So you've made the decision to eliminate animal ingredients from your diet—good for you!

Going vegan is the best thing you can do for animals of course, but it's also the best thing you can do for the environment and your own health.

Since it's such a positive and powerful thing to do, spreading the word and influencing your family and friends to follow your lead is the obvious next step, right? We at peta2 would like to take this time to ask that you be patient and tolerant with those around you—in other words, don't go all vegan police on them!

By examining the contents of your friend's and family's cabinets and refrigerators and nit-picking every little thing, you are doing more harm than good. Please don't make it seem as though vegans spend every waking moment reading labels and forcing restaurant staff to read them the list of ingredients on their boxes of veggie burgers. Being vegan is so easy these days, and we want everyone to know it!

Making vegans seem "extreme" or "difficult" or being argumentative is definitely not going to win anyone over. Think about it: Would you want anyone yelling at you about what you were eating? Do you think you'd be interested in what they were saying? Of course not! Always think about the big picture—what is best for animals. Instead of arguing about some infinitesimal ingredient, we should be positive and remember that no one is perfect. Even "pure" vegan food is processed using electricity that destroys habitats and is delivered in gas-fueled vehicles, so it involves some degree of the animal suffering that we are trying to reduce.

When you give a server a hard time or lecture your parents and friends about what is and isn't vegan based on some almost non-existent ingredient that they've never even heard of, you are making it seem as though being vegan is a chore. While your intentions are good, your actions will turn them off, and because no one wants to add more difficulty to their lives, they'll decide that being vegan is too much work. And that results in—yep, you guessed it—more animal suffering.

Now, don't get us wrong: We aren't saying you shouldn't try to eliminate all nonvegan ingredients from your diet. But what we are saying is that the impression you make with your outreach should be just as important as your personal purity.

If you're worried about what may or may not be 100 percent vegan, then by all means, find out, but don't make a scene or turn it into an argument. When you eat out, call ahead to make sure vegan options are available, if you're worried something might not be available. It just takes a little bit of planning on your part to ensure that you are maintaining your vegan lifestyle and dispelling the "vegans are difficult" myth at the same time.

For a list of ingredients that may be derived from animal sources, check out our animal ingredients list.