One evening in November of 2015, my partner Lucas and I were in the mood to watch some documentaries. We decided on Forks Over Knives first, which talks about why plant based diets are best for preventing and maybe even reversing disease. When it was over, we talked and we both decided we should probably at least try going plant based for a month or so. It couldn’t hurt, right?
In keeping with the theme, we watched Vegucated next. When it got to a part that included a few short clips of the horrors of animal torture and slaughter (aka the meat and dairy industries), I felt sick to my stomach and cried. (I’m about to cry just thinking about it again.) My partner and I looked at each other in understanding. “Are we going vegan now?” he asked. “Yes,” I replied. “We have to.”
That night we got rid of all of the non-vegan food in our apartment, and the next day was our first of eating vegan. Right away we bought and read Vegan Freak and Eating Animals as well, which helped us along our journey. Over the next few weeks, we also sold or donated all of our non-vegan clothing (leather, wool, silk), and I switched to cruelty free/vegan beauty products.
The first thing most people asked me when I told them I went vegan was it it hard? For me, no, not at all. Yes, there is a learning curve, you have to figure out how to navigate social eating and hidden ingredients in foods, and change some lifestyle things. But I never feel tempted to eat “real” pizza or a hamburger. I now see them for what they are: dead rotting flesh and animal suffering. Not only do I think it’s wrong, it really grosses me out and now the smell of meat makes me nauseous.
Some things have been somewhat challenging, like finding cruelty free makeup that works for me, learning to cook certain dishes, and finding vegan resources/answers to specific questions, so hopefully this blog will help anyone out there with similar questions and concerns!
The only regret I have is not going vegan sooner. I was willfully ignorant at the expense of hundreds, even thousands of living beings. But no longer.
The truth is out there. Go vegan!