How to Deal with Non-Vegan Family and Friends

Sometimes I think that removing meat and dairy from our diets is actually the easy part. It’s all of the stuff that comes up later than can be challenging: like dealing with non-vegan family and friends. There are often a lot of questions, teasing, or even judgement. I have definitely experienced my share of all of these but have learned a lot over the last 5 years.

Here are some tips for dealing with non-vegan family and friends. I hope that they will help you along your journey.

1). Have a heart to heart conversation with them about why being vegan is so important to you. Calmly and compassionately discuss your reason, without judgement. Show them a documentary or a short video explaining your why (If they won't agree to watch a documentary with you, save this as a birthday wish for when they cannot say "no.").

2) Invite them to visit a sanctuary with you. Once they see how amazing the animals are, hopefully they will make the connection. This is a great and fun way to plant seeds.

3). Make a delicious vegan meal for them. Here is the key to this: do not tell them that it’s vegan until after they have eaten it...and make sure that it's truly delicious.

4). Invite them to a vegan restaurant. They may be surprised at how amazing vegan food tastes.

5) Plan an activity that doesn’t revolve around food. Go on a hike, to the beach or to a park.

6) Be sure that you are well educated on facts surrounding veganism. This way you can blow them away with your answers when they ask you, “Where do you get your protein?” or “How is climate change tied to eating animals?”

I hope that these tips help. Please let me know if you need any additional support. Being part of a vegan community or having another vegan to talk to makes all of these situations so much easier <3

Also, be sure to join my free, Private Facebook Community!