I had a psychotic break. I was working one day and literally went out of my mind. Coming out of it, I realized that I wanted to make changes in my life. I had always felt somewhat uncomfortable with the idea that I was eating animals. I started by trying to be a vegetarian, but had some issues sticking with it, especially during some subsequent hospitalizations for mental illness.

Then I committed to vegetarianism, but was still eating dairy and eggs, although my research on those industries was starting to really bother me. Finally I decided to set myself a goal of no longer consuming any animal products by a certain date, and started watching a lot of vegan advocacy videos, as I also felt that I wanted to be a part of doing more good in the world, and then I made my deadline and fully committed.

I was 18 at the time, and my older brother went vegetarian. We both lived at home and every mealtime he used to sit there at and say "meat is murder", "you say you love animals but you still eat them", "you're a hypocrite for eating animals" etc - you get the drift.

Did it work? Did his constant haranguing make me into a vegetarian?

Hell no!

A big part of me agreed with what he said, but you know what it's like when someone attacks you - what do you do? You fight back. You refuse to give in. You refuse to change. You refuse to let them win. And you hate them, and their ideology, with a passion.

After about 3 months of telling me what a horrible person I was for eating meat, he gave up trying. And instead he handed me a copy of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation and asked me to read it.

So I read it. And I have to say that, to this day, it is the only book I've ever read that's made me cry. Reading that book made me ashamed to be a member of the human race when I realised how badly we treat other animals. And I decided there and then - "Not in my name".

That was 36 years ago. I've never changed my mind, never even considered it for a moment.

And I always remember how my conversion came about. Not by being bullied, not by being told I was wrong, and horrible for eating meat. Not for being put down for not doing enough. No, that delayed my decision by 3 months. More animals suffered because of that attempt to persuade me I was wrong. It was a sobering lesson for me (and maybe for you) about the best way to talk to others about animal suffering.

It was 1990 and I was with a friend on her cattle ranch. We were riding our horses through the herds of cattle looking for sick ones. When we found a sick one, we put it in a chute and doctored it. As the day went on, I thought, "we are doctoring them in order to kill them". A little while later, I would see cattle trucks on the highway and it really started bothering me. I always solve a problem by making a plan to deal with it. What could I do to stop being bothered? The only answer was to stop eating them. I wasn't very good at it at first - there weren't any such thing as a veggie burger, etc. I gave all meat away and the freezer it was in. I gave away roasting pans and other utensils used on meat. It has been almost 28 years and I don't have the chronic disease problems that my peers have. Everybody I know has acid reflux but not me, as an example. I am 5'7" tall and weigh 125 pounds. I am almost 71 years old with no high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes.

I might add that I have 11 animals. Three horses, 2 dogs and 6 cats. I take care of them by myself and still ride.

A big lifestyle change is easier to sustain if we wholeheartedly believe in our decision. Think about the standards we hold ourselfs accountable to, and what guides we as we decide what is right and what is wrong.

In the consumer culture we live in today we show support with money. Every purchase we make is like a vote of support. When we buy commercial products our money is voting in support of not only the product but also the practices and morals of the company. For this reason it’s important to be an educated consumer so that with every dollar you spend, you’re supporting something you truly believe in.

My vegan story:
One day, while eating a "normal" American meal in an Applebee's with some pals, one of my friends says to me, "Have you ever considered going vegan?". My friend was not a vegan himself, or even a vegetarian, so this came out of nowhere. I said "No" and that it would be a harder lifestyle to maintain than he seemed to realize. Nonetheless he said that he wanted to go vegan and asked if I would go vegan with him. I suggested we start by trying vegetarianism out for 2 weeks and see how well that would work. He agreed and I missed meat surprisingly little over the next 2 weeks. (SHOCKER) I didn't die of a protein deficiency! Lol
Over the course of the following months he started eating meat more, but I maintained being a vegetarian. After 9 full months of getting used to my new lifestyle and doing more and more research I finally made the jump to full vegan.
In my journey thus far I have met three vegetarians, I've helped one friend become a vegetarian, and I have helped another friend become a vegan! So excited to see what the future holds.
♥ Thanks for reading and God bless! ♥

We had watched Forks Over Knives and had greatly reduced the amount of meat in our diet. After that, on Father's Day, 2015, that stupid clickbait story about people killing a dolphin by urinating in it's blowhole story showed up on my Facebook feed. Even knowing the story was false, I kept imagining the fear and hurt that the dolphin must have felt while this was happening made me stop eating meat. I couldn't eat the dinner we had planned for that night. That was the day that I stopped meat altogether. I still ate dairy and eggs though.

Then, last year, Facebook struck again with a true story about how even "free range" chickens were treated and the lives the lead and even though we got our eggs and dairy from the local organic market who only bought from local farms and dairies, or from people we knew, I couldn't support eating any eggs and dairy that I didn't know where it came from, so that was the end of that. I've not looked back since.

I am having a few health issues trying to get my vitamins and minerals right but those issues were not caused by the veganism, only exacerbated by it (I had the iron and vitamin deficiencies as a meat eater) and once I truly figure out how to balance my diet and figure out the right vitamins for me, I will perfectly fine.

This feels like a good place to start (with my very first post on here) and I was stuck with one foot in each camp, for way too long. I stopped eating meat and eggs a couple of years ago but still had cheese and in January this year I cut that out too. All spring I would eat vegetarian but still not pay attention to makeup, clothes and other things though until after I saw Cowspiracy and What the Health on Netflix earlier this year. At that point going vegan still felt daunting but I felt it was important enough to do something I very rarely do - I reached out and asked for help (so hard to do for some reason!). A close friend of mine has been vegan for 10+ years and never actively pushed me towards it but was thrilled to help out once I asked him for guidance. We spent the summer together and he showed me restaurants, cruelty free products, shared recipes and really helped me get started properly.

As we're getting into winter now I'm starting to suspect that a few of the hormonal imbalances I'm medicated for may have at least been made worse by my pre-vegetarian (and now vegan) diet so my next step will be to transition off those meds (Diane type birth control) to see if that's the case. Excited to see where that journey takes me!

Hi,

I would say this forum is one of my favorite forums, as lot of new things I learn and discuss with everyone. I am a vegetarian from birth never tested any kind of meat or chicken. I was introduced to Veganism from one my colleges at work. I was really fascinated and thought why not try being Vegan for a month and we both turned Vegan for a month. It was a great experience for me. Later when I got married my husband shared that we loves animals and wants to turn Vegan. So, one day we both decided we will turn vegan. And its going to be a year now we are Vegans and also run a Vegan Food blog called goveganlife.com. I have my youtube channel Go Vegan Life

Our love towards animals is increasing day by day. We also rescue animals and try to help them.