Being a vegan comes with restrictions, both dietary and socially. Ridicule is inevitable living in a country where the dairy and meat industry are ingrained into the culture. Everyone has their own beliefs on what is the healthiest and "best" way to live, and my choice is to go through my day-to-day life identifying as vegan.

It can be isolating due to the small number of vegans. I do my best to bite my tongue and not preach what I think to people who do not want to hear it, but that does not mean I do not encounter conflict.

These are the top 8 things I hear almost daily about plant-based lifestyles.

1. “Can’t you eat… like.. nothing?”

plant-based replacements for meat and cheese. Sometimes when people say this during a meal, half of what they are eating is plant-based.

2.“Isn’t it hard to be a vegan in college?”

There is no better time than the present, and some studies show that adopting a vegan diet can be more cost-effective than one with animal byproducts.

3. “But you can only get protein from meat!”

But where do animals get their protein from? You guessed it, plants. Just one cup of black beans contains 39 grams of protein. And studies show that people who follow a standard American diet packed with meat and dairy receive double of the amount of protein that is recommended by health experts. Nutrient deficiencies usually stem from a lack of iron, vitamin B12 and calcium.

4. “But dairy animals aren’t killed!”

Yes, dairy animals may not be killed for a glass of milk. But the conditions that dairy animals are held in often are so brutal that they die prematurely. A common example of this are cows dying from bacterial infections. Some harrowing conditions include crowded pens and calves being stripped from their mother immediately following birth. Also, dairy cows are typically artificially inseminated just months after birth. These are just some of the depressing realities of the dairy industry.

5. “I understand the environmental aspect but it’s not enough to make me go vegan,”

This is frustrating to hear because it completely ignores the cruelty and health risks of non-vegan diets, as if there is nothing wrong. When people say this, it is difficult to hold back and not tell the person on the other benefits of adopting a vegan lifestyle.

6. “You not eating meat/dairy isn’t going to make a difference,”

The reason I am vegan isn’t just to make a difference in how modern animal agriculture operates. It is more so to live a holistic and balanced lifestyle. Veganism isn’t only about advocacy for a change.

And did you know that it is estimated that a vegan saves nearly 400,000 gallons of water and almost 400 animals from being slaughtered per year? Boom.

I understand I am just one person living among billions of others, but that does not stop me from being an advocate for something I am passionate about.

7. “Don’t you wish you could have some of this (insert animal byproduct here)?"

After I typed this point, my mom actually texted me a photo of her steak with the caption, “Aren’t you jealous?” No, I am not jealous; and no, I don’t miss cheese. My reasoning for being vegan overshadows the taste of meat and dairy.

8. Asking any question about veganism, and immediately responding with a negative response.

I encounter this a lot. It’s exciting when someone sincerely wants to know about what a plant based lifestyle entails, but it’s frustrating when someone asks about it just to shut your response down. Appreciating veganism definitely requires an open mind, but viewing it as something ridiculous is ignorant.

So there you have it. These are easy to shake off because of their frequency, but it does get frustrating being forced to bite my tongue in a situation of bias.