Take Part in Veganuary and You Might See Yourself Differently

This article Republished from the conversation Under a Creative Commons License.

Humans have long wrestled with their consciences about killing and eating animals. D “The Paradox of Meat” (conflict between people’s preference for meat and their concern for animals). Inspired cave paintings 37,000 years ago. Since then, many Leading thinker Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Shelley and Mahatma Gandhi all abstained from meat.

today, Half of US adults And Three-quarters of UK adults Oppose manufacturing factory farming almost all Of their flesh, still only about One in 10 Follow a meat-free diet.

Plant-based diets are increasingly tasty and cheap in many countries. Adopting them will save Ower’s life 80 billion animals A year and will cause 75 percent less environmental damage than non-vegetarian food.

Benefits of going plant-based health And longevity Increasingly well-established and has been a prominent persuasive Cardiologist To comment, “There are two types of cardiologists: vegetarians and those who don’t read the data.”

Despite these proven benefits of a vegetarian diet, most people continue to eat meat, using strategies such as “Defensive Argument” or Moral detachment and avoidance To reduce emotional discomfort.

Every January since 2014 Veganuary The campaign—which encourages people to eat a plant-based diet in January—attempts to break down these psychological defenses with images of cute pigs, fluffy chicks and invitations to take on challenges. Almost last year 25 million peopleincluding approx 4 percent of the UK populationhas joined

Research by Veganuary suggests that more than 80 percent of participants maintain a drastic reduction in meat consumption, cutting their intake by half or more. After six months.

At the University of Exeter, we independently conducted three online studies of vegan participants (a fourth is underway) and found that when people reduce or avoid meat, they begin to see meat and themselves differently.

Aversion to meat

On average, people report liking meat less, and some even find it abominable. This is our complement Previous research shows that 74 percent of vegetarians and 15 percent of vegans find meat disgusting.

Another study of ours (under peer review) suggests that this “disgust of meat” runs deep. Those who report this (mainly vegetarians) react to the idea of ​​eating meat in the same way that meat eaters react to the idea. Feces, or eating human or dog meat.

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Caption: Flesh disgust runs deep.
Credit: Philippe Obr/Alamy Stock Photo

If such negative feelings arise when people avoid meat during veganism, giving up meat in the long run may not be the sacrifice many hope for. We are now collecting data over 12 months from 100 people who took part in our Veganuary study last year and will see if negative feelings towards meat predict long-term changes in meat consumption.