Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

[Cairidh]

Yes I hate that.

It happens a lot with the raw food diet too. People don't eat properly, get grossly deficient and then blame the fact the food is raw. If they were eating the same foods cooked they'd be even more deficient!

[Haniska]

I agree coconut, if schoolchildren were taken to slaughterhouses as part of the curriculum, meat-eating would be brought to a speedy end.

And if people saw the baby male calves being taken away from their distraught crying mothers, fattened up and slaughtered, they'd soon go off milk too. Especially if they got to see the state of the average dairy farm, running with excrement, the snotty-nosed cows limping with shit-coated udders through the grim industrial farmyard, pissing over one another and the quadbike riding dairyman. I just witnessed that scene yet again, this afternoon...milking time. :eek:

My dear father, who (I realize now in my old age) was actually supportive of my vegetarianism when I was growing up; made an interesting comment the other day. We had gone to taco bell on the way to visit family, and I ordered chalupas with beans *growls appreciatively*:D And some sort of burrito. Anyway, the burrito was mixed up and had cheese on it. I hadn't told dad I was vegan yet and offered it to him, saying I wasn't hungry. Somehow it got out that I didn't want it because it had cheese (even though I had just eaten two chalupas, which, if you are not aware, are Fried :D ). He says to me, gently and with some amazement "You don't want this burrito because there is cheese on it?" (Have I mentioned I come from a long line of farmers?) He then tells me, with all innocence, that cows like to be milked because otherwise their udders will swell up." Like he believed it. I was a bit flabbergasted, both by his initial support (in tone) and by the fact that he would make such an ignorant statement. I stuttered about the fact that her udders wouldn't be swollen if they hadn't sold her calf to the veal industry. He appeared thoughtful and maybe a bit suprised that this had occured to me, said something along the lines of "That is true, but.." but of course nothing reasonable could have followed that statement so I don't even remember it.
However, like I said, I'm old now and I can remember my dad buying me mock crab not knowing it was fish. Mostly it was my mother that was off about the whole thing. Big animal lover too, would go to the pound and cry.
Oh one other thing (back on topic) we stopped at a grocery store and I scoped it out (something I enjoy) finding no tofu or icecream but I found some soymilk (had the oppurtunity to witness to the cashier too:D ).
Later grandma sees me pull it out and says "I have a gallon of milk already in there." I tell her that it is soymilk and come around to asking her if she would like to try it. She says "No, I don't like milk." Very odd, she actually doesn't like milk. You should hear her rant about "Dirty cows with their dirty bags" etc(farmers, the lot of them) Seems like soymilk would be her thing. Anyway I left it in her fridge when I left.:D

[seviya]

Why wasn't I vegan before? Because I was stupid. Because I believed everything everyone told me. Because my eyes were closed - willingly and habitually - to the consequences of my actions. Because I thought I would be healthy forever, and that nothing could harm me. Because I believed I was nice and gentle and kind to animals. Because, until I opened my eyes, I never knew the absolute horror I committed every day of my life. And I can never go back.

Most humans today should be ashamed of themselves, and I pride myself on being separate from the breast-milk engorging, unfertilized ovary swallowing, slave-driving, murdering herd.

:)

[aubergine]

I've never really enjoyed food, and used to binge all the time just so I felt full.

After being very ill I looked into food and health, and was amazed at what I saw. Becoming Vegan was the most natural thing for me to do.

Therefore I wasn't Vegan because I didn't know any better.

[veganwitch]

Why wasn't I vegan before I became vegan? Because I was an idiot.

Somehow I never equated my eating dairy and eggs as being bad for animals. I started thinking about becoming vegan and said I wanted to but I kept wondering how I'd be able to do all the baking I liked to do. (As I've already said, IDIOT)

When I made the connection in my mind that "I can't eat this because it is hurting animals" I was able to stop immediately. It wasn't enough to know that dairy/eggs wasn't healthy for me. I cared more about the effect my choices had on animals.

Every event in my family for holidays or special occasions was accompanied by a long dessert table filled with all sorts of junk. I would happily dig in and even though a little voice in my head said "that's not good for you" I ignored it. Then when I decided to go vegan and found myself at a family event the voice in my head said "that is hurting animals" and I wasn't even tempted to eat anything. All the goodies didn't look so good anymore.

So as spjessop says above, I wasn't vegan because I didn't know any better.

[feral]

I think I didn't go vegan sooner because I have been ill for so long and was unsure if a healthy vegan diet would be obtainable and wasn't sure if the diet change would help or hinder my health. Luckily my husband is great at cooking me healthy nutritious meals. My health has taken a dip since going vegan but I don't think it's related.


He then tells me, with all innocence, that cows like to be milked because otherwise their udders will swell up." Like he believed it. I was a bit flabbergasted, both by his initial support (in tone) and by the fact that he would make such an ignorant statement.

Actually your father isn't as ignorant as you think. Often cows will produce more milk than is needed for one calf. When this happens (non dairy cows) the cow has to be milked manually (which they do enjoy if their udder's too full & they don't have any mastitis) or a second calf has to be bought from the market. Still doesn't excuse the cruelty of mass produced milk but is an important point when trying to argue your point with a farmer!

[Bunny]

I had blindly assumed that all vegans were alittle bit mad. I hadn't really thought deeply about my choices and had gone along doing what everyone else did. I met my husband when I was 17, married at 21 and just fitted in to his life. I didn't question anything.

I had always been interested in vegetarianism, but I just ignored my feelings for a long time. Last September I met up with a friend from uni who was vegan and when I read all about it I couldn't believe I had been so blind. I spent a few months being half-heartedly vegan, but now I am as vegan as I can be. I make mistakes and sometimes suffer the most horrendous cravings , but I am doing okay.

[VeganGirl2006]

Why wasn't I a vegan before I became vegan?

Well, simply put....I was a meat addict. I thought that every meal had to have meat in it. And there were very few veggies that I really liked (or so I thought). But thinking like that not only contributed to the needless suffering of thousands of animals everywhere, but also caused me to gain weight and become obese. I'm still fat, quite honestly. But I am working to lose that as well. It's not easy to lose weight on a fat-filled meat diet. But it will be much easier now that I am a vegan.

By the way, I only decided to become a vegan about 4 days ago so I am quite new at this. :)

[Haniska]

When I was a vegetarian, and I heard about vegans, I thought:

"Wow, those people are so stupid. What is it, some kind of superior act?
"I don't even eat things that Come from animals"
As if they think that milk is the same thing as lard! Hahaha! Fools!"

[Yst]

I had yet to conceive or to encounter a conception of the ethical universe which provided a meaningful and logical valuation of life not on the basis of contractualism and civil society but on the basis of underlying quantifiable principles of worth and interest.

Without any bioethical premises, one can merely take a constitutionalist view of society, wherein we agree that it is our responsibility to seek to arrive at a concensus regarding the valuation of the interests of such beings as are able to participate in the generation of that concensus regarding inherent rights. This does not help us decide what to do about beings who cannot express their interests, much less participate in the creation of a view of mutual justice. Consequently, people without a larger conception of the ethical universe than is provided by social concensus may be vegan, but are primarily carnivorous, as it is not within the powers of any other animals to participate in concensus-building activity which would result in the valuation of their existence.

Nevertheless, this is where most people stop, as far as ethical views go. In fact, frankly, many vegans don't have any sort of meaningful conception of their bioethical premises either. Many folks like to just throw around the word "rights" however they feel necessary to signify whatever cause they happen to value, without perceiving a need to found that valuation in anything more fundamental. "Rights" are merely a tenet of constitutionalist society. All well and good if you believe them to have deeper ethical foundations and believe a concensus on them to be possible. But without deeper ethical foundations, it's just a word used to describe a principle of just behaviour on which society has agreed. Why a "right" is perceived to exist has to matter. Otherwise, you're simply living on faith.

At any rate, I became vegan after moving from an essentially constitutionalist view of civil society to a preference utilitarian view of bioethics, as the foundation of my general belief system. Unsurprisingly, given that this resulted in veganism, this was a Singerian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer) view of bioethics.

[Rahil]

frankly i had no idea about what goes on in the 'dairy-industry' earlier on, or i would have become vegan sooner

when i was 14 (in 1993) it when i became vegetarian (only animal product used was dairy after then)

it was only in 2003 that i actually got more and more info about what goes on and immediately stopped using dairy as a result, hence 'upgrading' to vegan as of then.


awareness is the key, that's why it's really up to all of us who care and know to keep doing our best to spread the truth..

[indianvegan]

frankly i too had no idea about what goes on in the 'dairy-industry' and "factory farming ' and Slaughterhouses earlier on, or i would have become vegan sooner.


Manish Jain

[Enchantress]

I come from a pescaterian famliy and was lacto-ovo-vegetarian for years before becoming vegan. To begin with, ignorance and apathy towards the egg and dairy industry stopped me progressing to veganism.

After I became aware and decided I wanted to change there was a period of a few months before becoming vegan. This was because I was only 15 at the time and wasn't sure how my parents would react to it, so I kept my newly emerged desire to become vegan to myself. As I (and still do) lived at home and had my parents do all the grocery shopping and most of the cooking, it would have been very difficult for me to be vegan if they hadn't accepted it and started shopping and cooking to accommodate me.

So I went through a period of avoiding animal products. I stopped drinking milkshakes, eating cheese sandwiches and fried eggs etc., but still put cow juice in my tea and ate whatever my mum cooked.

One night I finally plucked up the courage to tell my mum I wanted to become a vegan. Fortunately she was very supportive of it and went shopping the next day to buy soya milk, dairy free margarine etc. I've been vegan ever since.

I get a bit of stick from my family about being a vegan, but generally they're very supportive. If only they were so understanding and supportive in other areas of my life, but I'll complain about that somewhere else.

[VeganGirl2006]

MY family does not know yet that I have made th decision to become vegan. They all live down in Georgia and I live up in North Dakota so I don't see them very much anyway. But they will have to deal with it, even if they don't like it. I am sure they will have concerns, but once they see how much healthier I am because of it they should be all right with my choice. You are lucky, Enchantress, that your family is for the most part supportive. :) I hope that mine will be the same.

[Bluey]

Because I thought that being vegetarian was enough, then I met my first vegan friend and realized it wasn't.
What I can't understand is when ignorance is no longer an excuse people go on eating meat. We hear the whole 'it's too hard' and 'I have a iron problem' so many times yet living with a bad conscience is so much harder.

[poppy seed]

I became vegan at the age of 45. Frankly, one of the few things I will regret about my life is that I didn't do this years ago! I am so impressed that there are so many young people on this forum with such strong convictions. Good for you!

[monkey60613]

There were no vegans in my life to help me "turn the lightbulb on". I had never taken the time to just stop and think about the animals (the industries have done such a good job to "blind" us that it really never occurred to me).

One day I saw a PeTA billboard about the KFC scandal and that got me asking questions and researching stuff. Within a week I went vegetarian but it took two more years until I went vegan (which was only this past March) after my sister told me about rennet in cheese. I was shocked. I wento to PeTA's website to research rennet and there I read other stuff, saw the meat your meat video, the Pottersville kosher beef footatge and I was so upset I almost vomitted. It has snowballed from there. Now there is no question in my mind it is the right decision.

[Ara]

My Mother wouldn't let me until I was 18 and living away from home, i had enough of a battle with her to become veg, she grounded me when i was 11 for not eating a sausage :mad: I couldn't wait to get out of home!

[ravenfire]

I was raised on a farm and had my parents explaining that death was just a part of life and it was natural that we killed animals because that was just a part of the food chain. I also grew up believing that the meat that came from the supermarket came from animals just like we had on our farm, with plenty of open space, treated kindly, etc.

Then two years ago (when I was 26) I realized that regardless of what I had been taught, I didn't think it was okay or natural for us to kill animals for food and became a vegetarian. I had never even heard of a vegan at this point (part of growing up in the country in the south). Then I read "Fast Food Nation" and found out about factory farms and the horrors that go on there. So I did some online research and learned about vegans and decided to make the transition. Somewhere along the lines my husband got on board with me and now we're both vegan!

So like a lot of others here, I wasn't vegan because of pure ignorance and the way I had been raised.

[Xenius13]

I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and told by my doctor that I had to eat meat in order to keep my weight on. However, eating animal products made me feel ill and lose my appetite, which caused me to lose weight.

Now that I'm vegan I'm keeping my weight on much better because I eat more.

[Tkitty96]

I had never taken the time to consider all of the negativity involved in using dairy and eggs. I had been a vegetarian for a while, and I've always been crazy about cookbooks. One day I purchased a vegan cookbook that had caught my eye. Not only was it full of delicious looking recipes, but it also had a lot of facts about the abuse of dairy cattle and battery hens. It was the first time that I've cried while finding a recipe for dinner. Like I told my mom, once you realize certain things, there is NO going back.

[UrbanVegan]

I went dairy free years ago because of a reaction to sour cream. But at the time I was not even a vegetarian so becoming vegan never entered my mindset. As I began to look into why I had a reaction to milk products in my early 30's even though I had been drinking milk my whole life, I realized that cow's milk is for baby cows and therefore a female cow should only lactate when pregnant. And I began to wonder how in the world do you get millions of gallons of milk a year in this country if cows only produce milk only after having a baby calf? Then I discovered all the stuff they give cows to make them lactate. And that got me off of eating beef. Slowly, I dropped other meats year by year. It wasn't until 2003 that I realized that the only thing standing between me and veganism was fish, honey and eggs. All three were dropped that year. Been vegan ever since. The very last thing I dropped was honey mustard. LOL.

[Vickythevegan]

I was doing what everyone else did, following the herd. I hadn't really come across many veggies. I knew I didn't want to eat animals but at age 12 I thought it was a much bigger deal to stop eating meat! When I went away to boarding school I met some other vegetarians I realised how easy it was to just tell the catering staff to make me a meat-free option. I didn't really start looking into how much cruelty was involved in the meat industry until my late teens & obviously that led me to find out about dairy etc so I cut out my favourite food (cheese) just to see if I could handle it! Then I got rid of all the other nasty animal products & have been vegan about 4 years now.

[tilly]

I wanted to be a vegetarian for as long as I can remember, thanks to hippies like Spider from Coronation Street and Neil from The Young Ones. :D

It just seemed such a cool thing to be, and of course, I love animals.

Veganism didn't really appeal to me for ages though. I didn't understand it to be honest. I thought (like the ignoramous I was) that the cows liked to be milk, and the chickens were giving us their eggs, DOH!

I thought vegans were just health freaks :o

But then I read something, somewhere, about the dairy and veal industries being linked, and I thought, "Shit!"

And now I'm vegan.

And I'll live happily ever after :)

[Shadowsoul]

Simple ignorance. I didn't know how the defenseless animals suffer :(