Vegan Cravings (Don’t vegans miss animal products?)

   If you’re vegan for any appreciable amount of time, you’re probably going to get asked if you crave (x) ever. And if you’re not, you probably wonder about that, whenever you hear about a vegan. So let’s talk about vegan cravings. Do they happen? And what do we do about them? 

Do vegans get cravings?

   Usually somebody will ask about cheese, bacon, or chicken. These seem to be the three things that people just can’t wrap their heads around giving up, for whatever reason. But yes, honestly, this is really common. Both for vegans to experience as well as nonvegans to worry about prior to deciding to go vegan. I didn’t go vegan because I didn’t like the taste of animal products. In fact, I liked them a lot. But when I looked at the plight of the animals, I knew that for me, it didn’t matter how much gustatory pleasure I’d get out of these things. It just couldn’t rationalize my still eating them. Not anymore. And so I made the switch. 

Make sure you’re eating well

   A lot of times, cravings are our bodies’ way of telling us that there’s something we’re missing and that we need. So you want to make sure that you’re getting your nutrients in (both micro and macro), in order to curb cravings as well as maintain health.

   In general, you want to make sure you’re getting enough protein, fat and carbs. And then on top of it, you want a varied intake of fruits and veggies for the vitamins and minerals that they come with. Also, as a vegan, make sure you’re eating enough! If you’re trying to eat more whole foods on top of being vegan, it can be easy to overestimate how many calories you’re getting. And if you’re eating too low in calories, you’ll probably be hungry and craving things more often, which obviously, nobody wants. 

Get creative

   Another important thing to prioritize when first going vegan is trying new things. If your diet consisted of a lot of animal products before, then that means that there’s going to be a lot to replace when going vegan. Replace, not just cut out. If all you do is cut it out of your diet, then you’re going to be left eating almost nothing. Then of course your cravings will be through the roof. 

   So, try new vegan foods. My personal favorite way of doing this is to seek out different cultural cuisines and find new plant-based options there, but maybe you’d like surfing the web to find new vegan recipes that suit you, or maybe you can commit to trying one new fruit or vegetable each week or month. However you go about it, I highly recommend finding some new vegan foods to try. The variation will keep things from getting boring, and finding new favorites will help you not miss the old ones as much. The main thing here is getting you to a place where you don’t feel deprived. 

   And make sure to replace your old fun foods with something! If you are eating only boring, tasteless food because you think that’s all that’s vegan, then you’re really not going to be able to sustain that for very long. Also, if everyone else at the table is celebrating and you’re just nibbling on an apple, it’ll be miserable. Make or find special celebratory vegan foods. They exist, you can make them, they’re delicious, and you’re worth it, okay?

Vegan replacement foods

   Which brings me pretty neatly into vegan packaged replacement products. If you have the money, I would suggest you try out some vegan meats, cheeses etc. when the cravings come. I hear a lot of vegans responding to “don’t you miss (x)?” by saying “Well, no because I still eat it–just a vegan version”. And honestly, that’s valid. 

   The new plant based foods we can buy these days are actually pretty good, and often hit the spot when it comes to cravings. I’m not going to pretend they’re perfect. Some of them, especially, could use more tweaking. But that being said, a lot of them are pretty decent and “realistic” as replacement for things you were used to eating before going vegan. And a lot of them are close enough to help the cravings subside. 

Over time, your cravings lessen

   Honestly, I don’t miss bacon, and haven’t for years. After going vegan (and staying vegan) for a while, my tastes did start to change. And they changed to the point where I haven’t craved bacon since. It seems way too fatty and salty to enjoy for my tastes now. And when I’ve been around nonvegans eating it, I didn’t enjoy the smell, either. I don’t know the exact mechanics of it, but some foods just don’t stick to you like that. 

   And as you stay vegan for longer, you stop having as many cravings because of it. It’s true, you crave what you know. The more acquainted your body gets with eating vegan, the more you start to crave plant foods. These days, the three most common cravings I get are tofu, chickpeas, and cilantro. Whether your cravings are about your body wanting some nutrients or some emotional experience, the longer you’re vegan for, the more your cravings will align with that. 

At the end of the day, sometimes we crave

   But even with all this in mind, sometimes I do still want the flavors of the things I have chosen not to eat. And you know what? That’s okay. We all want to do things that we’ve decided we shouldn’t sometimes, and I’ve made my decision based on what I’m ethically okay with consuming. If that means that I have to sit with a craving every once in a while, it’s okay. I won’t die. 

   What I mean is, I am able to sit through the discomfort of a craving from time to time. It’s not my favorite experience, obviously. But it won’t harm me. If I’m doing my job to make sure that I am getting enough nutrition in and I’m eating a varied and interesting diet (with vegan replacements or not), and I’m still getting the cravings, that’s okay. We don’t have to act on every impulse we have in life, and for myself, I know that wouldn’t be beneficial. 

   And yes, it’s not going to kill me to go without a steak when I want one. But it would be participating in the death of a cow. To me, there’s no rationalizing it. The discomfort I feel having to sit with a craving is nothing compared to the suffering an animal has to go through in order to fulfill that craving, and to prioritize my taste buds over someone else’s life…that’s not fair. So, in the end, for those cravings that seem to pop up out of nowhere and can’t be quelled with some nutrition and fun food, yeah. I just sit with it. And “miss it”, as people so often put it. 

Missing animal products

   And that’s most of my complete answer when it comes to vegan cravings. There’s just one more thing I wanted to point out. When people ask if you “miss cheese” (or chicken, or bacon, or whatever), I think they’re actually getting at something a little bit different. I might be way off base here, since I never knew a vegan before becoming one, so I didn’t get to ask that question. But when I hear this, it seems like what people are really asking is if there’s a whole in your heart when the cheese used to be. Like, do you spend your days lamenting the fact that you don’t eat cheese (etc)? 

   And if that’s what you’re really trying to ask me when you say that, the answer is unequivocally no. I don’t think about it all that often. It’s more like something that I remember once in a while–usually when I see something that I wish was vegan so I could try it. And then, yeah, I’ll crave the flavor for a little bit. But most days, I don’t think about nonvegan foods, and I certainly don’t wish I was eating them. Once you’ve grown into a habit of eating vegan and you have your go-to meals and favorites, it just becomes a fact of your life. You can set it and forget it, for the most part. 

   I think that’s what nervous nonvegans are trying to get at with this question. They can’t fathom that eating vegan food could ever become normal, and I can tell you, it does. It takes longer for some than others. I think for me it probably took a few months. It seems to go faster the more willing you are to explore the wide world of vegan cuisine. But regardless, just understand that it does happen. And you don’t have to feel bad for the vegan that comes to the party. If you want to help, just make sure they will have something to eat. 

   So thank you for listening to my thoughts about vegan cravings. If you want more vegan content, consider subscribing to the blog for email updates whenever there’s a new post. And if you’re looking for more answers to questions that vegans get asked a lot, click here for a post with a compiled list. As always, have a great day!