How did you go vegan?

[theresnoreason]

When I was 12 years old, I found out that my ham used to be a pig, and I didn't understand why I was eating it. I told my mom that I didn't want to eat animals. So I didn't. That's my vegetarian story.

I became vegan 10 years later, when I read that cow's milk was meant to be for the calve. At the time, I had assumed that cows, as a species, produced milk... it was just what they did. After I found out the truth, it felt completely unnatural to drink milk, or eat milk products.

Add in the moral, and environmental reasons ---

Simply----there is no reason to eat meat, milk or eggs.

Eventually I learned my diet was healthy, and could prevent cancer cell growth, and heart disease.. and I never looked back.

"I love animals. I don't want them to die. I don't need to eat animals to live. So why would I?"

[maariak]

I used to work in a juice bar and half of its staff were vegan or vegetarian. I gave up all animal products for a month but didn't last further. But after watching Earthlings I have now decided to go cold turkey and change for the better. I have been going strong for two days now and have barely any cravings or wants to go back. Eating Vegan will do my health so much better and I am glad I can help the environment and the animals.

[Maître]

When I was 12 a teaching assistant in high school had a t-shirt with something along the lines of "I don't eat anything that had a face", I spent half of the class talking with her and attempting to convince her that she was being silly, she was never once aggressive and didn't criticise me at all. I don't remember what I actually said to her while trying to debate with her but I felt very sure of myself while talking with her, likely because I was too arrogant to accept something which would make me look foolish.

Not until I got home and started thinking about it myself did I decide that I'd never eat meat again, she never even presented any arguements, all she did was explain her own reasons which weren't even ones I particularly shared but it was enough to make me think the subject and actually come to my choices rather than carry on accepting what my parents chose and what I was 'brought up' with.

I wish I could thank her but I never saw her again, she was a 'temp' and the usual one came back the following day. While I've no doubt that I'd have come to veganism anyway she certainly helped me speed up the process and I'm grateful for that.

I didn't finally cut out other animal products entirely until 6 years later and it's the biggest regret I have concerning my past, I have absolutely no explanation for it other than ignorance and then later apathy and routine.

I went vegan after talking for the first time with another vegetarian and explanined why I didn't eat meat, while explaning I realised that it was ridiculous for me to still be eating other animal products and I decided to stop it right there mid sentence. I had already stopped using other animal products years ago, I'd always cringe and feel dirty when touching leather for example.

[citameht]

An early experience that did not result in a real change then and there was when a relative had chicken legs for dinner. That prompted some questioning from me, but I suppose I had no way of understanding that they would be quite so ignorant or dishonest about it.

Later as a more independent individual, I learned from many sources about the environmental hazards of producing animal protein. This was the key motivation for me, so literally one day I stopped flesh consumption. Still after a few years, I knew no vegetarians or vegans personally. While I thought veganism to be a good principle, it took me two to three years to remove all animal product consumption.

Back then, veganism was somewhat difficult when you look at it objectively. This has changed for the better. I've also become better at cooking.

[veganosie]

i went vegan overnight. i didn't have any food in my fridge anyway (student) so i just went out the next day and bought soya yogurt and nutritional yeast etc etc. i already used soya milk and soya spread so it was a pretty easy transition.

[Purepsycho]

I was raised by your 'normal' meat eating type of family and loved the taste of it. I had a couple of vegan friends when i was about 19 and was quite interested in why they were vegan but i wasn't enough to 'turn' me

Then one day when I was 22 I had a chicken to prepare for dinner. I'd never bought a whole chicken before as I usually just got fillets, but I got this one free from a supermarket after spending more than £50.
So I started cleaning the chicken and held it under its wings under the tap - and then i just freaked out. To me it felt far to much like i was holding a baby and I burst into tears.
Within 2 months of that I became a vegetarian.

I was fairly happy with being veggie and after 7 years I met some more vegans who got me thinking about it, and I also happened to watch Earthlings - That was it, I became vegan pretty much straight away after that which was 5 months ago now.

[Nickname]

I was a vegetarian for years (I stopped eating meat in 2002). Always had a huge interest in animal rights and animal rights theory, but never really got to a point where I decided to finally be a vegan. Then I read Eating Animals from Jonathan Safran Foer, which somehow made the trick.

[Robinwomb]

If you had told me in November of 2010 that I would shortly go vegan and remain committed, I would have told you you were crazy. Like most of the meat eating world, I thought vegans were extremists and unhealthy. I barely knew what vegan meant let alone how to pronounce it. A coworker one day was complaining about her "vegan" relatives and she couldnt understand their viewpoint and I remember asking if that was how you pronounced vegan. That was the first time I had heard it spoken. I knew about vegetarianism and even dabbled in that many years ago but the fact that they ate dairy and eggs confused me and I didnt fully understand it. Around this time, I was healing from a long and difficult eating disorder (anorexia nervosa) triggered by a traumatic hysterectomy and loss of both ovaries in 2005 and hormonal changes that turned my life upside down. My third recovery in 2010 (the only one I embraced by choice) included a spiritual approach. I began to explore not only my own relationship to my body and food and what happened to me, but to explore the larger world around me and why the culture I live in has such a disordered relationship with food, body, spirit and why we embrace a culture of violence even in medical treatments. I began to think about world hunger and in turn began to research more about where my food came from. I read Michael Pollen's "The Omnivores Dilemna". I am not a huge fan of him, but he brought to me important points I had not thought about, and I was introduced to what veganism through his book. I found that I was disagreeing with Michael Pollens anti vegan arguments and found myself aligning with vegan views. I explored veganism a little further and everything made such sense I was so profoundly affected. I was utterly appalled at our treatment of other species (let alone each other). I explored carnism and abolitionist vegan approach, not just animal welfare. I explored issues such as world health, hunger, population, environmental sustainability and attitudes and cultures of violence and sexism versus peace and so on. I really examined my diet and realized that a lot of the food I was already eating was naturallly vegan...lentils, beans, oats, lots of fruits and vegetables, plant milks. For years I was lactose intolerant (gas, diarrhea, mucus production) and not a fan of cheese at all. I was never a huge meat eater (easily grossed out and always deep inside an uneasy feeling preparing it) although I did consume a ton of fish and eggs. I realized how easy it would be for me to veganize my life. Everything just clicked. After my short introduction and research period, I took exactly one week to transition. I went cold turkey but that one week I only consumed yogurt as that was the one thing I struggled with giving up. But it is such a little thing in the face of what I know. On February 27, 2011 I finished my last container of yogurt and committed to being a full vegan and I have never looked back or craved meat, dairy, eggs, honey, etc ever. Within the month of March 2011 I got rid of all my animal derived cleaning supplies, toiletries, clothing (suede, leather shoes, wool socks, silk blouses and scarves, down feather coats, etc), even my hairspray. Who needs that shit anyway? I have never worn makeup (except my sisters wedding and dance performances on stage over twenty years ago) so that was not a problem. I am highly sensitive and intolerant to most perfume and cologne (I have actually wretched and get nausea when I am standing near someone with it on). I donated all that stuff to others and brought the cleaning supplies/some toiletries to a local waste management facility for proper disposal. I now make my own laundry detergent, shampoo, window cleaner etc and buy animal free non animal tested toothpaste. I also discovered I rarely needed the sunblock I use to lather on my body even though I spend a great deal of time outdoors biking in the summer. The few times I did need it (open water canoeing for long distances) I was able to find vegan sunblock. I was fortunately able to replace a lot of clothes and shoes because I acquired an inheritance. I simply could not stand the thought of continuing to use something that once was part of a sentient life that suffered horribly and gave up a part of itself for my comfort (and I fully understand what it is like to have part of your body taken from you, even if it's "just" an egg...I didnt wake up from my hysterectomy expecting both ovaries to be gone). Being vegan is like coming home to my spiritual, intellectual, emotional values and physically I just feel better. My energy level skyrocketed. I also feel more comfortable in the way I eat and I do not fear food the way I used to because I know that what I put in my body is healthy and I know where the majority of it comes from now. I pay attention to my choices and what I use. I also believe that had I gone vegan years ago when endometriosis invaded my abdominal area and started me on a path of hell for years, I would have been able to manage it far better and not had to sacrifice important female endocrine organs. In fact most alternative practitioners and even some mainstream ones recommend a plant based diet to treat endometriosis and other reproductive diseases. When you take meat and dairy out of your diet, you eliminate harmful hormones and chemicals that aggravate the disease. Unfortunately we live in a world that is drug and surgery happy and we can't even respect and love our own bodies, let alone appreciate the lives and meaning of other species.

[Bjorn]

I've been vegan a first time in 2008 for 8 months in a week time, the questionning came up through lectures, involvement in animal protection, etc... It didn't seem logical to me to only go vegetarian, (I'm very black or white)... However after 8 happy vegan months, this failed for various not good enough reasons (social/ circumstances mainly) *shame*...

Lately I felt very *SO* out of touch with my true values, nature and objectives, and as bombarded with "messages" from everywhere to return vegan... Now back on track and trying to extend from diet to whole lifestyle...

[Argonaut]

Gradually. Having become lacto-vegetarian a few years earlier, which in itself was not an overnight thing. That was sometime during the Spring of 1986 (when I was 19), whilst I later became vegan during the Autumn of 1989 (when I was 22). Neither decision was a consequence of anything in the media, less still any organisation (or the internet which was then but merely an idea in Mr Berners-Lee's brain). It was just part of a gradual process of dietary awareness that I first developed when I was 16. Some people experience an overnight - almost evangelical - conversion - but I always think that they are likely to be reversed just as quickly. For me any change to my diet or lifestyle tends to be slow and evolutionary, now that I am well into middle-age, slower even

[Kat_90]

Was brought up a pescatarian since birth. Always claimed I did it for animal reasons without looking into it. I also used to say fish couldn't feel pain, without research or justification (I cringe remembering this). I have always loved and cared for animals, but never taken the time to learn about dairy farms, egg farms and fish farms. I thought I was doing enough. In January of this year I stumbled across a horrifying article about the dairy industry. I searched YouTube on it, and found Earthlings. That day, I threw out my fish, milk, cheese and eggs, and have never looked back. I am taking slow steps to eradicate all animal products from my life (washing powder, toothpaste, leather purse i've had for about 5 years - stuff I keep discovering). It is the best decision I have ever made, and I kick myself at my ignorance before. My family are all still pescatarian which is hard, as I know they use animal welfare as their reasoning and I really have to bite my tongue not to offend them/start an argument over dinner. But hopefully if I advocate a happy, healthy life as a vegan one day they will do the right thing.

[maria84]

It is so shameful for me to read this thread. Although it is fantastic that so many of you decided to become vegan and just changed instantly.

My transition was much, much longer and twisted, almost 11 years of stupidness. As a teenager my friend would always tell me about veganism and I was brainwashed into a meat-eating diet so I didn't think it was healthy but then at about 16 years old, I couldn't take it any more and I started not wanting to eat it. My parents wouldn't 'let' me not eat meat as my dad is very strict and old-fashioned - now that I look back, I think how on Earth could he have made me eat a dead animal and that it was still my 'choice' to go along with his orders. I could have just flat out refused but this wasn't my thinking at the time.

Anyway, I eventually turned pescaterian, vegetarian and then vegan. But then I met a man, was smitten with him and he started telling me how people need an omni diet. I started reading about it and decided to go from vegan to meat-eating. May or may not have turned vegetarian and then back to meat-eating during this time.

Cut to July 2010 and I get extremely bad food poisoning from eating meat. I decide to go vegan. Then after a few months I become vegetarian again.

This month, April 2012 I order 'vegetarian rice noodles' from the Chinese and it comes back with a piece of red meat in it. That utterly disgusted me and made me not want to eat out in places that also served meat - I'm paranoid about contamination and poor food hygiene so I decide to make all food myself and not eat out in non-veg places. This was the last and ultimate reason that switched me to veganism.

It is so so horrible that knowing everything I know, I still went from vegan to vegetarian and meat-eating but I was in denial about it.

Now I will never go back to eating animals or animal by-products, wearing them or using products tested on them.

[harpy]

I don't think you've got any reason to be ashamed, Maria - a lot of people have a circuitous route to veganism even if the ones in this thread didn't. It's not always straightforward going against cultural norms. You sound as if you've made up your mind now, anyway

[Firestorm]

Hi Maria - that's not shameful at all. Most vegan used to be meat eaters, and we all have had different routes to Veganism. The important thing is that you are Vegan now, we can't change the past so there is no point in beating ourselves up about things.

[Niccie]

I went vegetarian when I was 8 or 9yrs old - the first real connection between meat and animals for me (I may have been slow it seems quite old now). My mum mentioned going out to get fish and I got really excited about getting a goldfish. I was shocked and appalled when no goldfish arrive but instead a fish on my plate.I remember telling my mum she was sick and twisted and saying did other people know she was eating animals! Oh the naivety! I never ate the fish and haven't touched meat since (which was a constant battle for about two years of my mum trying to put meat on my plate!)
I cut out eggs in my teens but wasn't strict with products containing eggs. I don't really remember ever thinking about veganism or if I knew about it. When I moved out at 16yr I discovered soya milk and cut out dairy. It took me a little while to make a conscience decision to go vegan - I kinda realised one day I practically was anyway and that was that.

[NEvegan]

My story isn't an exciting one. I was a vegetarian for years and my friend asked me why I was a vegetarian. I said, "For the animals." And she replied, "Then why aren't you vegan?"

I didn't know what a vegan was, so I asked her...so told me, and ta-da! Vegan.

It just all made sense and I knew I had to be a vegan after that.

I can't remember if there was a defining moment on becoming a vegetarian though.

[Maître]

I went vegetarian when I was 8 or 9yrs old - the first real connection between meat and animals for me (I may have been slow it seems quite old now). My mum mentioned going out to get fish and I got really excited about getting a goldfish. I was shocked and appalled when no goldfish arrive but instead a fish on my plate.I remember telling my mum she was sick and twisted and saying did other people know she was eating animals! Oh the naivety! I never ate the fish and haven't touched meat since (which was a constant battle for about two years of my mum trying to put meat on my plate!)

That story really put a smile on my face, so cute!

[Blueberries]

As a kid I wanted to be a vegetarian when I grew up, and finally had the guts to stand up to my parents and go vegetarian when I was 14. I basically ate what my family ate but without the meat, so lots of pasta with tomato sauce, stir-fries, pizza and cheesy omelettes. Hardly the healthiest vegetarian!

By the time I was 18 I started getting concerned about the fact that I was pretty dairy-dependant, and purely for health reasons started to cut down on dairy, mainly by drinking green tea instead of black tea with milk. Like every vegetarian who hasn't made the connection I thought that veganism was unnecessary and difficult.

Then I read an article in a magazine we got in religion class in school (who thought religion class would ever come in useful!) about an Irish teenage girl who was a vegan. She talked about why she was vegan, and also about her favourite dairy-free chocolate, ice-cream and cheese. It was a very positive article and it really made me think about veganism as something attainable and fun. I looked into the links the article gave (I think it was to PeTA, even though I'm not really a fan of theirs it lead me to the vegan internet underworld!) and the rest they say is history! I went vegan during my Leaving Cert (as if I hadn't enough going on!) and will be a vegan for 4 years this summer. In June I'll be 8 years meat-free, an even 4 years vegetarian and 4 years vegan!

[hedgehoglovely]

I went vegan when I was 15 nearly 4 years ago. I don't even know what influenced me at the time, i didn't have a computer or internet but i had met other vegans and i just thought it seemed like a really cool radical thing to do. I felt a lot older than I was and probably took myself way too seriously. I was a bit of a loner, very quiet and shy with no proper friends. I was vegetarian from a very early age and I was lucky to be raised by people who gave me the freedom to do whatever that made me happy. my family already bought a lot of beans, tofu, soy milk etc and always bought fresh organic fruit and veg when they could so it was really very easy for me to make the switch. I didn't even realise at the time what a positive change i was making but i'm so glad i did it. I know i will always be vegan, i have never felt so strongly about anything in my life and each year goes by it gets stronger as i learn more. I don't think animals are made to be used, consumed or exploited by us humans just because they don't have a voice. As one of my favourite quote goes which i'm sure you've heard before, if not countless times: “The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.” ― Alice Walker