5 Vegan Myths Debunked: What’s Really Holding You Back?

Sharing is caring!

This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more.

Most of what people believe about veganism comes from someone’s uncle at a barbecue in 2009. I believed a fair bit of it myself before I started.

Here are the five that come up constantly, and what’s actually true.

🥦 Vegan Myths Debunked

Surveys keep finding the same thing: most people who never try it are put off by something that isn’t true. Usually cost, usually protein.

If you’ve been hesitating over one of these, this should clear it up. And if you’re wondering where the actual lines are, here’s what vegans don’t eat.

💪 Myth 1: Vegan Diets Are Protein-Deficient

This is the first question every vegan gets asked, usually by someone who has never once calculated their own protein intake.

A cup of cooked lentils is about 18g. Quinoa is a complete protein on its own. Research published in Nutrients found vegans generally meet their protein needs without trying.

A tin of chickpeas tipped into a salad is 15g of protein and takes eight seconds.

The only people who genuinely need to plan for it are serious athletes, and they were planning anyway.

🥦 Myth 2: Vegan Food Is Bland And Unfulfilling

This one usually comes from someone whose only vegan meal was a sad plate of steamed vegetables at a wedding in 2011.

Bland food is a seasoning problem, not a vegan problem. Most of the world’s best food is already plant based. Dal, falafel, baba ganoush, dan dan noodles, ratatouille. A proper spice rack and some nutritional yeast will do more for your cooking than any meat substitute.

If your food is boring, you need salt, acid and heat, not animal products. A decent plant based cookbook sorted this out for me faster than any amount of improvising did.

🥦 Myth 3: Vegan Lifestyles Are Expensive

Vegan food is expensive if you buy the packets with leaves on the label. It’s cheap if you buy the ingredients.

Rice, beans, lentils, oats and seasonal vegetables are the cheapest food in any supermarket. Analysis in The Guardian found home cooked vegan meals came in cheaper than meat equivalents.

My shop got cheaper when I went vegan, not more expensive. The difference is that I stopped buying vegan cheese every week.

Buy the substitutes as a treat, not a staple. That’s the whole trick, and here’s what I fill the trolley with instead.

🥦 Myth 4: Veganism Is Inconvenient

Ten years ago this one was fair. Now most chain restaurants have a marked vegan section and most supermarkets have an aisle.

It’s still occasionally annoying. Small towns, weddings, airports and set menus are the real friction points, not daily life.

Message ahead when it’s a set menu and you’ll almost never have a problem. Most kitchens are happy to sort something out if they get warning.

🥦 Myth 5: Veganism Equals Only Salads

I eat fewer salads now than I did before I went vegan, which surprises people every time I say it.

Lasagne, pizza, curry, chilli, noodles, tacos, risotto, stew. All of it works, none of it involves lettuce.

Salad is a side dish. It was always a side dish.

🥦 Bringing It All Back: The Truth Behind Vegan Myths

Most of the resistance to going vegan is about ideas people were handed years ago and never checked. That includes the one about not being able to train properly on plants.

For what it’s worth, the one thing that actually does need attention is B12. That’s it. Everything else on this page was noise.

Which of these did you believe before you started? I’m fairly sure I believed three of them.

📚 Related Articles

• 11 Foods Healthy Vegans Eat
• Best Vegan Swaps
• Vegan Protein 101
• What to Eat in a Day as a New Vegan
• Vegan Meals for Beginners

Sharing is caring!