Vegan, vegetarian and beyond. Is there a need for all the labels?

Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, pescatarian, meat-eater, flexitarian, plant-based, sugar-free.. whatever your eating habits are, i'm sure there is a category for you. 

Since changing my eating habits over 3 years ago, everyone and their aunt Sally has an opinion on it. Whilst some people pride themselves on fitting into one of these categories, I can't say I do. In fact, until posting on steemit, I very rarely told anyone that I was a.. non animal eating human being. 

image source 

Why do I care about the label?

I feel that labels create a lot of personal and social pressure. Personal, because in the past I felt pressured to adhere to the rules of a particular eating category, becoming very strict with my eating habits and extremely harsh on myself.
Social, because I find myself answering a hell of a lot of questions.

'Why do you eat cheese if you're vegetarian, isn't that just as bad?'
'How do you get your protein?'
And most questions start with 'Can you eat.... X.....?'

In short my answer is usually 'I eat whatever feels good'.

I feel that by openly putting a label on your eating habits, people see you as preaching or broadcasting your identity and then in turn feel entitled to question your habits and expect answers. Lots of answers. 

Do any other veggies out there feel like this?

So what do I identify as?

I'm starting to stop labelling myself in social situations as a 'vegetarian' or 'pescatarian', not because i'm ashamed, but because I don't want to have to explain my eating habits to every, new person, every time I need to refuel. It's not that i'm defensive about it, in fact i'm quite happy to talk about why I eat the way I do, it just gets a bit dull.. mainly for me.

We all have different eating habits, whether it's because of dietary preferences, medical allergies or whatever else. In my opinion, how you choose to eat is up to you, but eating intuitively is something we should all probably be doing - for our health if nothing else. So if my body responds well to a particular food, i'm probably going to eat it. Likewise if i'm feeling sick, tired or bloated, I will take a look at what i'm putting in my body. That's how I changed my eating habits 3 years ago.

I suppose thinking about it, I identify more as a plant-based eater, but tend not to vocalise this. That is to say most of the time I eat plants, beans and grains. Sometimes I eat cheese and fish because I still enjoy them. I realise that plant-based is still a label, but I feel more comfortable using a less defined word for the very reason that I feel less boxed-in and less pressure to ensure i'm fulfilling the so called 'rules' of being a veggie or pescatarian. No more checking the back of sweet packets, panicking to see if the sweets contain any animal products. I eat what I feel like and keep my eating choices quite private. That way I don't feel like i'm letting myself down or falling off track. 

The vegan trend

Since being vegan became fashionable in the UK, it's bought with it a lot of benefits. More food stores, cafes and restaurants are selling healthy plant-based food options which aren't just risotto and penne. The conversation around what we are putting in our bodies is much more open, which I think is fantastic and about time we took a better look at our health. The only downside to the vegan trend, in my opinion, is more pressure than ever to eat healthier and identify as something whether it be vegan, vegetarian etc. Label up and follow the rules!

I know a couple of people who are vegans, but eat meat a few times per year.
Does that make them hypocrites? In my opinion, no. They eat what they feel is the best way for their bodies 99% of the time and because they are so comfortable and confident that it is a lifestyle they will maintain forever, eating meat a couple of times a year doesn't phase them. I realise that it's different for everyone and that some people are vegan for moral reasons. I'm only looking at eating habits from a health perspective here.

Eat how you want to eat, do what's best for your body. We don't need to label everything all of the time. Whether it's how we eat, the kind of sexual partners we prefer, how we identify with the word 'gender' or what ethnicity our parents are.. there's a category for most parts of our identity.

Is it time we stopped boxing ourselves into categories?

What do you guys think?

Yasmine