I often get asked what lead me to go vegan and if I have to be honest, I usually struggle a lot to respond. This happens not because I don’t know the actual reasons, but because sometimes I feel like no matter what I say, the person with whom I comunicate will attack me . Additionally I don’t like the fact that no matter what I will say, most of the people will think that veganism is an unhealthy, restrictive, unsustainable lifestyle or they will simply tell me“ Who cares about that animal, it does not have any purpose in life and we are meant to eat other animals”.
I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BECOME VEGAN
I have a memory on my head of a 5 years old me telling my mother that I did not want to eat meat anymore because I had made the connection between the death animal and the animal alive. As I was a very sensible child, it was very hurtful for me to imagine an animal being killed. Even when I used to watch a cartoon such as Bambi, in the scene where the hunter killed Bambi’s mother I was feeling terrible for the animal and I would start to cry. As there was the prejudice that vegan and vegetarian people are weak and unhealthy, or that you should make this change after your body has stopped developing, my parents did not allow me to go vegan or at least vegetarian.
I DO NOT LIKE DAIRY PRODUCTS AND MEAT.
I have never been a fan of milk, butter, cheese and all that staff and additionally it would not make me feel my best because I have an intolerance. I was not accustomed to drink milk in fact, in the morning I remember that I would drink either some orange juice or some hot tea. Meat was not my favourite type of food, especially red meat, and the fact that I was always leaving it on my plate was the demonstration of it. I did not like the consistency and the bland taste.
Sometimes I think I have been lucky because my transition to a vegetarian and then vegan diet as been very simple even if it has happened gradually.
HEALTH REASONS
When I was young I was making the mistake of connecting an average-low weight to a person being healthy. As I was very skinny I thought that my health was ok and because of that I was not even aware of the fact that meat is not healthy and that it was full of hormones. I have always had problems with my digestion and I was always bloated and this was making me so insecure and upset. This changed when I started eat more whole foods and including more fruits-raw foods on my diet. As a consequence I gained some confidence (little by little) and happiness.
Being vegan for me has been the best choice I have ever made, and I am glad that now I enjoy what I eat more than ever and that I became more conscious about health and what I eat.
Thank you for reading my post!
