Welcome to Small Bites, Sound Bites, a midweek segment of food for thought podcast where I share short, succinct, thoughtful responses to typical questions, myths, and misconceptions related to plant-based eating, veganism, and animal protection.

You can get written transcripts of this podcast by going to joyfulvegan.com slash donate.

A common criticism level against vegans is that we tell people what to eat and that it's not our business to do so.

Now personally, I don't tell people what to eat. I raise awareness about the detrimental effects of meat, dairy, and eggs, and people are smart enough to draw their own conclusions and make their own changes.

But what's funny about this criticism is that people are being told what to eat all the time, and not by vegans. The meat, dairy, and egg industries spend billions of dollars urging us to consume as much meat, dairy, and eggs as possible.

That message isn't coming from unbiased sources. It's coming from the very industries that benefit financially from telling us what to eat.

And yet, we've become so conditioned to believe that because eating animal products is status quo, it's not a bias.

Of course, it's a bias. Of course, they have an agenda. It's to get us to buy their products. As an advocate for animals, I too have an agenda. I too have a bias. My bias is compassion.

My agenda is to provide you with what you need to manifest your values, your bias of compassion, and kindness, and wellness, and may it be so.

For the animals, this is Colleen Patrick Goodrow. You can find more at joyfulvegan.com. Thanks for listening.