Why weren't you vegan before you became vegan?

[porcupine_treats]

I had been wanting to go vegan for a couple of years maybe before I did it, I waited till I moved out before I switched though. My mum was really against me even being vegetarian and if veganism ever came up in a conversation they always started saying about how unhealthy vegans looked heh. I didn't tell them after I became vegan until a month or so later when I went home for a visit. They were not happy lol! My mum has since begged me to stop but mostly they are sort of supportive; they cook me vegan food when I'm home.

[Puska17]

If only I knew the answer!
It's a question that has been chasing me around for the few months since I made the decision to be Vegan after 20 odd yrs Vegetarian.
All the usual excuses apply, upbringing, conditioning etc but it's still not a good enough excuse for me, I cannot believe it took me so long.
I wont beat myself up over it though, better late than never and I'm sure that it will be more excuses and not really an answer.
Maybe I'll never find the answer but I'm glad I've given my kids the choice whether they wanted to eat meat, a choice I never had.
I was scared at one point that would be their teenage rebellion, they have always been free to try when out and about but neither did.
One is Vegan one Vegetarian.

[Strok]

I remember back in the mists of time when I tried being a vegan for the first time in 2005, when I was at home, knowing little about nutrition. I fell back into the meaty side of things when I probably wasn't getting what I needed and saw old habits as a crutch. Since moving out I've found it's significantly cheaper to eat more fruit and veg than meat and coupled with moving to a brand new place, my weight loss nearly complete, I thought why the heck not!

But I think (after much digressing), that when you're a meat eater, you do indeed understand most of the emotional and sense arguments of veggies and vegans but it's hard to empathise with the fate of Bessie the cow when you're eating her. You have to give something up to appreciate it... I prefer Bessie whole, unmolested these days thanks.

[cherryblossom]

Ignorance is my only answer. Not questioning anything...how animals are treated, the effects on my health, whether I should be eating animals, lack of any spiritual knowledge. It was equivalent to a dark age for me. I think most people remain ignorant of these things throughout their entire lives and the ones that wake up become vegan because there is no other option

[KattJohnson]

i'm actually having a battle right now with a bit of OCD; my parents want to learn more about my decision to become vegan and they always bring up arguments that one cannot truly get away from any animal assistance with the food you eat, or the everyday products that are used. i can't allow myself to leave their questions unanswered though, guilt would eat me alive. my question is where to draw the line between what is obsessive and what is practical. i was a non vegan up until just recently because of my lifestyle. honestly, i have no excuse of why i chose to remain uneducated of where the meat came from or how the animals were treated before they made it on the dinner table. hopefully my mind will stop condemning me soon, now that i have made the change. i do feel much better about the change; it is mainly overcoming the challenges of essential vitamins, proteins, and iron that's needed. with a low income, i have also discovered how one can get rather overwhelmed with the prices of specific items. such as: olive oil, earth bound margarine, tofu, as well as fresh produce. keep in mind, i have only been a vegan since May 22nd, but i still have so much to learn!

[cherryblossom]

i'm actually having a battle right now with a bit of OCD; my parents want to learn more about my decision to become vegan and they always bring up arguments that one cannot truly get away from any animal assistance with the food you eat, or the everyday products that are used. i can't allow myself to leave their questions unanswered though, guilt would eat me alive. my question is where to draw the line between what is obsessive and what is practical. i was a non vegan up until just recently because of my lifestyle. honestly, i have no excuse of why i chose to remain uneducated of where the meat came from or how the animals were treated before they made it on the dinner table. hopefully my mind will stop condemning me soon, now that i have made the change. i do feel much better about the change; it is mainly overcoming the challenges of essential vitamins, proteins, and iron that's needed. with a low income, i have also discovered how one can get rather overwhelmed with the prices of specific items. such as: olive oil, earth bound margarine, tofu, as well as fresh produce. keep in mind, i have only been a vegan since May 22nd, but i still have so much to learn!

No one can ever not cause any harm. It's impossible. I often hear arguments from omnivores about how my diet involves the killing of plants and insects. I have the choice of throwing up my arms in defeat and saying "You're right! Let's get a hamburger", or admitting that while I cannot eliminate all harm...I can reduce the harm I inflict, especially on beings that I consider sentient and with whom I can relate to on a personal level. I can see a soul in an animal more than in an insect or a plant--and because of that connection... I value their lives more. I see it as all part of the design-- animals have eyes, faces, organs, blood, parents, relationships, etc. so we can feel empathy for them because of these similarities. I cannot feel that for a plant because plants are not designed in such a way as to allow for me to feel sympathy.

A vegan diet is one of the most inexpensive diets on the planet! Sure in these days, it is cheaper to buy a dollar meal at McDonald's than a head of lettuce--but overall the cost of a veg diet is pretty inexpensive (esp factoring in health!) It just takes some planning. Instead of canned beans with BPA lining and high sodium that are expensive--buy a bulk bag of beans and cook them overnight in a pressure cooker. The cost is practically nothing for the amount of meals you can get out of this. I bought a soymilk maker and make my own (unprocessed) soymilk for a lot cheaper than aspetic packages. Grains like brown rice are cheap. Frozen produce is cheaper than fresh, lasts a long time, and is just as healthy. My health food store sells $1 bags of expiring produce and we either eat them that day or freeze them. I shop at the farmer's market and get great deals on local, organic produce. We have learned to pickle, can, and jam--so we can make our cheap produce last all year. Couponing and revolving your meals around sales can be huge money savers as well. The veg. diet can be extremely inexpensive depending on how you do it. A veg diet consisting of tons of heavily processed mock meats, soy ice creams, non-dairy milks, and all kinds of exotic superfoods will quickly eat away at the pockets (and aren't necessarily healthy either!)

[KattJohnson]

thank you for your insight cherryblossom, now i don't feel so overwhelmed with all the ongoing questions and large grocery list. i have learned alot and i believe my family will learn to embrace and support my decision. cooking didn't really interest me near as much when i was a non vegan because of all the risks involved with raw meats, but now that i have made the necessary change, i love to cook and try new things. even as recently as the change was made, people have said that they can physically see a difference in both my appearance and my attitude about life. ^_^ i dare say that this is probably the best decision i've ever made in my life. plus there is no more guilt at the dinner table and that is such a beautiful feeling.

[Katarzyna]

hmm interesting

I were not vegan before I became one, because I thought I will starve to death, get sick, there will be nothing to eat, I will be rejected by own family and called alien ha ha ha I cant stop laughing.. thank you for this topic.

[ali22]

I became vegan as soon as I knew everything about farms (and the same day, we don´t need meat to live). Before I really thought animals were happy on farms and killed without pain, and cows and hens didn´t suffer or die after their useful lives. So, I was not vegan before just because I didn´t have the information, wich is a shame. We hide the truth to our children. But I had probably done this before if anybody had told me the truth wich I discovered on google after meeting a vegetarian girl and asked myself "why anybody decides to be vegetarian?"

[sylph]

I didn't know about the cruelty of the dairy and eggs industry. Gosh, I was so clueless it's almost funny . Then I didn't want to give up my favorite foods and snacks, especially since I'm not able to bake anything myself. And then I was making excuses like being vegan would be expensive, my family would make fun of me, I wouldn't have enough to eat and so on. But I sorted out my priorities.

[LucidLucy]

Being fat runs in my family, so any attempt I do at being healthy, my mom thinks I'm trying to lose weight. I'm a size 12, so that's *not* the size of an anorexic, right? I'm not going vegan because of my weight. I'm doing it for the sheer inhumanity of our meat-dependent society. And not just towards the animals we eat and wear!! If we can't even bother to be humane to an animal, how will we ever be humane to each other? Also: humans are mammals. Just like cows. We eat cows but not humans. Why? We eat cows but not cats. Why? "Cats are so cute!!" is the usual excuse. Whoever says that has never looked into the eyes of a newborn calf. They're freaking adorable!

I'm in the process of going vegan (I don't believe in cold turkey, pun not intended), and these are my main reasons:
- my health (we all know the rubbish we put in our meat before it enters the supermarket)
- the animals and the way they're treated. My vegetarian friend says "if you don't have the heart to kill it, you don't have the right to eat it." and I agree with that.
- the health of our planet. Animals produce methane (ok, a LOT of methane), and that's never really been an issue before we started breeding them en masse.

[TarekF]

Well, i was raised in a house with a vegetarian dad (he went veggie after a few years) and an omni mom. Since she cooked i ate meat all thru my childhood. Which is pretty sad because i knew that one could be healthy as a vegetarian and i also understood the ideology behind it. When i was a kid i used to use the whole circle of life argument . I suppose though my dad got mad about it sometimes i just didn't really think about it until i was around 14-16 years old. I recall one time on vacation i started feeling super guilty whenever i ate meat so would silently apologize and promise that in college i would stop (stupid i know but i was timid about things like that). When 16 my cousin showed me one of PeTa's videos showing what happens on factory farms and right there i went vegetarian and been vegan for a a while too.

So i think it was
1- denial (stupid rationalizations that made sense when i wasn't as rational)
2- pressure from family (extended and nuclear families)
3- not thinking about it and just eating what my mom put on the plate

[peaceheart]

I was twenty-four when I made the decision to go vegan. I didn't do it before partly out of ignorance (I didn't realise having dairy could harm animals, for example) and partly because I just didn't care enough. Even when I began to care on a theoretical level (accepting that it's wrong to treat animals as objects and kill for food) I couldn't bring myself to care on an emotional level. I embraced veganism out of a sense that it was the right thing to do, without feeling any emotional link between myself and the animals. I had the theory, but not the heart.

Interestingly, it's following a vegan lifestyle that has given me compassion for animals. Now, when I think of animals being raised only to get slaughtered, I don't just register the immorality of it on an intellectual level - I feel it emotionally too. When I was planning to become vegan, I thought that adopting a vegan lifestyle would be the big change. I hadn't realised that it continues to change you afterwards. That was a lovely thing to discover.

[Ⓥeganist]

Well before I was vegan I was vegetarian for 5 years or so. Now the reason why I think I never went vegan when I was a meat eater was I felt that meat was my right to eat, because everyone told me so. Everyone else did it, so why couldn't I do it to? I also admittedly saw meat as just food. To me, the food I was eating was never a real living being. Like how could it be? Lot's of the stuff you look at and wonder, how did this come from an animal and what part did it come from? When I also came in contact with a vegetarian I got upset because I thought that since they were a vegetarian and didn't eat meat there was a problem with it. So if they found a problem with it, and I took part in this problem and they don't then I start getting defensive and making up those excuses you here over and over again. I was so closed minded that the only reason why I went vegetarian was because I was dared to by my fellow vegetarian sister. I liked it and kept with it. I didn't think cows suffered because everyone said that they don't kill the cow to get milk. I didn't even look it up, it's just what everyone said. They also said eggs come from the hen naturally so it's okay. I realize now that, that state I was in, was the exact same sate I was in when I was a meat eater, except a different circumstance. I just thought and did what everyone told me, even when I was a vegetarian. I ran into Earthlings and had a bad experience with a doctor and that's what made me Vegan. Before I was Vegan I looked at Veganism as to extreme, I thought this as a vegetarian! Anyways, I think it's just society's perception on meat and dairy that influence you and it's hard to break out of it. Anyways that's what my life was of being a vegetarian and a meat eater before being Vegan.

[vivid1]

I never ate much meat, I didn't like the fact that meat came from animals, but when I was young I didn't know what a vegetarian was. When people asked me why I didn't eat meat I'd just say I didn't like the fact that an animal had to die so that I could eat it. That made people give me strange looks so I just started to say that I didn't like the texture of meat or I'd just say I was a finicky eater. I guess all my life I was pretty much mostly vegetarian, only eating some chicken or fish if I absolutely had to. I thought I needed animal protein so I ate a lot of eggs and dairy instead of meat.

A few of years ago I switched to a 50% raw diet and I started to do a lot of research on nutrition. When I learned that dairy products were as unhealthy as eating meat, and how much milk cows and egg laying chickens suffered in today's factories, I couldn't do it anymore. The day I learned of this, I gave whatever cheese I had in the fridge to my dogs and went vegan. My excuse was ignorance. I just didn't know much about the vegan diet and what actually was healthy for humans to eat. The meat and milk industry puts out so much propaganda out there and most restaurants cater to the meat eaters, it's easy to get confused or lazy. Also, my mom is a RN nurse and a daily meat eater, all my life she's been telling me I need animal protein. Since I went vegan we have a lot of arguments about food. It's hard to explain to someone who has been a nurse for 40 years, that she may not know everything about nutrition from the one class she took 40 years ago. She thinks being a RN makes an an expert on nutrition. Truth is, she has always been overweight, never exercised, never ate right (she says she can't eat raw vegetables they give her an upset stomach) and for the last 10 years has suffered from many medical problems like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, and she takes lots of pills daily for this but never changed her diet.

[boyana511]

Because I did not know the TRUTH.

[bunnyturtle]

I remember back in the mists of time when I tried being a vegan for the first time in 2005, when I was at home, knowing little about nutrition. I fell back into the meaty side of things when I probably wasn't getting what I needed and saw old habits as a crutch.

Haha, absolutely same. I tried it in 2004, with having the worst eating habits anyway. I failed, and since then I was CONVINCED that it is impossible to live vegan. As well, I didn't understand that it is not an absolute, that of course somehow you will hurt animals, unintentionally. So I went back to vegetarianism. Then this spring I learned a lot about nutrition, so step by step I realized I don't need any animal products. I only want them for my pleasure. But that wasn't what I wanted, since I love animals and don't want them to be hurt. I couldn't look away anymore. Still ashamed of myself so far though.

[TheHRchannel]

I was uneducated and took things slowly.

[bst]

I didn,t know or even realize what i was doing to myself or contributing to as far as murdering animals goes , every time i see a fried chicken advertisement i wonder , how could i ever have ate animal flesh.

[stupefy!]

Pure ignorance, then there comes "The Immorality of Eating Meat" by Mylan Engel Jr.

And went cold turkey overnight.

[daisygarden]

I was raised that way (especially having foreign parents), and was told uneducated things about health and nutrition from the school system. I went vegetarian in high school....and went vegan overnight after doing my own research and doing what makes perfect sense to me-a plant based diet!!! ^_^

- - - Updated - - -

I was raised that way (especially having foreign parents), and was told uneducated things about health and nutrition from the school system. I went vegetarian in high school....and went vegan overnight after doing my own research and doing what makes perfect sense to me-a plant based diet!!! ^_^

[DancingVegan]

We have 'why r u vegan', so i thought we might like to speculate on the other side of the coin?

Mostly, it was because I came from a very meat-loving family. When I told my family that I was going vegetarian, they didn't argue against it, but didn't make me feel very supported. When I told them I was going vegan, then they started to act differently towards me and telling me that it was a strange choice and that it was not a healthy choice.

I tried going vegetarian/vegan a few times before, but I always ended up giving in to the pressures from my family after a while. This time, it's different, though. I didn't tell them I was going to do it, I just did it. This time, I was much better prepared with information on health, nutrition, vegan foods, and recipes. I've been making some delicious foods, and my SO is totally on board, which is spectacular. My family has not been very supportive, and I've been on the receiving end of several underhanded jabs at my lifestyle, but it's been better this time.

[Astrid660]

I can't really play the ignorance card, personally. I knew about factory farms.. Perhaps not so much about the plight of animals in the dairy industry.

For many years I suffered from eating disorders. I swung from compulsive over eating to bulimia to borderline anorexia. I was too caught up with food in general as a way to cope - through eating or not eating. I didn't really consider any other aspect of my diet besides low calorie vs low fat.. or perceiving something like cheese or pasta being a weakness for me, something I couldn't stop eating once I'd started. My family raised me on a meat and potatoes diet. No one ever mentioned the word Vegetarian. I briefly tried to go Vegan in high school, but it was short lived and I believe it was (if I recall correctly) less about animals and more about me masking my ED.

Once I learned about Veganism more, I realized it could be crucial in helping me recover from disordered eating and have a healthier body image. What followed was an intense emotional moment when I truly realized how many animals die every second, hour, day, year.. Just so we can have a plethora of meat in the supermarkets and fried chicken and burgers and.. Ugh. I can't believe I lived so much of my life being apathetic. I'm not a stupid individual; I feel that I should have stopped being self centered and done this a long time ago. :|

[Karmalife]

Ugh. I can't believe I lived so much of my life being apathetic. I'm not a stupid individual; I feel that I should have stopped being self centered and done this a long time ago. :|

The fact that you are vegan now, especially after so many challenging food issues shows that you are no where near self centered. We all have our demons and I also suffered for years with binge eating, bulimia and restricting so I know where you are coming from. Food is all around us and throw disordered eating on top of it and you have a challenging way of living day to day.

[kmj]

I had been vegetarian for 16 years but had resisted going all the way vegan because I was worried about the reaction from family and friends. When I developed a dairy allergy, I just decided to phase out the other stuff as well.

I feel that it's important as Vegans to talk to non-vegans without judgement and in a way that engages them rather than shutting them down. I make a point of only ever giving people as much information as they ask for and are comfortable with hearing. I know that the reality of factory farming and the meat and dairy industry is horrific (which is why I've chosen to give it up), but I also believe that it's all about personal choice and growth. Nobody ever talked to me about vegetarianism or veganism, I sought out information myself. Pushing views on people will not make anybody see a different side, I think it actually works against the cause.

[-spacemermaid~]

Thats a question i think about quite abit and to be honet i actully don't know. i just wasn't as empthetic as i am now i think. i mean, ofcourse i always knew meat and other animal products ome from animals (hence the name "animal " products ) but it didn't bother me until about a year ago where i thought, theres no way i can be happy and carry on doing this . and well now i'm aot happier. I feel i know it sounds slightly ( i feel wrong sying "cheesy" here" but ) more complete shal i say . but me as a whole has changed alot in the last few years. i don't know i think i was just imature. i'm not saying hat everyone who does choose to eat animal products is, but i mean i think a non vegan me was an imature me. its hard to explain :/ xx

[Rue]

Hello! This is my first post and such a inspiring thread - I have secretly not eaten meat for a year. Secretly. After ordering veggie options going un-noticed for all that time i called my best friend and told her i was going Vegan, who in turn called me a dumb hippy. Which has been the reaction of pretty much everyone i know...

I suppose i have wanted to make this change for a long time. Convienence always used to be my biggest battle, why make yummy food when i can go to a fast food place? (i know, i know, awful) But it always used to make me feel sick. Ive always had these ideas about animal rights, this real love for all animals and i just had enough of ignoring how i felt for the sake of my own selfish convienence.

I have only been eating Vegan for two months & the change has already been drastic, 8 pounds lighter - my skin is glowing, no breakouts, no dry patches, nothing. Im walking around feeling lighter inside too. Not physically lighter - mentally lighter if that makes sense. Guilt free?

I hope this makes sense! x

[Blueberries]

Hi Rue and welcome to the forum!

[Rue]

Thank youuuu <3

[-spacemermaid~]

ocd sucks so bad. ..

[Cupid Stunt]

.. but i mean i think a non vegan me was an imature me. its hard to explain :/ xx

Im walking around feeling lighter inside too. Not physically lighter - mentally lighter if that makes sense. Guilt free?

I hope this makes sense! x

Hi Rue, Mermaid, and welcome to the forum

For whatever it's worth you both make sense to me.

[-spacemermaid~]

thanks . most people on this foum seem to make sense to me..i wander why . not that i think vegans can't disagree. but i most people experience it probably makes things abit easier . i definitly agreee with Rue about feeling mentally lighter , but i do feel physically lighter too. the though of something like cheese and milk in my system is ( well obviously gross to mea and wuld probabbly make me throw up :/ not just becaause i haven't eaten those things for about a year now and but i couldn't cope with teh guilt on me head so..

[-spacemermaid~]

yeah, i feel angry when i see my fmily drinking milk. my little sisters so..indifferent to it all. :/ and i just think. how the fuck doesn't this bother y

[Roxi]

I wasn't vegan because I thought it'd be too hard to stay away from cheese. Now just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach.

[Leaf]

I wasn't vegan due to a mix of misinformation and ignorance.

As many others I thought cheese and egg would be a problem. I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I haven't had a single problem with my transition. On the contrary, my transition from vegetarian to vegan has only opened up doors for what I can eat, rather than what I can't eat. So many awesome products! I never look at milk or cheese and think "Yuuum", but I definitely get cravings from oat milk or melted soy cheese .

[vj]

I went vegan about 5 months ago now, and really the main reason for making the switch was that I watched Forks over Knives. I had never really given much thought to it before watching that movie, and had always maintained the thought of "I could never go vegan". I always thought I might give up meat, because I never really cared about it much before. I was never a huge meat-eater growing up, so it was the dairy that was the hardest thing for me to give up in my diet. I don't have any vegan friends, and really know only one vegetarian. So the reason why I was never vegan before then, was mostly because I was under the assumption that I 'was' eating healthily enough. You can check out a chronicling of how the transition has been on my daily blog at www.veganjulia.com.

[Tabbycat]

I hadn't really given it much thought for a long time. And then one day I was looking at a video of a rescued dairy cow and it just clicked. My two favorite animals are horses and cows. Why do I think it's OK to eat one but totally wrong to eat the other? Why am I OK with eating pigs but couldn't stand to eat an adorable bunny rabbit? I really questioned my beliefs about eating animals. After that, meat just wasn't palatable anymore.

[KnittinMama]

I'll be really honest - laziness and selfishness. That was it. I knew about factory farms. I knew about how eating animal products causes cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases like Osteoporosis. The thing was, I didn't have the gumption to figure out how to make all of the things my family loves without meat or dairy. My husband is the sort of man who used to say every time I cranked up the Vita-Mix, "can you make me a beer, bacon and chocolate smoothie?" Now he's also vegan, after watching some documentaries like "Forks Over Knives", "Food, Inc." and "Vegucated". Anyway, I didn't know how to make meals out of what we would traditionally, in the Standard American Diet, consider "side dishes". I didn't want to give up my beloved homemade bread, which called for milk, eggs, honey and butter.

As a knitter, I had a particular love for wooly things. If it came from a sheep or Alpaca, I loved it. The problem was that I assumed about wool what a lot of people assume about the meat industry - that fleece sheep were hanging out in a pretty pasture somewhere and sheering was a natural process to keep them comfortable. We just got to enjoy the aftermath of such a necessary procedure. I never would have guessed that the wool market was just as industrialized as meat. That sheep were kept in cramped, filthy, frightening conditions,subjected to the same cruel treatment as meat animals, castrated without anesthesia, genetically modified to produce a denser fleece, and sheered in the cruelest of ways only to be shipped off for slaughter once they're no longer needed. I had heard of the procedure called mulesing for Merino sheep (which was my favorite fleece to work with), but I assumed it was a necessary evil to prevent fly strike. What I didn't know was that if those Merino sheep hadn't been tampered with, genetically, they would have shed their fleece on their own and not be subjected to maggots eating their flesh. Giving up wool fiber to knit and spin with was more difficult than giving up animal products for food. I was never into leather or fur, but wool was my go-to fiber for knitting.

Having the tools and information to make vegan versions of our favorite foods and alternative fibers for knitting and spinning has given me a sense of accomplishment and peace of mind. I can be at peace when I eat and when I knit, knowing a living thing hasn't had to suffer for my choices.

[s_am]

I hadn't really given it much thought for a long time. And then one day I was looking at a video of a rescued dairy cow and it just clicked. My two favorite animals are horses and cows. Why do I think it's OK to eat one but totally wrong to eat the other? Why am I OK with eating pigs but couldn't stand to eat an adorable bunny rabbit? I really questioned my beliefs about eating animals. After that, meat just wasn't palatable anymore.

Totally agree. This started me off being vegetarian before I was vegan. All the horse meat scandal here in the UK (horse meat found in beef burgers etc) and everyone saying "I would never eat a horse, only beef" and it really made me angry. Why is one animal more sacred than another? Far better to remove yourself from all that

[misosoup]

I was vegetarian from the age of 10 and only turned vegan last year.
I wish every day I had turned vegan sooner. I was ignorant. I didn't eat meat or fish, but wasn't that into animal rights. Not like I am now.
As soon as I realised what happens to cows I stopped consuming dairy and eggs. Just wanted to part in it. I felt I was a criminal or something.

I think as well I was scared off by how hard and expensive veganism looked. I found this amazing Italian vegan site that saved my sanity and it didnt seem so overwhelming.

I actually think people would be more shocked at how the cows are impregnated and then their calves taken away, than animals being killed. Because you can argue that meat is natural or whatever, but there is nothing natural about stealing a mother's baby away from her. And then the ball starts rolling and people start to question. Any industry that is built on a power dynamic of human vs animal, nothing about it will ever be ethical.

It's like a parent deciding what is and isn't abuse. When the person with the most power is deciding what is ethical, then we're in trouble.

[VeganEsthie]

I think before I went vegan I mostly bounced back and forth between vegan and vegetarian. I would try to cut out cheese and fail. I was already drinking soymilk, replacing other dairy with animal free alternatives but it was cheese that kept drawing me back in. That addiction, you know? I struggled for about a year or two before I did a juice fast for the first time. It was as if it flushed out all of my addictions, haven't eaten dairy since. Someone in the thread also said something about it's easier to go vegan if you know someone who is vegan. I think a lot of my friends are now open to the idea or are already converting because of me. I never got preachy or said much about it, but that fact that I was vegan made them curious. They did their own research and also became vegan.

[Peabrain]

I was incredibly naive and uninformed. I'd never personally met any vegans, or at least if I did, they didn't tell me/talk to me about it. No-one ever told me the real issues with the uses of animals. I'd seen occasional reports on animal cruelty, but stupidly thought it was an anomoly, and by far not the norm. I fell for all the "happy cow" "free range eggs" crap, and as I got older and started to have the intelligence needed to refute such diabolical marketing ploys, I didn't use it, because by then it was entrenched.

I thought vegans were fanatics and although I could understand vegetarians, I totally didn't get what was wrong with milk and eggs. Even so, the fact that vegetarians chose not to eat meat, was, in my uneducated opinion, an emotional one and wasn't ethically or morally necessary. I understood some people didn't want to, but still believed we needed it and it never clicked that those vegetarians were not just healthy by pure luck, thinking maybe they didn't need it as much, but I certainly did... I absolutely did not know that calcium was available anywhere else but milk, and it never occurred to question how it was that we were taking it from a different species. I certainly didn't think anything bad happened to the cows.

I was an idiot. It all makes sense to me now, but damn, I just didn't ever connect the dots.

What changed was when my son asked me to help him transition to vegetarianism, and I started looking into things for him. Bit by bit every false belief got challenged and the real gut wrencher was when I suddenly woke up to the fact that humans make milk for their babies, so what on Earth did I think cows made it for? Us? I realised that was completely erroneous and then I looked into what happened to the babies, and that was it. I saw that vegans were right, and I didn't want anything to do with using animals ever again.