Your personal vegan story

[adl]

^Wow, your story is neat. Generations of vegans. I hope you're able to raise your baby vegan. Have you read Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vessanto Melina? There's a chapter in there on being pregnant and vegan and raising vegan kids. I thought the information was good, but I'm not pregnant and don't have any children.

[ruth151]

I haven't read that book yet. Thanks for letting me know about it, it sounds just like what I need to read. I have a great book on nutrition that my mum swore by when I was young but it's a bit old now and the pages are falling out! So I need a new book.

[rainbow]

What a cool story ruth151! Lucky you to have a vegan parent! May your child one day understand their luck at having you!

[emzy1985]

That's a really amazing story! Like you I have vegan parents, (I converted them :P) and they are currently raising my little sister vegan. I understand the pressure that you will be under. Just stand your ground and do what you know is right in your heart. When me and my partner have children (most likely be adopting) they will also be raised vegan.

[wendy]

I found this one better then "becoming vegan" : http://www.amazon.com/Plant-Based-Nutrition-Health-Stephen/dp/0907337260

http://www.vegfamily.com/

[ruth151]

Brilliant! Thanks Wendy :)

Emzy1985: It's great that you converted your parents. :) I know it'll be fine to raise children vegan and when I read some more books I'll be happier and more confident about it. I know I'll have to fight many doctors along the way though.

Rainbow: I know I was very lucky with the parents I have. I'm very happy and thankful about how they raised me. I did get terribly bullied at school about it though and hopefully by the time my child goes to school things will have changed as I really don't want them to be bullied.

[rainbow]

I got bullied too, so I understand. I was vegetarian until I was 11, then vegan. I got teased even for being vegetarian, because this was twenty years ago and was still very much the exception to the rule. When I went vegan, I was the only vegan I knew, and in my immaturity I was rather preachy about it. That certainly didn't win me any friends! But having been through these things ourselves, learned how to develop coping strategies and how best to relate to other people and their negative attitudes, we can guide our own children through it. Unless your mother was a vegan while still at school, she may have had only sympathy to offer. You will be able to offer your child more concrete practical advice on how to handle such situations.
Also, while kids may pick on someone for being vegan, they may equally pick on someone for being clever, stupid, fat, thin, tall, short, red-headed, bespectacled, smelly, spotty, gangly, voluptuous, flat-chested, shabby, posh, promiscuous, celibate, or anything else that isn't considered sufficiently "normal". As very few kids are lucky enough to be entirely "normal", chances are that most kids will get picked on at some point. Teaching a child how to address such situations with humour, diplomacy and an appreciation of their intrinsic self-worth is far more valuable than just hoping that they will fit in, and I am sure you will be better placed than most parents to do just that.

[FabulouslyFierce]

I know I'm bringing up an older thread, but I'm new and wanted to tell my story :thumbsup:

I have been a huge animal lover my entire life, but I never really connected my love for animals and the fact that I consumed them on a daily basis. When I was a freshman in high school I was at McDonalds with some friends and one of them asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. As I was chomping on my hamburger, I said "an animal rights activist". The irony hit me like a sledgehammer. I threw out the rest of my burger and became a vegetarian then and there. Because I was in high school and didn't have the support of my family at the time, I only last a year as a vegetarian, I wasn't eating well at all and became sick. I added chicken and fish back into my diet (haven't touched beef since that day though).

As I got older, I really started to think about what eating meat meant and I toyed with the thought of going vegetarian again. Along the way I made friends with a few vegans and thought there was no way I could ever do that. If giving up chicken again would be hard, giving up dairy would be impossible. But the thought stewed in the back of my head for years.

I had gotten to a place in my life where I was eating like complete crap for convenience, a lot of fast food, sweets, junk in general and I felt like crap. I decided it was time to jump in feet first and try vegan. I challenged myself to go completely vegan for one week and see how I felt. With the help of my vegan friends I armed myself with some awesome recipes and stocked up my kitchen with vegan food. I ate more delicious food that week than I expected. Everything I made tasted awesome and at the end of the week I didn't miss the meat or dairy in my diet, so I decided to make it stick. Also during that week I read The Kind Diet which opened my eyes to the horrors of the meat and dairy industry (like many others, I believed the whole "happy cows" bull from the dairy commercials) and what it does to our bodies. This knowledge solidified my choice and I have stuck with it now for a little over two months and I have never felt better in my life.

[pat sommer]

Thanks for breathing life into an old thread!

All the best in your vegan journey

[LittleRedPiano]

Ok, I was directed here by pat sommer so here’s my story!
I remember being around 11 and having a day off school, My mother used to work as a courier so I’d gone along with her this day. One of the places she had to drop something off was the local abattoir.
I remember sitting in the car waiting for her to come back and looking at the sheep beyond the fence line. That was the first time it hit me that I shouldn’t be eating them.
From then began my journey, I went vegetarian but didn’t do it properly; I was very young and basically just ate what my family was having sans meat. This meant that I was not getting full enough or satisfied enough and I gave it up thinking it was too hard.
When I was around 15 I decided I would give it another go.
This time I lasted.
At around 21 I went vegan and lasted for around 6 months but again gave up as it was “too hard”.
I had, however, felt great the whole time I was doing it but being that age I was going out a lot and could never find anything to eat. So I went back to being veggie.
The whole time I was vegetarian I felt like I was a hypocrite, how could I not eat their meat but then use them for so many other things? I attended duck shooting protests and many other causes to do with animal lib but was still wearing wool, eating cheese etc.
What flipped me over the edge was watching “Earthlings”. I’m sure it’s a cliché story, but it’s true J
I cried for the whole thing. I sat there bawling my eyes out feeling like the worst thing in the world, repeating how sorry I was over and over as if they could hear me. It was worse than any horror movie I had seen; I was actually gasping out loud and had to fight the urge to just turn it off.
So there it is. My story. I still feel immense guilt about having eaten and used animals for clothing in the past but all I can do is live well now.
My little brother went vegetarian for a month as a birthday present for me when he was around 17, 5 years later he is still vegetarian and the only other animal product he eats is cheese and I reckon I can get him off that as well.
My husband is an omnivore, but since we have been together his meat consumption has decreased greatly and I’m only a pinch away from convincing him to try going veggie for a month, vegan is too much for him at the minute, but one step at a time….
Now my main struggle is trying to understand how other people don’t feel this same guilt, yes I ate eggs and milk and cheese, but I always felt wrong doing it. Why don’t others feel this way?

[trinity73x]

about a year and a half ago i was living in a really bad situation. i had barely dragged myself through school and was on academic probation. i was overweight and depressed as well. i did nothing but eat, sleep, smoke , and drink. my roommate was the same way. i couldn't care less about myself or my health. i don't know what made me do it, but one day i just decided that i had had enough. i started eating healthier ( or what i thought was healthier at the time) and exercising. all of the sudden i felt more motivated. my brain's ability to function increased. i did better in school (last semester i got my scholarship back), lost weight, and quit my bad habits. over the school year i ate meat less and less without really noticing. i began trying alternatives to milk and cheese. unfortunately my roommate didn't follow suit. she downward spiraled until she quit school and her job and went to rehab. this sounds like an awful thing to say but i was relieved. i could finally focus fully on myself and my health and not take care of her all the time ( she is 7 months sober now by the way and is back in school). when she left i got my own place. this allowed me to really work on self improvement. i became addicted to yoga and healthy food. meat and dairy were very rarely in my kitchen. then i started watching documentaries about the food industry and america's health problems ( after which i then read a few books). i realized that i basically already ate a vegan diet. so i switched completely. i couldn't stand knowing all of the horrible issues meat, dairy, and eggs caused both for animals and for humans. it has been about a month now and i am loving it. i feel and look great. i think i might be inspiring my sister to make similar changes in her diet. lets hope she does! then we will have another great story.

[pat sommer]

Thanks for sharing your story, LRP; I enjoyed listening!
Amazing that folks don't feel the same guilt and revulsion yet after all the chipping away of ignorance you are up too... Time will tell.

[pat sommer]

Glad to hear you are well and fit and here amongst us, Trinity73x!

Good news about your room mate as well.

Best of luck with your studies :)

[enchantedgypsy25]

Time for my Vegan story, i can't promise it will be interesting or full of any adventure or whimsy sadly :p

Since i was old enough (i imagine about 4 or 5) to make it clear what i wanted and didn't want to eat i simply never had an interest in eating meat and i was for the most part a Vegetarian i would occasionally eating crisps with meat flavourings, the fact i did that makes me kinda angry with myself, but hey it's in the past now.

In 2009 i suffered some health issues and the symptoms were an increased heart rate and discomfort in the chest area and this was eventually diagnosed as being due to severe acid reflux and it was this moment in my life that made me think a lot and not just about my diet. Around this time i was drinking milkshakes fairly regularly and pumping myself full of Luzozade (sports drink, to get me through work) and i believe this caused some of my health issues.

From 2006/7 onwards i had began opening my mind more to a lot of things and by 2010 i had made a lot of new friends both on and offline and a few of these were Vegan and until that point i hadn't really ever met anyone who was Vegan (or at least they never mentioned it) so naturally my interest was peaked as i consider myself to be a very "peace and love" kinda guy so i looked into it and it seemed just logical for me to become a Vegan.

It was April 2011 when i became fully Vegan and i had great support from my Vegan friends and since i've been Vegan i've not wished or wanted for any products or foods that i may have enjoyed as Vegetarian, which to be honest wasn't much anyway as i rarely consumed Dairy. I feel in a way i was destined to be a Vegan as in recent years i have grown as a person while all around me at my age are settling down and towing the line society has laid out for them to follow.

I do also believe i would of gone Vegan at a much earlier age if i had been exposed to it sooner or just of been educated better, i don't think in my whole time at school Veganism was mentioned by either a teacher or a fellow student.

I also believe the area i grow up while nice enough and full of friendly people (well some), it isn't a place for aspiring people it seems, very much a run of the mill place where people do as they're told and don't want to stand out as being different. All men around my age will spend their time talking about football (soccer), ogling women and stuffing their faces with whatever food they can access, normally meat and that lifestyle just seems empty, boring and wrong.

I've not met anyone with any real hopes or dreams or with a similar attitude to life as my own within my own town and am keen to meet more Vegans and spread the word of Veganism. :)

[csteiner12]

I decided I wanted to be a vegetarian when I was 15, when I could not justify eating meat just because someone else from an industry had slaughtered, skinned and prepared it for me. I did not feel comfortable being a hypocrite. I considered myself fortunate enough to have seen, first-hand, what happened to animals on factory farms, which only enforced my discontent with eating meat.

Even though I intially started off as vegetarian, I did not consume much dairy, due to intolerance, so I became vegan for two reasons. Over time, my body seemed to reject dairy products more and more, and during that time, I also looked more into the truth in how dairy is processed and produced. Since I did not consume dairy very regularly anyway, I decided to adopt a vegan diet and have been feeling the benefits ever since.

I have obviously become a lot more aware of things, one of the main eye-openers for me was watching Earthlings. As disturbing and upsetting as it was (and is), I also learned a lot more, which has only compelled me to continue and maintain this lifestyle.

[MamaBee]

Up until the age of 18, I was happily omnivorous. I ate little red meat but I loved fish, poultry, and dairy. Eggs tended to make me ill (if I ate too many, my kidneys couldn't seem to cope), but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

When I got to college, there was this tutor whom I had a huge crush on. She was sweet and articulate and because I was an awfully awkward teen, she took me under her wing. I found out that she was vegetarian, and when she explained the reasons behind her choice of diet, I fell hook, line and sinker. I went veggie and stayed that way for 8 months. My mum was supportive and my dad was all proud, like I was making some huge political statement (bless him).

The problem was, I was doing it for somebody else and not for myself. Other than my mother and father, my family and friends were quite anti-vegetarian, and every mealtime with them became a debate about vegetarianism. I left college and lost the support of that beautiful tutor. A few months later, just after I'd started university, I caved. After that, I was addicted to meat in all its forms: cured, smoked, fried, grilled - you name it, I ate it. I also LOVED cheese and when I eventually got pregnant, I craved milk like you wouldn't believe.

Then about 7 months ago, I watched an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, in which she explained her reasons for becoming vegan. She cited the documentary 'Earthlings' as her motivation. My curiosity was piqued, but I didn't want to make the same mistake as I had previously (i.e. I didn't want to go vegan because I was copying someone I admired). So after a few weeks of contemplating, I switched on the documentary with an open mind, just to see what would happen.

I was horrified. The images, the sounds, the screams - that documentary destroyed me. It also completely changed my life. I had been comforting myself with half-arsed arguments that just weren't true: 'free range' was a label that had little meaning and so-called 'kosher' food was nothing of the sort. The truth was - and is - that every animal suffers. Every animal lives and dies in fear and pain. And I had been taking their flesh and their bone and their tissue and their milk and putting it in my mouth, for no other reason than because it tasted good.

I have been vegan ever since. It was a tough transition, because everything in my life up until that point had been omni. My boyfriend's parents question me about my dietary choices every time I visit: they are convinced I'm going to die and drag my son down with me (and this is coming from a couple who drink a bottle of red wine every day and eat veal and venison in abundance!!!). But this time, it's different because I'm not questioning myself. I'm so happy with my decision and I feel so much cleaner and healthier being vegan. Making this choice and sticking to it has taught me to trust my own judgment: I've come out to my boyfriend as gay (a secret that has been tearing at me since I was 6 years old). We will be separating in the near future and I hope to bring my son up as vegan (at least when he's with me - my other half is steadfastly omni and won't hear of it).

Thank god for 'Earthlings' :).
xox

[rainbow]

Brave girl MamaBee!

[pat sommer]

Hope it all goes smoothly for you, MamaBee, your son and soon-ex. Like you said, you can trust yourself :thumbsup:

Keep spreading the word Enchantedgypsy25 :-)

Here's to learning and growing, csteiner12 :bigsmile:

[Dee dee]

Brilliant. I've been vegan over 14 years and going vegan is one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I eat so much more different food than ever before and I love the food I eat. I could never be anything but vegan. With all the vegan food you can buy these days you never 'miss out' and anyway 'missing out' on the odd foodstuff that isn't vegan is nothing compared to what an animal is put through via the meat/diary industries etc.

I went vegan when I was 22, I had tried to before that (I was vegetarian from aged 18) but moved to Germany and didn't have enough courage or enough knowledge to keep it up. When I moved back to the UK and lived with other vegans I quickly learn how easy it was and they were really inspiring.

I'll never forget when I was vegetarian and got a lift from a vegan guy one time and he asked me if I ate meat, I was really pleased with myself and answered that I was vegetarian and he looked at me and said 'Oh, you're half-way there then!'. I just had never considered that you could go further. I did and I have never looked back!

Veganism is going to take over the world (I hope!). For the sake of the animals and the environment.

[wendy]

Lets hope so :)

[Brigetta B]

Hello! I'm thrilled to find this community, as I am extremely new at this. I went vegetarian 3 weeks ago, switching to vegan a few days into it because I found that there is no such thing as 'cruelty free' dairy products. Interesting, when I asked friends to help me find some, they all asked, "What do you mean, 'cruelty free dairy'?". And these are not ignorant people, so the question surprised me.

With the Internet and my Kindle Fire, I've already downloaded several cookbooks and wonderful recipes. I find it is all much easier than I would have imagined, and even though I am not 'tried and true' yet, I am never going back. For many years I've wrestled with my conscience, feeling profoundly horrified by the treatment of animals on factory farms. I can no longer be a part of such a brutal, callous and indifferent system.

I love that this forum recognizes that veganism is so much more than nutritious. It's a way of being, of loving and respecting life in all of it's many forms. The health benefits are, for me, the side effects of doing what you know in your gut is RIGHT.

Like everyone else here, I am a true animal lover. Like a previous poster, I have had rats that I adored. I have had rabbits, a ferret, and of course cats and dogs. I currently have four cats and one dog. Veganism to me is the right thing to do for the animals, of course. But it's also about people. What does it do to people to treat animals the way that they are treated on factory farms? What does it mean about a people to blindly ignore such horrific suffering so that mouths can be stuffed with foods that aren't even good for you.

It's an insult to our integrity as a species, in my opinion. I would not say this in the general public for fear of hurting the cause of animal rights, but of course meat eating is wrong. We all know it here, and it's a relief to be able to say so bluntly.

Again, I am so happy to find this community. <3

[pat sommer]

I'm glad your path is easier than expected Brigetta B. Technology for the greater good! check out Food.com and search For VEGAN anything.


...and Dee Dee, you certainly have arrived :thumbsup:

[Ed]

I watched Earthlings one night in bed, the next day onwards i didn't eat meat. That was two years ago. To solidify it i fell in love with a one day old baby rooster, it thought i was its dad. It only lived one week but i was madly in love with him, So god dam cute. It was like a brain explosions in one night realising that animals no matter how small deserved equal rights to us, and that we were the ones that stuffed up the circle of life. We conquered the planet, but we tipped the scales and now we will all pay.

[wendy]

:)

[Miss_Bovine_Devine]

Another Earthlings convert here! I was looking for Joaquin Phoenix vids on you tube one night when I stumbled across the link for Earthlings. I wasn’t really concentrating, just clicked and watched…and watched…and watched. It was just so profoundly horrific - so utterly earth-shattering and uncompromising in it’s message - that it was like I’d suddenly snapped out of a life-long stupor and I could see things clearly for the first time. Honestly, it was as if Mr Phoenix had personally handed me the red pill and I was out of the matrix and into the real world, lol. Well that was about three weeks ago, and I haven’t looked back since. I can honestly say that it wasn’t so much a conversion to veganism as it was an outright epiphany - I can’t even look at meat, milk, eggs, etc, without feeling sick to my core.

I can’t believe how naive I was not to question the ethics of animal slavery. Never again.:sad: