Who/What influenced you to go Vegan?

[Thundergleep]

Just a fun topic of how it all started. I saw a post on Plant Based News knocking Freelee the Banana Girl which got a lot of flack from people saying Freelee got them started. Got me curious how everyone got here.

For me, I was diagnosed this MS. I didn't want to resign my life to a wheelchair and kidney-destroying meds. I searched until I could NutritonFacts.org. Micheal Gregor is my hero! 5 years symptom free!

Notable mention, Freelee and Fully Raw Kristina. The three of them really got me started. And I couldn't be more grateful, even though I follow different YouTubers now.

I haven't really met many vegans in real life. But I have helped inspire my husband, brother in law, and best friend (and her family) to make the change. It's great to be inspired, and even better to inspire others.

 

[Lou]

I've "told" this story so often that I actually wrote it down. I am not sure but I have probably posted it here somewhere too.



So … I’m pretty sure it was in 1999 or maybe 2000. PETA was suing the California Dairy Board over their Happy Cow Commercials. I’ll post one below. PETA was claiming false advertising.

I was house sitting my sister’s house. So I must have been on vacation myself. And she gets the paper delivered so I quickly got into the habit of eating breakfast and reading the paper. ( I did and do live in an apartment and can’t get the paper delivered to my front porch each morning.)

On the front page, just below the fold is an article about the law suit. And the author took issue with it. Most of his issue was that these are pretty good ads, entertainment wise, and PETA should grow a sense of humor. I completely agreed with the author.

The next day, in exactly the same spot, the author printed a retraction, an apology and a much longer news article.

It started off with the info that after publication he got a call from PETA. They asked him if they could explain their viewpoint, maybe over lunch (on them). So of course the reporter agrees to it. First off, Peta explains that his article was based on his opinion (that the ads were funny), therefore an editorial, and therefore should not be on the first page. The author recognizes and accepts this. PETA then goes on to say that there is a dairy farm just an hour away and they could go visit it. They’ll drive. So they all get into the car and drive over to a dairy farm.

PETA then explains that there is a law or maybe a restraining order, so they can’t approach the dairy farm but they can park at the edge of it and the reporter can get a good look at it from along side the road. The reporter gets out of the car, goes for a walk. The PETA people have already prepped the reporter on what to look for, feces up to the cow’s ankles, swollen and infected udders, and basically the sheer misery these cows are living in. But the reporter is not prepared for the stink. And promptly loses his lunch.

The reporter then writes the retraction, the apology, and another article about the dairy farm and the diary industry (facts and figures mostly supplied by PETA.) At the end there is either an address or a phone number for PETA’s local office. I called or wrote and got a free PETA vegan starter kit.

Now this was twenty years ago and I no longer have this article. I’m sure my imagination has filled in some gaps. Plus I have told this story enough times that I’m sure it has evolved in the re-telling. But I bet I have most of the facts straight.

Happy cow commercials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HUgugXQKvI&list=PLHtB3Ap95lTISofbtD4t7dFwRFQ_y-wSb

 

[David3]

University. 1990. Earth Day 20.

And a woman, of course.








(Not the actual woman, but same style. I chased ecofeminist vegetarian soft-butch women for years. Now I'm married to my beautiful vegan wife.):


.

 

[anarchist100]

The ALF.

 

[beancounter]

In college, I joined a student environmental group. The people within the group convinced me to go veggie. (from an environmental impact perspective)

 

[Thundergleep]

I never realized you guys have been vegan for so long!!! Awesome. I've been Plant-Based for about 6 years, but just newly fully vegan. I was so focused on the health aspects, and I felt like I was doing enough for animals and the environment by never buying animal products directly, but I didn't fuss over small amounts in ingredients. But lock down have me an opportunity to research more and really commit.

 

[Emma JC]

first it was Colin T Campbell and then I fell off the wagon, then Dr Esselstyn and then fell of again, then Dr McDougall in 2016 and stayed on the wagon with the help of Dr Greger, Dr Barnard , lots of youtubers and you all, the great people of this forum

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Lou]

I read something like that in a article and the guy's conclusion is that it was the failures we learn from.

So that's why you are so smart. If you succeeded after the first time you wouldn't have had to read all those other books.

 

[Brian W]

I have tried all my adult life to be vegetarian, simply because I like animals and don't want to be involved in causing suffering either to them or to people. In the eighties I met a number of vegans and learned about veganism and why it exists. It seemed quite extreme at the time and I couldn't even stick to being vegetarian. Eventually, I realized that if I didn't have an all or nothing mindset, I could eat plant foods as much as I want and if I eat animal foods too, so be it - at least I will be cutting back on the damage, which is better than being all-out omnivore. I went for it and after a little over three weeks, I looked back on what I had eaten and discovered that I had naturally hardly eaten any animal foods and it wasn't painful, so I went all the way vegan. During this time I was getting inspired by watching Happy Healthy Vegan videos. Shopping became a real adventure too.

 

[FlandersOD]

a single good argument.

 

[Genuinethedude]

Short answer: Internal alchemy/transmutation. I sacrificed all animal derived food because of my love for eating them. The rewards ended up being so great I have had zero regrets, and have begun to view animal products as poison. I am slowly coming to terms with the moral correctness of the decision, but am fighting a lifetime of conditioning.

 

[Black florist]

I am transitioning and learning how to cook more vegan foods. I have a long way to go but my taste buds and preferences are changing in a good way. Alot of my friends are vegan. I have been on and off for 10 years when it wasn't a trend or alot of options where not available easily in the supermarkets. I watch a couple of YouTubers that inspire me and my dishes daily it's also made me consider doing my own food channel. Being more veggi has been very good for my health and my mood and also my family. It can be expensive but it's made me learn how to cook from scratch.

My house has a thing for chocolate. I am looking into recipies that make the most out of Chocolate non dairy.

Gaz from avant-garde vegan is absolutely beautiful and Awsome just watching him cook is .

Here's one of my favourite videos of his he create vegan snickers omg Avant-garde vegan

 

[KLS52]

A coworker-turned best friend handed me a peta magazine and I gave up meat that day. A year later we went to a talk at the library given by Howard Lyman, The Mad Cowboy. Went vegan that day.

 

[Second Summer]

Like Lou, I tell slightly different stories every time I get asked ...

• I've always been very fond of animals, and my mother instilled good values in me from an early age.
• Back in the day I was into Eastern philosophies / religions, so I think Buddhism, karma and the Ahimsa principle were all on my mind.
• I was an admirer of the legendary prog rock group Yes. Several of the band members were at one point vegetarian or vegan, and also at least one of their songs has an apparent anti-meat message. (Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it - hard to say sometimes with Yes!)
• I think mad cow disease was making headlines around that time.
• I had a couple of friends/acquaintances who I admired and who were vegans.
• And yes, I was also inspired/fascinated with a certain type of women, incidentally very similar to what @David3 described!

 

[David3]

• I was an admirer of the legendary prog rock group Yes. Several of the band members were at one point vegetarian or vegan, and also at least one of their songs has an apparent anti-meat message. (Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it - hard to say sometimes with Yes!)

.
Oh no, not another Prog-head. Awaken Gentle Mass Touch! Bring me elves and ancient starships! And don't forget the mandalas!

Definite vegetarian hints in Yes music. The "Tales from Topographic Oceans" album was inspired by the Hindu teacher Paramhansa Yogananda. During 1973 or so, the entire band was vegetarian. Steve Howe has remained a vegetarian since that time.

I got to see Yes in 1989 and 1992.


.

 

[PTree15]

I started out with health motivations, first giving up red meat over 30 years ago and then making my way toward veganism over several years. While I was still consuming poultry, a friend remarked on my plate, saying that I'd never eat chicken again if I knew the horrors of what happened to the chicken to reach my plate. I was taken aback, of course, but then I eventually embarked on learning all I could about food production. By my late 30s, I was done with everything but cheese. It took me too long to finally stop eating cheese, but one day, after knowing full well what when into its production, I just stopped. That was 14 years ago.

 

[PTree15]

...

• I was an admirer of the legendary prog rock group Yes. Several of the band members were at one point vegetarian or vegan, and also at least one of their songs has an apparent anti-meat message. (Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it - hard to say sometimes with Yes!

I was completely obsessed with Yes back in the day. I still love them, but mostly everything before 90125. I wasn't a Trevor Rabin fan.

 

[David3]

I was completely obsessed with Yes back in the day. I still love them, but mostly everything before 90125. I wasn't a Trevor Rabin fan.

.

 

[Mikkel]

I have a very boring story. I went vegetarian because I was always so ill. One of my friends who was vegetarian then (she's vegan now) suggested for me to not eat meat for a weekend, just to see what happens. And I was so much better at once! So that weekend was about 10 years ago or something, and never ended. And since I don't like egg (and is allergic) and then happens to be allergic to milk proteins too, it became natural for me to go vegan. So I'm probably one of the few persons that the body litterally screams that it won't have any animal products.

I have no people that really inspired me to go vegan, but I have people I admire of what they are able to as vegans or plantbased. For me it's both health, enviroment and for the animals, as without an enviroment that animals can live in, they won't be able to be alive. And the list of animals that cares about why you go vegan or plant based is so short, that it's only other vegans in fact...

 

[Mikkel]

One of the people I admire is Frank Medrano. He vent vegan because of training, but has come more and more about the ethics too. I know that he has inspired a lot of people to go plant based, and that is very imporant thing. We need all sorts of people to inspire others to reduce their animal consumptions. Bot athletes, chefs, doctors, people who advocate for the animals and for the enviroment. We never know what makes each person click. For some it's very good physical results, others it's a documentary, others the climate changes and then health.