Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle used with permission from All-Creatures.org


Suzanne McAllister muses on a common excuse from non-vegans who are otherwise sympathetic to the cause.


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What do they mean when they say they're lazy?
From Suzanne McAllister, Post Animal Use World (PAUW) Substack, suzannemcalllister.substack.com
January 2026

image of human relaxing in chair with cat
Image from Canva


I want to be vegan, but I’m lazy!

Over the past few years I’ve had conversations with two close friends who champion my vegan lifestyle and are not vegan.

These conversations happened separately about 5 years apart. The most recent one a few days ago. What struck me about them, and the reason I am writing this, is that they both said the same thing: ‘I want to be vegan, but I’m lazy’.

They both consistently praise me for what they see as discipline and principled behavior. They like what I’m doing.

I am struck by their admiration and understanding but I’m confused. It sounds like they think what I’m doing is really good - for so many reasons: health, the environment and, most importantly, ethics. Still, they don’t want to emulate me. I know that sounds boastful. I don’t mean it that way. It’s just that when I see someone behaving in a way I admire, I try to adopt that behavior.

Now that I think about it more carefully, I’m sure there are lots of things I admire in others that I don’t do. Like, eating sugar. I know it’s bad for me, and I have friends who don’t eat it, but I still eat it. But, eating sugar for me is an addiction. I wouldn’t say it’s because I’m lazy.

That’s what struck me about what they said when I asked them why they weren’t vegan - they said ‘I’m lazy’. When I probed a bit more they each mentioned having to learn what to eat, how to prepare different meals, learning what to buy in grocery stores, or what to order in restaurants. I think the bottom line is that the change seems monumental and difficult. I don’t think it is. At least those things were not difficult for me (other aspects of becoming vegan were. Primarily the negative and sometimes hostile reaction of some people in my life.)

I would need to probe more deeply to find out what the ‘laziness’ means to them, and if examining it more closely, they might determine that it is not as daunting as it might seem in one’s imagination.

Posted on All-Creatures: May 6, 2026
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