My Journey to Vegan

I grew up in a household where healthy eating habits was always taught and practiced. My dad took a non-traditional route and has been eating one meal a day since 1969. My dad is now 79 years old and is in very good health. He walks daily, has full mental capabilities, and does not take any daily medication. While growing up, meals in our household included daily bean soups, vegetables, fruits, grains, meat, and milk.

At age 13, I wanted to become vegetarian, and my dad was very supportive. However, my plan didn’t last long and I soon returned to eating meat. As a child, I suffered with asthma and seemed to always keep a cold. My eyes were usually irritated, red, itchy, and were very often swollen in the mornings.

Unlike those who have been living the plant based lifestyle for decades, I am a new convert to the movement. My journey began about 4 years ago. My daughter was my biggest inspiration. I would prepare meat dishes for her and she would never want to eat it. I then began to look for other protein options for her. When my daughter was an infant, I breastfed her for 13 months; and I, like other parents, bought into the notion of adding whole milk to her diet at 12 months. As I slowly introduced milk into my daughter’s diet, her stomach could never tolerate it, and it wasn’t until I eliminated cow’s milk from her diet that her diarrhea stopped. I stopped drinking milk while I was breastfeeding my daughter to help reduce the colds and congestion that she suffered with and by eliminating it, it seemed to help. Since my daughter wasn’t taking to cow’s milk to well, I started to research whether it was the best advice to drink milk at all passed weaning and to see what were some other options.

I continued to research and research and found some very eye opening information. I discovered that cow’s milk wasn’t very healthy at all. It contained casein, which fueled cancer and promoted IGF-1 growth hormones in the body, which also fueled cancer. The calcium that is abundant in milk is not very well absorbed in the body due to the high protein content of cow’s milk. And after seeing how the animals were brutally treated, I was determined never to eat meat or drink cow’s milk any more.

I began finding plant based milk for us to drink. For years, my daughter drank oat milk, which she still loves. But we now switch it up every couple of weeks and drink almond, rice, oat milk, etc.

Research shows the health benefits of beans, fruits, and vegetables. So those foods are abundant in my house. I like experimenting with different recipes and making bean burgers, black bean tacos, vegan pizzas, fruit smoothies, etc. My daughter is a very picky eater, so it is a challenge to feed her. But I know the importance of eating healthy, so I take on the challenge daily and she is slowly coming around to trying new foods. She actually ate some of my brown rice with veggies yesterday for dinner.

I’m glad I embarked on this journey. I feel so much better. My allergies have gotten much better and I no longer suffer with a daily cold or asthma. I am always talking to my family and trying to educate them on this way of living. So far, one of my sisters is pretty much on board. She was addicted to cheese growing up, so this is a hard habit for her to kick.

I’m thankful for the life experiences that have led me on my current path. My goal is to work with as many individuals as possible and inspire them to eat healthy and adopt a plant based lifestyle for themselves.