I was vegetarian for about 9 years before I finally went vegan - the cheese was the hardest part for me. When I went vegetarian, all I had to do was see a video of a cow being led to slaughter, and he/she fought for their life, and something in me snapped. I went vegetarian overnight. Something similar happened when I went vegan, I found a video of baby boy calves being shot in the head because they weren't profitable, and that was it. I gave up. 3 and a half years later, I don't even miss cheese!

ladyzherra wrote: »

I have spent a majority of my life adhering to a Nourishing Traditions lifestyle, investing in meat-heavy diet from local, humanely-raised animals. I was into lacto-fermenting and soaking grains, as well, which is part of the lifestyle.
Jenn

I have the book too. It shaped the meals I made for my family for a decade+. It is still on the shelf. The lesson in the first 90pages is still pertinent if read as a treatise against modern processed food. Going back to whole foods just needs a different companion volume.

I live in China, and I became concerned about food safety. I felt like there were a lot of sanitation and health issues. Then I watched a documentary on PETA s website about animal treatment. Life changing! I couldn't look back. I'm doing it for my health and compassion for animals abused by factory farms.

I watched a documentary called Game Changers about vegan athletes, I decided to try veganism to see if it would increase my athletic ability as I am a triathlete

I became a vegetarian after getting involved with a rescue group who saves dogs in Asia from the dog meat farms, when it became clear to me that dogs were absolutely no different to cows, pigs, chicken, fish etc. Took me about a few months to realize I could no longer justify eating dairy and eggs. One week vegan and I feel great! I've actually lost close to 8lbs this week alone, which makes it even better.

Everything we were taught as kids was a lie, and slowly but surely every single day we are getting closer to a world where eating animal meat and proteins will be frowned upon. I'm just sorry I didn't do this sooner.

Looking forward to amazing new recipes, substitutes, and culinary magic from all the vegan chefs out there.

My wife has been vegan since age 10 and I only recently have converted after watching some documentaries and reading The Starch Solution by John McDougall. For me, it started out being for health reasons but now I understand more about the compassion for animals aspect and think that's wonderful... the book and documentaries have shed light in areas about the food industry I had just never really thought about before unfortunately.

krissenior wrote: »

I watched a documentary called Game Changers about vegan athletes, I decided to try veganism to see if it would increase my athletic ability as I am a triathlete

That documentary - WOW! Reinvigorating, if you ask me! Even my meat-eating hubby has decided to dramatically reduce his animal intake and increase wonderful fruits, vegetables, beans and seeds! Exciting documentary, more like it. Bravo to you as well!

Because I fight for those who have no voice to fight for themselves. The animals!

Health and Environmental Reasons. I watched What the Health and realized how corrupt society has led me to be deceived. I’ve been reading How Not To Die by Michael Greger and I’m really surprised by the science. I’m a Biology Major and I recently took Botany so I know plants have phenotypes and components which can benefit humans. I’ve grown up obese my whole life, surrounded by big food companies, and lied to by paid doctors / researchers for skewed science. As an adult, I will not allow myself to be lied so this is why I switched. I’ve grown up with overweight family members my whole life and it clicked that it has to be the diet we are all eating creating this. That instance occurred when a distant family member had a child (normal weight) who quickly gained weight to the point I was in shock. It was just culturally accepted at this point “kids just get fat because of our genes and will be fat as adults” but when I look at my ancestors, they are all normal weight so that was the biggest lie I had to overcome. In terms for the animals, I tell myself “If I was handed a gun and told to kill someone or an animal will you?” I personally can’t do that. When my dog died recently after an accident and she died in my arms I knew that animals truly do feel pain like humans. I do purchase Animal Free Tested products like toothpaste, deodorant, makeup.

I had severe gout, and was looking for anecdotal evidence to reverse this pain. I swear, it's the worse pain ever. Most of the results came from plant based diet, and at the time, I thought it was impossible. So I went vegan for 2 years, but going in uneducated, I ate poorly. Mostly gardein products and gained weight. Out of the two years, I maybe had 4 gout attacks, (a couple were from running or jogging, which I later found out could trigger gout if dehydrated, and the other were from drinking beer).

I then went keto for about 6 months, and lost tons of weight, shredded and high energy, but the gout attacks were almost every other week and/or every month. I didn't care about the high cholesterol.

So i finally quit the keto and ate junk food, becuase of the disappointed in diets. I finally went back to the drawing board, Read, How not to die, Dr. Nearl Barnard books, Subscribed to all the plant base gurus, and I felt encouraged again. I'm going with the the recommend way, (which i never done) and that is a low fat plant based diet. So here i am.