How I Became a Vegan

I first heard the word "vegan" a couple of years ago. I learned that, unlike vegetarians, vegans did not eat any animal products at all. That means no meat, no dairy, no eggs, etc. I didn't look into it that much for the simple reason that I had absolutely no interest in the matter. Me? Give up milk? And cheese? What do you think this is? It's safe to say that veganism did not resonate with me. Even until the very day I became a vegan, it wasn't even thinking about it. It just happened. 

What I was all about. 

Food was my drug. For as long as I can remember. And not the good nutritious food that fuels your body and makes you happy to be alive. Junk food. Sweet foods, fatty foods and everything in between was what I ran on. I wasn’t a fat child, though. I started getting bigger at around 10 years old. From there, however, it only got worse. When I hit puberty and went through tough times, as we all do, food was my solace. When I turned sixteen, I picked up jogging. I also started to control what I ate and how much I ate. By doing that, I lost about 30 pounds in roughly a year. Before you start speculating, I’d like to say that I wasn’t starving myself. Not at that point. Anyway, I was doing great. Until I got a knee injury. Long story short, I had to stop jogging for a while. 

Well, I got comfortable again, slowly incorporating foods that I had not been allowing myself to eat. Since I wasn’t exercising, I gained back all the weight I had lost … and then some. It hasn’t stopped ever since. Like so many girls, I fell into the vicious circle of yo-yo dieting. To be honest, I was starting to worry that I was developing diseases like diabetes and cholesterol.

The starting point

My vegan story started when my cousin, who wanted a lifestyle change, told me that she was going to start a new meal and exercise program. I was on board! I desperately wanted to lose weight, and following a plan with her seemed like a good idea. The program was customized to her specific needs, and since she had been having digestive issues, it restricted lots of foods, and were gluten and lactose free, to see if she had any allergies. It was a pretty strict plan, but we agreed to do it together. In the back of my mind, though, I couldn’t get over how restrictive and time consuming it was. Who has time to weight their food? Not me! Instead, I figured I would ease into it by eating the foods on the plan, but not to hurt my head with measurements. I also decided to give up dairy.

Wait, what? Everyone that knows me even just a little knows that dairy was my favourite food group. The best memories of my best friend and I pretty much all include a big bowl of mac & cheese. I could down a 2L milk carton in less than two days. I sprinkled a shameful amount of Parmesan on everything that I ate. So obviously, when I decided to give up dairy, no one took me seriously. Even I didn’t think I could pull it off.

A guilty conscience will make you do things.

But, after a week of successfully doing it, I researched the benefits of going dairy free. Hmm, I remember thinking. Less bloating? Clear skin? Increased energy? Why the hell have I been eating this stuff? After a bit more digging around, I stumbled upon veganism. That’s when I discovered that vegans were not just a bunch of animal-loving hippies. To my disbelief, I learned that animal products could be quite harmful to our health, that animals were treated horribly, and that factory farming was absolutely not ecological. With all that new information, I felt uncomfortable keeping my current diet. It was not only about weight loss anymore. It became much deeper. I figured that, since I had already ditched dairy, it wouldn’t be that hard to stop eating animal products altogether. So I did.

Are you insane?

I was reluctant to tell my close ones that I had decided to become a vegan. I didn’t want them to think that it was some desperate diet that made you restrict random foods in order to lose weight. In my mind, it was clear: health, ethics and environment. Arguing my case, however, wasn’t going to be easy. If I wanted to sound minimally credible to my meat-eating family and friends, I had to know my stuff. I watched mandatory vegan documentaries such as Food Inc., Forks over Knives and Vegucated. I subscribed to vegan Youtubers. I read articles about the benefits eating plant-based until I felt like I had a good grasp on what veganism was about. Only then could I convincingly defend my point of view.

The reactions I got were mixed. Some were supportive. Others, as is often the case, became nutrition experts and worried about all the deficiencies I could be having without animal products in my diet.   Where else are you going to get protein? You need protein! And what about calcium? And B12? I better not hear that you fainted because you were nutrient deficient! Funny enough, the people “concerned” about my health are not that healthy themselves. They also weren’t worried when I was eating all that junk food. So I took their advice with a grain of salt.

Overall, I had a somewhat positive feedback. My mom even started cooking vegan meals for me when I went over to her house. My dad is now buying meat alternatives when he goes grocery shopping. It’s really heart warming to see them take me into consideration.

The Aftermath

I’m not sure if I can really call this an aftermath, considering I’m only two months in. From what I’ve read, it takes a good while before you can reap all the benefits of a vegan diet. But I do feel much better. I have more energy than I used to. I make better food choices overall. I am slowly developing a taste for foods that I used to dislike. I had a very difficult palate and wouldn’t eat a bunch of things. I’m thinking of beans right now. I used to hate them. Last Sunday, my mom made this awesome bean stew, and if it wasn’t so filling, I probably would have gone for seconds.

I am having so much fun discovering new recipes. Since becoming a vegan, I have really developed a liking for cooking. I love to experiment with ingredients et techniques to create flavors that I've never had before, but also to recreate some old favourites that are not cruelty-free.

This is not some crazy transformation story. Not yet, at least. I haven’t lost much weight from being a vegan. I feel like I’m still in that weird transition state where I veganize junk foods and make it a little healthier. I eat a lot more fruits and veggies that I used to, but I still have a long way to go in terms of health. One thing I’d like to mention, though, is that I haven’t felt the need to cheat since embarking on this journey. I can owe this, in my opinion, to the fact that I firmly believe in the reasons behind veganism.

I can predict great things to come from this lifestyle, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for me as a new vegan.