When I was little I always told my mom that one day I was going to be a vegetarian. Why? Because animals were cute and eating them was mean. That was my reason. I never wanted to eat animals like rabbit, duck, lamb, sheep, calf, deer etc. In my eyes these were animals that we were not “supposed” to eat, unlike cows, pigs and chickens because I was always told that they were animals meant for consumption. I was not yet able to become a vegetarian yet because I was scared. Scared that people would not understand what I felt/thought. Scared that I would not be able to eat anything (I hated vegetables!). Scared to stand apart from the crowd.
When I was 15 we went to friends in England for a few weeks in the summer. Everyone we visited had organised a barbecue for us. All that we ate was meat… During my fifth barbecue I sat back, stopped eating and said: ” I’ve had enough meat for a lifetime, just in these few days. From now on I am vegetarian.”
A year later my mom and I saw Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a documentary by Joe Cross. It was about the power of juicing and plant based diets. This inspired us to start juicing to improve our health. I was not quite happy with only juices, I was hungry for 4 weeks… Then we decided to eat solid food again, after having seen more, some quite shocking, documentaries during those 4 weeks I decided to eat vegan. This turned out to be one of the best choices of my life. I feel so much more energetic. And my digestion problems have gone away completely. Most importantly since becoming vegetarian and now vegan, I appreciate plant based foods so much more and I now actually enjoy and love a plate full of veggies!
Being vegan has opened my eyes to a whole new world of foods. I learned being vegetarian or vegan does not mean that you only eat vegetables and fruits, there are nuts, seeds and legumes. And have found out that there are so many different ways to use them and flavours to create with them.
Feel free to comment with your own vegan/vegetarian story!
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