Take part in Veganuary and you might see yourself differently

THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license.

People have long struggled with their consciences about killing and eating animals. The “meat paradox” (the conflict between people’s preference for meat and their concern for animals) may have inspired cave paintings 37,000 years ago. Since then a lot leading thinkers have avoided meat, including Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Shelley and Mahatma Gandhi.

today, half of US adults and three quarters of adults in the UK oppose the factory farming that produces almost everyone of their flesh, but only approx one in 10 follow a meat-free diet.

Plant-based diets are becoming more palatable and inexpensive in many countries. Their adoption would spare the lives of over 80 billion animals a year and would cause 75 percent less damage to the environment than meat diets.

The benefits of going plant-based health and longevity are increasingly established and have prompted prominent cardiologist to note: “There are two kinds of cardiologists: vegans and those who haven’t read the data.”

Despite these proven benefits of a vegan diet, most people continue to eat meat using strategies such as “defensive reasoning” or moral detachment and avoidance to reduce any psychological distress.

Every January since 2014. this way Veganarium A campaign encouraging people to eat a plant-based diet in January sought to break down these psychological defenses with pictures of cute piglets, fluffy chicks and an invitation to take on the challenge. Last year approx 25 million peopleincluding approx 4 percent of the UK populationjoined.

Research by Veganuary suggests that over 80 percent of participants maintained major reductions in meat consumption, cutting their intake in half or more. after six months.

At the University of Exeter, we independently conducted three online surveys of Veganuary participants (a fourth is underway) and found that when people cut back on or avoid meat, they also begin to see meat and themselves differently.

Aversion to meat

On average, people report liking meat less, with some even finding it disgusting. It complements ours earlier research showing that 74 percent of vegetarians and 15 percent of flexitarians find meat disgusting.

Another study of ours (under peer review) suggests that this “meat aversion” runs deep. Those who reported it (mainly vegetarians) reacted to the idea of ​​eating meat in a similar way as meat eaters react to the idea of eating feces or human or dog flesh.

PHOTO
Caption: Aversion to meat runs deep.
Credit: Filip Obr/Alamy Stock Photo

If such negative feelings emerge when people avoid meat during Veganuary, giving up meat in the long run may not be the sacrifice many would expect. We are now collecting 12 months of data from 100 people who took part in our Veganuary survey last year and will see if negative feelings about meat predict longer-term changes in meat consumption.