Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

[PlantsPlease]

Well, I guess I already answered this over at:
http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=635231&postcount=103
answering why omnivores don't become vegan or become vegan sooner.

But long story short:
1. Impractical living with my mom and eating school lunches followed by marrying a guy who (until recently) ate a diet based on slabs of meat, burgers, and pizza.
2. Misinformation about health effects, especially since diabetes runs in my family and, while I don't have that so far, I do have other health problems that I had been told would benefit from a high protein diet (which was always portrayed as a high meat diet).
3. Not knowing just how really bad the food system was. It's not like I was totally unaware, but it just didn't seem worth it based on what I thought it was like and based on the sacrifices I thought I'd have to make.

Turns out, though, that I feel better on a vegan diet and it's easier to be vegan than I thought. And, best of all, perhaps, my husband was the one that decided that we should try going vegan as an experiment, which made things MUCH easier. Since then, we've both decided to be full vegans, as much as can, at least.

[chefness]

Was a lactose-intolerant vegetarian with an egg allergy haha
Living with yogurt and cottage cheese as the only animal products in my life...
and when I went raw, I ditched them for seed cheese and yogurt...
Seemed like the right idea.
To my health, to the great mother earth and to all of her beautiful creatures on this planet.
Cheers to sustainable living, and cheers to whole food vegans everywhere. :)

[Ruziko]

Because I used to think cows and chickens etc weren't harmed in milk/egg/etc production... :\

How wrong I was.

[MoonDance]

^ +1 :thumbsup:

[baby_vicuña]

Was a lactose-intolerant vegetarian with an egg allergy haha

Haha, I was an omni technically, but I was lactose-intolerant, and I hated meat and eggs :rolleyes:

[Dorian Gray]

I was ignorant.
I knew killing animals was wrong, but somehow it didn't affect me. I was aware that these animals had an awful life. I still ate meat. I don't know what I was thinking- I always thought that it was great to be vegetarian, yet I didn't bother to stop eating meat. The thought didn't even ocurr to me.
It is ironic because I was questioning religion, society and capitalism at fourteen, but I didn't even begin to question the food on my plate until I was seventeen. I took pride in being skeptical, but I didn't think about what I was putting in my mouth every day.
I became a vegetarian a few days after my seventeenth birthday, and a few weeks later I became a vegan.
Now I can't believe I didn't get it earlier. It seems so obvious now. Sometimes I feel terrible for living that way for so long. I will never be able to make up for that. The animals that died for me will always be dead and I will never be able to change that. No matter how sorry I am, I will always be guilty of their suffering. The only thing I can do now is to avoid causing more suffering.
I hope that I will always be vegan from now on :)

[jessiejessie]

I was brainwashed. I've been vegan on and off since I was 15 because I didn't have any support system, and I let the meat eaters around me influence me so that I ended up giving into cheese a few times... but I stopped eating meat when I was 14, haven't eaten it since and will NEVER eat it again. And I'm also certain that I will never go back to dairy, either. I've just come to a point in my life where everything makes a lot of sense to me. I'm now aware that I am in control of my own self. I'm also 100% sure that the dairy and egg industries are completely corrupt.

I now know that all living creatures are the same. We're all made of flesh, bone and blood. I just can't eat my brothers and sisters, and I can't bring myself to steal their babies' milk, either. It's not right.

[VeganLu]

To Dorian Gray and jessiejessie:

I am so jealous of the 2 of you because I was eating meat everyday until I was 47 years old. When the miracle happened that made me a vegetarain overnight and then a vegan a few months later, I said the same things to myself that you both are saying. Why didn't I do this much earlier in my life. I am Italian, so you can imagine how important meat was when I was growing up. I always loved animals with a passion, yet when I sat down and ate that steak my mother put before me, I always new that an animal had to be slaughtered for that steak, yet I ate it anyway. But when I found out that the slaughter of animals was just the half of it, it completely changed my life. I am so glad that I became vegan, even though I became vegan much later in life than the 2 of you. You 2 give me hope that maybe someday us ethical vegans will get our way. I am sure it will not be seen in my life time, but you 2 have a better chance of maybe getting your wish for the animals.:heart:

[jessiejessie]

It's never too late to make changes in your life. The key to success is positive thinking. Eventually, the rest of the world will come around. Everyone learns things at their own pace according to their own unique situation. In my case, as soon as I was old enough to understand what factory farming really was, I started questioning everything. First I made the connection between the food I was eating and the animals, and now, I'm learning the connection between humans and the earth and how we often allow money and material objects to sever that connection.

This is my reality though, and I say that the whole world WILL turn vegan, and all plastic WILL be made out of hemp. :)

[jessiejessie]

P.s.; don't feel jealous.. age is meaningless, it's just a number. The point is that you are vegan now. That's WAY more than you can say for most people your age. Especially people who grew up in meat-loving families.

[Z0Z0]

I was totally aware of the fact that "you have to kill an animal before you can eat it"!! but i was not aware of the fact that humans are biologically and physically herbivores so they can stay alive and even healthier without all the blood and flesh; so i always ate my meat and dairy because i thought it was "needed" and i thought if i didn't take enough of that, I would become weak, and sick !! until a vegan friend saved my life, and of course animals' lives, too.

[leedsveg]

Hi ZOZO

Glad you're still alive and now with us!:)

leedsveg

[Mollfie]

I wanted to but I also know what I'm like. I had issues with eating as a teenager so I wanted to do it for the right reasons.

[Kevin2]

Short answer: I never thought about it.

[earthsista]

It never dawned on me on what happens to animals destined for meat.... and also for dairy, eggs etc.

[LittleSeaWolf]

I was ignorant . . . and poor and fat

[thegoob]

I was a child, and children are to be seen and not heard.

[LysergicButterfly]

Well, I was a vegetarian for the reason that I just simply didn't know animals suffered for eggs and dairy. Then I found "Earthlings" and I just couldn't believe what I saw and couldn't believe how ignorant I was.

[animal-crackers]

I have been mad about animals for as long as i can remember, and as soon as i realised that the meat on my plate was from those same beautiful animals i saw in fields etc. i didn't want to eat it any more. That was in the late 70s / early 80s. I don't think i actually knew what a vegetarian was, let alone a Vegan, but it just felt wrong to eat animals.
( I would just like to say, i have HUGE respect for all vegans, but especially anyone that has been vegan for 20+ years :heart: )
Most people then, my parents and doctor included, still thought you needed to eat meat, and eat it every day, to be healthy. We lived in a little town where shops and cafes/restaurants didn't cater for non meat eaters. So i avoided meat where i could, but still ate some. I never knew anyone who felt the same as me, and had no access to information.
I carried on like that, until i started to gain more knowledge, and a vegetarian diet started to be promoted more, and decent food / recipes started to become available.
I eventually got to a point where i was probably eating the same amount of meat in a year, that a meat eater would eat in a week. I never bought or cooked meat for myself, but would eat chicken or seafood when dining out IF there was no veggie option.
About 5 years ago i became 100% veggie, and cut out a lot of dairy at the same time. I switched to soya milk, soya yogurts etc. I also have always tried to buy cruelty free toiletries / cleaning products etc. But was not 100% vegan.
I live in a sleepy little village now, which is wonderful, but it means vegans aren't really catered for in our area, even in local towns / shops / supermarkets / restaurants etc. I am still amazed how many people don't know what a Vegan actually is. But thanks to the internet, i am now armed with so much more information, and access to online shops and wonderful forums like this.
So last year i started to concentrate on removing those last non vegan things from my diet. And this year i think i can finally call myself a Vegan.
Ofcourse now i wish i had done it a lot sooner, and i regret every mouthful of animal produce i have ever had in my life.
I know i will never go back, and i am so happy to have a cruelty and guilt free future ahead of me :)



Blimey, i don't half waffle lol. Sorry! :faint_smilie:

[Celest]

I became vegetarian when I was 9 after a long fight with parents/teachers....but not vegan until 23, n the only thing that kept me from going vegan sooner was ignorance...

[mariogirl]

1. I was under the impression that my athletic performance would decline rather than improve.
2. I never thought about cruelty to animals; I never had to.

Upon the change of diet I realized that I needed to take as much cruelty out of my purchases as possible (for both humans and other animals)...but I'm new and I'm still learning.

[VeganLu]

To Mariogirl:

You will find that as you go on, you will learn more and more, and what you learn you will add to your vegan life. Enjoy your journey!

[Shepherd Mom]

I was dumb and oblivious. I was addicted to meat, fast food and junk food. When I think back on all the animal flesh and products I've eaten in my life, I'm sick. I could just cry, I'm so ashamed.

[VeganLu]

To Shepard Mom:

Please do not be ashamed. All of us did the same as you because we did not know. Be happy that you have seen the light. Do not cry. Be glad.

[Feesh]

I didn't consider what I was eating, just saw it thee to be purchased and thought nothing of how it got there. Wish I became one earlier, ate meat for 17 years, it disgusts me.