My Vegan Story
When I was 7 or 8 years old we were sitting in class following our lunch break, when a fellow student raised their hand and asked where ham came from. Our teacher explained that ham and other meats came from animals, most other students accepted this answer and got back to their work. I however further enquired about why we ate animals and if they got to live long lives before we ate them. My teacher tried her best (bless her) to educate me on the meat industry without traumatising me, however I was well and truly traumatised and decided that it was unfair on the animals. I went home and told my mum that I didn’t think it was right for us to eat animals and told her that I didn’t want to eat meat anymore, she was luckily very understanding and I never ate meat again after that day.
When I was 16 and began using the internet more frequently I started to read information on the dairy industry along with watching various documentaries, I decided I wanted to become a vegan however I was still living at home, having meals cooked for me, attending a college that didn’t serve many food options and I was generally just under educated on the best foods to eat, how much i needed to eat and how to satisfy cravings. I fell on and off the ‘vegan wagon’ for the next two years before I found Freelee The Banana Girl on YouTube and learnt about raw veganism, her videos lead me to others such as Fully Raw Kristina etc and I began educating myself on the raw vegan lifestyle. This lifestyle seemed ideal, i had acne I wanted to cure, I had recently lost 30lbs from going vegan on and off but was struggling to keep the weight off, i love eating massive portions of food so everything about the lifestyle sounded amazing. I decided to give it a go, however much like when i originally went vegan I wasn’t educated enough and found myself craving cooked foods (this was before raw till 4 was about) and i found myself feeling guilty for not sticking to raw foods which is never a healthy mindset to be in. I once again fell off the ‘wagon’, then when i moved away to university i tried again to be vegan, since i would be cooking for myself - but with bad influences after nights out and on movie nights with my friends and housemates buying pizza and cheesy chips, i failed once again.
Over the next two years I tried my best to eat vegan but with travelling to places such as Rome and Spain I again struggled with temptations, then finally at the age of 20 I became 100% vegan. I can’t imagine ever looking back now and I believe that i’m educated enough to know what to eat and how to satisfy cravings without putting dairy into my body. I’m happier than ever and I feel amazing, I hope that some day I can encourage others to transition to a vegan lifestyle and have a beautiful, healthy, vegan family.
x