My Story

If you had asked me in October, 2010 if I would ever choose to be vegetarian, I would have told you “not a chance.” If you had asked me if I would choose to be VEGAN (!!) I probably would have said that you were crazy! Looking back, I am not sure I even really knew what vegan meant that short time ago.

It just goes to show you how things change.

Here is my story.

I commute/travel for work, a lot. I spend at least 15 hours in the car every week. I love my little car that gets 35mpg. As a result, I “read” a ton of books on tape (and I used to tease my poor mother for doing this all the time!!). So, when I was low on material, I downloaded “Healthy Eating Freeway Guide” from the Boston Public Library website, as if hearing about eating healthy would get me motivated (as an aside, if you like books on tape, the BPL a great selection you can download straight to your computer and keep for 14 days). This Freeway Guide is by Penny Steward. It was interesting, but I thought she was a nutter. A complete nutter. (Penny, if you ever read this, which you most likely wont, I no longer thing you are a nutter, but would like to thank you for starting to open my eyes.)

I remember telling my mom about the book I was listening to and telling her I would never give up meat, dairy and eggs. I mean, how could I live without the chicken wings she makes on holidays, they were amazing. And cheese? Seriously, who could give that up! Maybe I would just reduce it if it was that bad for you, but never give it up.

Anyway, in her book, Penny talked about this book called The China Study, by Dr. T. Colin Campbell so many many times I figured I would have to pick it up. So, I read The China Study. By the end of October I stopped eating meat. Here I was a “vegetarian” – yikes. Great book.

Now, I needed to find recipes. I mean, the steak and curry, bacon wrapped chicken, I can’t even remember what else now, just was no longer going to cut it. In my google searching, I stumbled upon a blog called Cadry’s Kitchen (http://cadryskitchen.com/)– she’s Vegan. She helped me into my foray into good, plant based food. She also helped me to The Vegan Table, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Which then lead me to Colleen’s podcast, Vegetarian Food for Thought.

By now, it was late December and I downloaded all the podcasts. It took me a few to get into them, but starting January, I listened to all of the ones she had posted in less than a month (again, I drive a lot for my job!!). She pointed me to a plethora of books, many I have read, plus some, since then. I have all of her cookbooks and got myself a copy of the Vegan’s Daily Companion when it came out. She inspired/s me and completely opened my eyes. For that, I am eternally grateful. I dream of donating to her cause (and will once I can).

In March, I “became Vegan.” Although all the cookbooks I bought in December and food I made at home were all vegan, I had a little bit of cheese (and it makes me sad). Although not like me, I waited until others were on board with my decision before I took the next step. When a friend was shocked that I ate cheese pizza (with cow’s cheese), I decided it was “safe” to take the next step.

My choice is much more than just health now, its about the animals, the abused people that work in the system and the environment.

I am the only vegan I know well, although, I have met a few recently. I have one dear friend that doesn’t eat land animals, but eats sea animals, and that is the closest that I have to a sister (or brother I guess) in animal-product-less-bliss.

While having my own forum isn’t my style, it is what I turned to when I was looking for information in my own life. There are so many people out there that shared their story, insights, etc. and that helped my in my own journey. My hope is that I can do the same for at least one other person in this world. So, blog it up!