Life experience inspired me, but I got my final nudge from Gary Yourofsky, watching one of his videos. I actually didn’t agree with everything he said, but most things resonated. Mr. Yourofsky is a powerful speaker, but he wouldn’t have convinced me earlier in my life.
Prior to this I had heard of Veganism and was curious about it, but only knew 1 person in my life who was, and that from many years ago. He made a few comments but we never really talked about it in depth because I was not interested at the time and my cognitive dissonance was in full swing.
Intuitively I knew there was something amiss with what I was doing. I disliked and was disgusted by handling raw meat when preparing to cook it, I knew if I didn’t get enough fiber I’d be constipated, I knew eating too much or in combination with starch could seriously drain energy, I never thought ant-acids were normal, nor fatigue and energy drinks/ excessive caffeine to compensate. I knew I could get sick eating a lot of fruit immediately after a meat and starch meal. Through reading I developed some rules around animal product consumption. Some were off limits, others ok but not mixed with X and not before fruit or some other rule. All these things were speaking to me that something wasn’t right but because of habits, upbringing and certain wrong beliefs, they were whispers, and I continued.
Then I watched my partner die in her 30’s from cancer. She wasn’t a smoker or a drinker. What she did do was consume an exorbitant amount of dairy, in the form of milk and cheese, meat products, very little vegetables at all (she disliked them), and very little fruit. Grains, when eaten were always the stripped kind that have little nutrients and little fiber. She was also afraid of sugar like many overweight people so drank diet sodas.
After spending a lot of time researching health, I kept coming across similar suggestions – namely, to eat more whole plant food and lessen, if not eliminate animal products. I was afraid to give up meat entirely primarily because I thought I would be missing out on the vitamin and mineral content of it. This was partially true because most of the grains I ate were still refined grains – white rice and pasta, low fiber bread, etc, and it was rare that I’d eat seeds and nuts either. Whole grains and legumes were not a big part of my diet as a practicing omnivore.
I have watched numerous others in my life get sick, and some die, often in middle age but sometimes earlier, due to their diet. A lot of suffering usually precedes this – hospital visits, surgeries, chemo/radiation and dependence on pharmaceuticals.
I had already changed my diet for the better, but still eating meat. Then I met a vegetarian who tried vegan and found it difficult, primarily because in her words “there are too many things with dairy and eggs in them” - so basically another person who depended on processed foods. That was some years ago. Although not vegan, she was vegetarian and in great shape. My interest in veganism was given another plug. At that point I seriously considered either going vegetarian or vegan for her, but she moved on and I think that even that partial motivation would have been a mistake.
Some time later I watched a video by Gary Yourofsky and things just clicked. My diet wasn’t normal, my body wasn’t intended for it. It was also causing unnecessary harm, to myself, to other beings, and to the environment. So I gradually started eating more plant foods until the point where I was eating them almost entirely, still with meat here and there. Then came October 2017 where I decided to make an effort to ditch meat altogether.
And here I am. I think it’s safe to say that life experience largely brought me to try a vegan diet, with an initial helpful and informative video, then once I was doing it, more helpful videos from people like Mic the Vegan, Nutrition facts.org and many others.
