My Vegan Story

When I was a kid, I had chronic diarrhea. It was embarrassing and painful.

I had to skip school at least once a week at various points during jr. high and high school. I went to five different doctors who prescribed five different pills. Nothing worked.

Like most American kids born in the 1980s, I had been eating a standard American diet of Western Bacon Cheeseburgers, Chalupa’s, chili dogs, Twizzlers, Fruit Roll-Ups, and any variation of meat, cheese, milk, eggs, and processed foods you can think of. Even with my mother’s wonderful addition of lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in me and my sister’s diets, I was still eating predominantly junk.

And I had no idea there was a connection to what I ate and my health.

The last doctor I visited for answers about my painful and (ahem) explosive digestive issues politely asked me if I ate a lot of candy and drank a lot of soda. I replied, “I’m 16. Of course, I do.” “Why don’t you back off those things for a bit? See what happens,” he said.

This was the first time I ever realized this pivotal connection to health. I remember thinking, “Soda???? What does that have to do with me gripping my stomach during third-period geometry?”

I gave it a shot anyway. And immediately, my digestive issues eased, though I wasn’t completely healed. Then when I was 18, my sister, Ellen, who is a year older, discovered this revolutionary way of eating in order to heal her eating disorder. She began eating completely raw vegan and I jumped in with her. While Ellen made the switch overnight and never looked back, I lacked the commitment and made many mistakes along the way. (Hello, maple donut bars and drunken runs to Del Taco.) Predominantly, though, my diet was just fresh fruits and vegetables and my gut thanked me.

I was pooping like a normal, healthy young person!

I finally FINALLY got in my groove with eating a healthy vegan diet consistently when I was 22 and fresh out of college. And then I went to Italy for three months and worked as an au pair. Arrivederci, clear skin, and easy digestion! Bye-bye unlimited energy and solid sleep! See, for my time in Italy, I decided just to be vegetarian because I was being hosted by a family and didn’t want to put them out. So I ate Nutella and creamy risotto and cheese pizza while attempting to get some vegetables in when I could.

I returned to the states 10 pounds heavier, laden with depression, anxiety, and more embarrassing gut issues. I was puffy and unhappy.

As soon as I got back to California, I immediately loaded up on the green juices and plums and salads and papayas. I was plant-based again. And this time for good.

While my specific vegan diet has varied over the years, I have never wavered since. And I think that is for several reasons:

I educated myself.

I had a very strong why.

I surrounded myself with inspiration.

I had a positive attitude.

Many people in my life were going vegan.

Many people around the world were going vegan.

Veganism was becoming normalized.

And then what really sealed the deal? I watched this one video.

Listen, I initially did not care about the animals. Not even a little bit. I made a point of saying so anytime someone heard I ate a vegan diet.

“Oh, but I only do it for my health," I'd say. "You could kill a pig in front of me. I don’t care.”

Wow. I was determined to shut out that compassionate part of me.

When I started watching YouTube videos of other vegans for food inspiration et cetera, these vloggers would casually drop lines like, “And we don’t want to hurt the cow, do we?”

And I was like, “Whoa. I don’t want to hurt the cow.” Something deep was stirring in me and I couldn’t ignore it.

When I sat down to watch “The Best Speech You’ll Ever Hear” by Gary Yourofsky, I was stunned. How had I been so blind? I had been adamant about not being “one of those vegans.” I was even eating exclusively vegan food yet did not see the truth:

Animals are not here for us. And I no longer want to participate in their continued torture.

The “ethical” side of veganism, as it is often called, is the strongest thing that keeps me vegan to this day. Animal foods are not food to me. They are body parts and secretions. (Sorry for the frankness if you’ve never heard of animal foods called that before. It’s just the truth.)

The “health” side of plant-based eating is what keeps me vegan, too. And it helps me choose whole plant foods at every meal. I don’t want to feel like crap again. No, thank you! So I eat whole plant foods in abundance: rice, beans, kale, bananas, tomatoes, zucchini, pasta, tacos, enchiladas, peaches. You get the picture.

Whole plant foods give me life. And I’ll never go back.