To Vegan

In a previous post, I said I would talk about how I came to embrace a vegan diet.

When I left home, in my late teens, eating 'red' meat was a once a week occurrence, if that. Eggs, chicken and cheese were the regular fare. Often our meals were vegetables only. Fine by me.

When I married, I found that my partner wanted pork, almost unheard of in my nuclear family. I learned to fry chops or purchased 'cured ham' for the dinner table. This was not what I wanted to eat.

So began my quest for an alternative.

Why? Health. Economics. Ethical. Environmental. And spiritual.

For years, I continued to consume meat, all the while loathing what I was doing to my body and to animals raised for food. Eventually, after much research, I decided that a 'vegetarian' diet was as close as I could come and still stay healthy. Dairy and seafood were often on the table in those days.

Not until I met my current room-mate, did I know about a vegan diet. Switching from vegetarian to vegan took two years. Two years to stop the imagined craving for sardines, cheese, eggs and butter. That was well over twelve years ago. I've never looked back.

Last summer, I began leaning toward an all raw vegan diet. It's been easier than I anticipated, perhaps because I was already content as a vegan.

Almost immediately I noticed positive differences. I've lost a few pounds, feel brighter, have fewer troubles with the dreaded 'change of life' symptoms, reduced the grocery bill and am enjoying new un-cooking experiences in the kitchen.

I value the choices I've made concerning my diet.