Going Vegan Or Vegetarian- Barriers And Strategies On The Path To Success (Faunalytics)

Background

This is the third and final report in our series describing the results of Faunalytics’ longitudinal study of new vegans and vegetarians (vegns). It focuses on the critical issue of barriers and supports facing people who start a new vegn diet, as well as the effectiveness of various strategies. The barriers and strategies included in this study are described briefly in the tables below.

Participants

This study includes 222 members of the general public in the U.S. and Canada, all of whom had started transitioning to a vegan or vegetarian diet within the past two months.

The Level of Commitment section of the first report shows that more than 90% of the sample said they would probably or definitely continue their new diet change permanently. This sample should therefore be considered most representative of people who have already moved beyond a simple interest or desire to change into the stage where they are ready to actively work toward a veg*n goal.

Key Findings

The worst barriers to diet change were feeling unhealthy, not seeing vegnism as part of one’s identity, and believing society perceives vegnism negatively. People with these particular barriers were more likely than others to abandon their attempt to go vegn. Specifically, people who felt unhealthy on their vegn diet were more than three times as likely to abandon it within the first six months (30% vs. 8%). People who did not see vegnism as part of their personal identity were about twice as likely as others to abandon it (16% vs. 8%). And people who thought society perceives vegnism negatively were about 1.5 times as likely as others to abandon their diet (13% vs. 8%).
Cost-reduction strategies were the most useful type of strategy across all barriers: for instance, researching low-cost products that fit one’s diet (e.g., tofu). Cost-reduction strategies were the only strategy type that appeared to consistently protect against diet abandonment.
Strategies to increase or maintain one’s motivation to continue the veg*n diet were also very helpful: for instance, learning about farmed animals or about social justice, health, or religious reasons for veg*nism. Even in this sample of participants who tended to be highly motivated from the beginning, using these motivational strategies was associated with cutting out more animal products and in some cases, protecting against diet abandonment.
Health-promoting strategies were useful, but feeling unhealthy remained a challenging barrier. Using health-promoting strategies, such as talking to a medical professional about how to be healthy on a vegn diet or researching it oneself, appeared to help people with a range of barriers cut out animal products and get closer to their vegn goals. However, these strategies did not appear to protect against diet abandonment.
Social strategies were helpful for people with one or more social barriers: For people who were experiencing low autonomy support (support from friends and family), negative influence from one’s culture, or a small network of other veg*ns, social strategies helped them cut out animal products and get closer to their consumption goals.
Strategies targeting ability barriers were somewhat effective, but not for people who needed the help most. These strategies included attempts to improve access to vegn food or ability to prepare it, such as researching products, switching grocery stores, or increasing one’s own cooking. Crucially, while these strategies were helpful to people with some unrelated barriers, they had no apparent effect on people who were actually having difficulty finding or preparing vegn food or having low personal control over food.
Though barriers can be a challenge, many people are able to lessen or overcome them with time. For instance, at the beginning of the study, just 36% of participants identified strongly as vegns, and 46% believed society sees their diet positively. Six months later, 66% identified strongly as vegns and 67% believed society sees their diet positively.