest representations of plant eating in the media this month is a rather dismal one. With such leading titles as “Most Die-Hard Vegetarians are Actually Pretty Wishy-Washy”, “Why becoming a vegetarian really is just a phase”, and aggressive images of people eating raw meat to lead the articles, the news is starting to look like your in-your-face meat-munching family member who just can’t accept that anyone would want to give up eating dead bodies for good. What did these studies find that lead so many articles to stand up and exclaim, “Ha, vegetarians! I knew it!” as they offer their vegetarian friend a bite of steak?

A survey of 11,000 US citizens found that 84 percent who had adopted a vegetarian diet for any amount of time later reverted back to a diet that included meat.

30% of the participants had only been vegetarian for less than three months, with the additional possibility that their vegetarianism was “flexitarian” inspired.

Vegans were less likely to revert to an animal-based diet than vegetarians (this might be attributed to the fact that veganism is more often or more strongly motivated by environmental or ethical factors than vegetarianism)

The study made no distinction between those who adopted different diets for ethical reasons and those for health reasons.

The most common reasons vegetarians rescinded their lifestyle was not a craving for meat or a change of heart about the treatment of animals, but harassment and ostracization from meat eating friends and family - a “lack of support” and feeling like they were “standing out”.

A different survey by the Vegetarian Resource Journal found that those who adopted plant-based diets for environmental reasons were most likely to keep the changes, followed by those for ethical reasons, and then those for health reasons.

We can learn a number of things from these statistics - but it’s not that “everyone who goes vegetarian is just going through a fad”. First, that the first three months to a year may be hardest for new vegetarians. Second, that they require support and acceptance from others, especially family members or friends who may be quick to ridicule their choices. Third, we can improve their chances of keeping with and feeling good about their lifestyle by opting for a vegan lifestyle, not simply a vegetarian one (and possibly also convincing people to adopt more eco-friendly mindsets). And finally, the idea that vegetarians and vegans are the ones doing the harassing seems counter intuitive to the fact that 84% of ex-vegetarians directly cite criticism, harassment, or rejection of their beliefs from meat eaters.