Is going vegan hard?

It's Saturday evening here in Helsinki, a time when many people are relaxing after a long week. Not me. I cannot stop, because if I stop, I start thinking, and trust me, my brain is not a good place to be in. As I was contemplating doing something I find genuinely difficult, like assembling a piece of flat-pack furniture or trying to understand quantum physics, it got me thinking about the concept of "hard" itself. We humans are strange creatures. We will spend years training to run a marathon, a profoundly difficult and painful undertaking, for fun. Yet, we will often balk at the idea of making a lifestyle change that seems much simpler on the surface.

This led me to investigate one of the most famously "hard" lifestyle changes a person can make: going vegan. The very idea is often met with a mixture of awe and disbelief from the general public. "Oh, I could never do that," they say, "it must be so hard."

But is it? Is the reputation deserved? Is adopting a vegan lifestyle truly a monumental, Herculean task, or is it just a bit of an inconvenience that we've blown out of proportion? As an investigator, I decided to deconstruct the concept of "hard" and find out what the real challenges are. So, is going vegan hard? Let's dive into the awkward, annoying, and occasionally awesome reality. 🤔

Defining "Hard": A Philosophical Detour into a Three-Front War

Before I could investigate whether veganism is hard, I first had to figure out what "hard" even means in this context. Is it physically hard, like wrestling a bear? 🐻 Is it intellectually hard, like trying to explain the ending of the movie Inception? Or is it emotionally hard, like watching the first ten minutes of the movie Up?

My research indicates that the difficulty of going vegan isn't one single thing; it's a multi-faceted challenge that occurs on three distinct fronts. I was talking about this framework with my editor, and he said, "So, Manu, it's a three-front war?" which I thought was a bit dramatic, but essentially, yes. You are simultaneously fighting a war of logistics, a war of social dynamics, and a war against your own brain.

1. The Practical War: The battle against the supermarket, the kitchen, and the restaurant menu.

2. The Social War: The battle against your family, your friends, and every curious stranger you'll ever meet.

3. The Psychological War: The battle against your own lifelong habits, cravings, and anxieties.

To understand if going vegan is hard, we have to investigate the difficulty of fighting on all three of these fronts at once.

The Practical War: Your Battle Against the Supermarket 🛒

This is the most tangible front. It's the physical act of acquiring, preparing, and eating food in a world that is not designed for vegans.

The Learning Curve of Doom

When a person first goes vegan, they often describe feeling like a clueless freshman on the first day of university. They’re in a familiar place—the supermarket—but nothing makes sense anymore. Their go-to meals are gone. Their staple ingredients are forbidden. They find themselves wandering the aisles, picking up items, reading the labels with a confused expression, and then putting them back.

There is a genuine and steep learning curve. You have to learn:

• New Recipes: You can't just subtract the meat from your old meals; you have to learn new ways of building a plate.

• New Staples: Your pantry needs a complete overhaul. Out go the chicken stock and shredded cheese; in come the nutritional yeast, the liquid smoke, and a frankly alarming quantity of lentils.

• Basic Nutrition: You suddenly have to become a part-time dietitian, thinking about things like iron absorption, complete proteins, and where on Earth you're supposed to get Vitamin B12.

The Label Detective: A Life of Fine Print

This is the part that I think would drive me personally insane. Going vegan means you are now a label-reader for life. You must become a detective, a forensic investigator of ingredient lists, hunting for a host of sneaky, hidden animal products. My investigation has created a "Most Wanted" list of these culinary criminals:

• Casein & Whey: These milk proteins are notorious for showing up in crisps, bread, and even some "non-dairy" products.

• Gelatin: Derived from animal bones and skin. Hides in gummy sweets, marshmallows, and some desserts.

• Carmine (E120): A red food dye made from crushed cochineal insects. Lovely. 🐞

• Isinglass: A substance from fish bladders used to clarify some beers and wines.

• L-cysteine: An amino acid sometimes derived from poultry feathers or human hair, used as a dough conditioner in some commercial breads.

This level of constant vigilance requires a significant amount of mental energy.

The Restaurant Gauntlet

Eating out goes from being a simple pleasure to a strategic mission. It involves pre-screening menus online, calling restaurants ahead of time to ask probing questions, and often having an awkward, apologetic conversation with a waiter while your friends stare at you. All too often, the reward for this effort is a sad, overpriced plate of plain pasta or a side salad. 🥗

The Social War: Your Battle Against Everyone You've Ever Met 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

As my research has shown, for many people who try veganism, the food part eventually gets easy. It’s the people part that remains relentlessly hard.

The Family Inquisition

Going home for a holiday as a new vegan is a unique form of psychological torture. Your personal choice is treated as a public referendum. Your grandmother is convinced you are dying of protein deficiency. Your uncle makes the same tired jokes he thinks are hilarious. Your mother is hurt that you won't eat the dish she has made with love for twenty years. Every meal becomes a negotiation, a debate, and a performance. You are no longer just a family member; you are "the vegan."

The Burden of the Ambassador

When you're the only vegan in your social circle, you are unwittingly elected as the sole ambassador for the entire global vegan movement. Every aspect of your health and mood is scrutinized. If you catch a cold, it’s because you’re vegan. If you’re tired, it’s because you’re vegan. If you’re in a bad mood, it’s that infamous "vegan anger." There is a constant, crushing pressure to be a perfect, glowing, endlessly patient advertisement for the lifestyle. If you're not, you feel like you're letting down the entire cause, a burden that is both absurd and exhausting.

The Psychological War: Your Battle Against Your Own Brain 🧠

This, I believe, is the most underestimated front in the war. The biggest battles are often the internal ones.

Breaking the Chains of Habit and Craving

We are creatures of habit. The foods we eat are deeply tied to our memories, our emotions, and our sense of identity. Breaking these lifelong neural pathways is genuinely hard. A person doesn't just crave the taste of cheese; they crave the comfort of the pizza they ate with their family every Friday night. These cravings are real, they are powerful, and overcoming them requires more than just willpower; it requires creating new, equally powerful habits and emotional connections.

The Ghost of Cheese Past 🧀

Let's be honest, while the alternatives are getting better, some things are just hard to replicate. For many, cheese is the final boss of veganism. The specific combination of casein, fat, and salt in dairy cheese has been shown to have a mildly addictive, opiate-like effect on the brain. The ghost of cheese past can haunt a new vegan for a long, long time.

The Imposter Syndrome and the Quest for Purity

As I've investigated before, the high moral stakes of ethical veganism can create a powerful "imposter syndrome." The fear of making a mistake, of not being "vegan enough," and of being judged by the online purity police can be a source of chronic, low-grade anxiety. This quest for an unattainable level of perfection can be psychologically draining.

Questions from the Internet: "What is the absolute hardest part of going vegan?"

This is the big one. And based on my extensive investigation and reading countless testimonials, the answer is overwhelmingly consistent. For the first few weeks, the hardest part is the food—the learning curve, the cravings. But for almost every single long-term vegan, the hardest part, the thing that remains a challenge for years, is the social aspect. It is the constant need to explain, to justify, to navigate a world that is not built for you. It's the feeling of being a perpetual, polite inconvenience.

Questions from the Internet: "Does it get easier over time?"

Yes. A resounding, hopeful, scientifically-backed YES. My research into the psychology of habit formation shows that our brains can and do adapt.

• Your Taste Buds Change: After a few months without hyper-palatable processed foods and animal products, your sensitivity to subtle flavors increases. Vegetables start to taste more vibrant, and old favorites can seem overwhelmingly salty or rich.

• New Habits Form: Label-reading becomes a quick, automatic scan. Your go-to recipes become second nature.

• You Build a Social Script: You develop quick, easy, and calm ways to answer the common questions. The social navigation becomes less terrifying and more routine.

  The initial "hardness" is a steep but relatively short climb. Eventually, you reach a plateau where it just becomes your new normal.

Internal Link Break!

The social and psychological difficulties of being vegan are very real. My investigation shows that for some, this pressure can spill over into genuine anxiety about their choices and their health. For a deeper look at that specific connection, you can read my report: [Did Going Vegan Give Me Anxiety? ]

The Conclusion: A Hardship Worth Choosing?

So, after this exhaustive investigation into all the fronts of this war, is going vegan hard?

My final verdict is this: Yes. It can be. To pretend otherwise is to be dishonest. It is practically hard at the beginning. It is socially hard for a very long time. And it can be psychologically hard if you fall into the trap of perfectionism.

But the word "hard" is not always a synonym for "bad." Climbing a mountain is hard. Running a marathon is hard. Learning a new language is hard. We do hard things all the time, because we believe the reward on the other side is worth the struggle.

For the people who stick with veganism, they have clearly decided that the reward—be it a clear conscience, better health, or a lighter environmental footprint—is worth the undeniable difficulty. The fact that it's hard is what makes the choice so powerful and so meaningful for so many. It's not a diet for those seeking ease; it’s a discipline for those seeking purpose. 💪

The best way to make the journey easier is to be armed with knowledge. To understand the core philosophy that provides the powerful motivation to stick with it, you should check out my guide: [What Is Ethical Veganism?].

Sources

• Faunalytics. A Summary Of Faunalytics’ Study Of Current And Former Vegetarians And Vegans. https://faunalytics.org/a-summary-of-faunalytics-study-of-current-and-former-vegetarians-and-vegans/ (Research on why people stop being veg*n).

• Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House. (For the science of habit formation).

• Psychology Today. The Social Side of Veganism. (Discusses the social and psychological challenges).

• The Vegan Society. Tips for New Vegans. https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/how-go-vegan/tips-new-vegans

• Rothgerber, H. (2014). A comparison of attitudes toward meat and animals among strict, semi-, and non-vegetarians. Appetite, 72, 98-105. (Academic research on the social psychology of dietary choices).

• The Gottman Institute. (While not vegan-specific, this is a foundational resource on navigating difficult conversations with family and partners).

• Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241. (For the psychology of imposter syndrome).