Thoughts: Veganism + Mental Health

There's a great deal of discourse in the vegan community on what veganism can do for both physical and mental illness. Many vegans claim that veganism can “cure” depression, anxiety, or eating disorders, and I personally find this field of thought to be ignorant and harmful. I know that for me and many others, these things never truly go away completely, and instead are managed over time. Eating disorders in particular are something that some individuals must work with throughout the course of their entire life, as certain harmful thoughts may never completely vanish from one’s mind. A diet is not going to change the chemical makeup of your brain or the situations that you get placed in that are beyond your control.

However, I find this difficult to talk about, as I have personally seen success in my disordered behaviors through changing the way that I eat and live my life. I do not think that the physical aspect of changing my diet, the new things that I either consume or don’t consume, has been the primary factor of my success. I think that for me and many others who experience positive changes in their eating disorders through veganism, going vegan is more about the control that you have over what you eat, and the knowledge that what you eat is relatively good for you. The way that I see food is so different now, as I’m able to look at it more as something that fuels me and makes me feel good rather than something that controls me and forces me into self-absuive behaviors. The way that I eat aligns with my viewpoint on life, and that makes me feel good about myself.

I think that veganism can work with an individual struggling with an eating disorder, a mood disorder, or a personality disorder, and could definitely help them out if they felt inclined to make this change in their life. I feel like veganism should be whatever you want it to be, and it’s definitely personal to the individual. It means something different to everyone, and I don’t think I should have to feel somewhat guilty that it has worked for me in regards to my mental illnesses, even though I completely disagree that veganism alone can “cure” anything.