Why you should go Vegan

When I was 18 years old, my first year of college was drawing to a close and I had a part-time job as a server at the local Denny’s (which I quit after 5 months working below the minimum wage) where my lunch consisted of free pancakes and bottomless coffee. I was under-informed and mega broke, but after watching a few Netflix documentaries and soul-crushing animal cruelty videos on YouTube, I decided to become a vegetarian (which goes to show, you don’t need big money to make the change). In the months that followed I read books, news articles, watched more documentaries and more online videos and realized that my decision wasn’t only a moral obligation, but if I wanted to live a truly healthy lifestyle, being a vegetarian was a requirement. During my time being vegetarian I’d say things like “I could never be vegan” or “that’s too extreme” or “I can live without meat, but I’d go crazy without cheese/pizza.” Then, on a whim (literally), I decided to try being vegan for a month in October 2014. It’s been over two years since I made that decision and I have yet to go back to being a vegetarian (and now I’ve swapped regular pancakes for the vegan kind).

Since becoming vegan I’ve:

• Lost almost 20 pounds
• Had clear skin
• Had more energy
• Aged slower
• Not felt bogged down by a big meal
• Discovered there is an entirely different world of food when you focus on the vegan diet
• Found the best vegan restaurants
• Participated in an Animal Rights volunteer event

I became so much happier just by changing one thing in my life (you are what you eat!). I encourage you to try being vegan for 21 days and see how many of the bullet points above you can say you achieved after being vegan for that long. If you decide to give this a try, let me know! And message me if you have any questions, I’d love to help 🙂

P.S. Being a vegetarian was a great first step for me (I’ll make a separate post about that). If you’re hesitant to jump in (the way I was), cut back on eating animals first and then slowly cut back on animal products.