7 years of being a vegan

My first months of being vegan

Initially, I started my vegan journey with a detox diet. Since early childhood, I felt too big and constantly wanted to lose weight, although I always had an optimum BMI. Losing weight wasn't easy though, as I naturally have a lot of muscles and my body just isn't built to be thin.

When I started my vegan diet, I instantly felt better about eating and it healed my problem with food gradually. For the first time, I felt good about eating, I was able to eat in front of others comfortably and I started to enjoy cooking and shopping for food. What started out as a diet, became a lifestyle and I never stopped. First, I allowed myself to skip the diet once a month, eating whatever I craved. But I soon didn't need this day anymore, my cravings for animal products stopped.

Being now part of a growing community I started informing myself about veganism and the moral aspects of it. Being very empathic and loving animals, I began to realize what we are doing to animals. Maybe it has been acceptable in the past to eat meat of local animals, which come from small farm. But the industrialization has destroyed any natural way of consuming animals. We created an emotional distance towards farming animals and lost our connection with these intelligent, loving animals. We started to ignore their suffering we cause, and we look away, when we hear about the conditions of how animals are held.

The health impacts of being vegan

I no longer have to diet now. Doing yoga 6 days a week and eating a healthy vegan diet, has formed my body in a way I feel happy with. I can eat whatever I want, without gaining weight. Of course, I don't eat a lot of unhealthy things, which would make me gain weight. But I don't crave sweets or greasy foods anymore. My food is rich in nutrients, therefore my body feels satisfied after each meal.

And about all of those people asking whether I am getting enough vitamins, minerals and protein: yes I do! I do not have to take pills or protein powder. My B12 comes from fermented foods, such as Sauerkraut, Kombucha and pickles. Protein is present in green vegetables, legumes, nuts and most fruits.

My physical and mental changes after becoming a vegan

After just a short time after skipping animal products, I noticed considerable changes in myself:

• I gain muscle mass easier than others
• I get a taint quicker than others
• I hold my weight easily
• I have more energy now
• My skin is much better and almost never breaks out
• I have less cellulite (less body fat)
• My digestion is better
• I rarely get sick (I get a cold once in some years)
• I never have to go to the doctors (blood tests always come back with no remarks)
• My teeth are caries-free (I never had caries in my 30 years)
• I feel light and satisfied after meal s
• I feel happier than I felt before
• I am proud to be part of the vegan community

What I think about extremists in the vegan community

I’m not a fan of extremism in any way. Although, I understand why most vegans become angry, desperate and want to shout at people to wake them up. I don’t think this helps to convince anybody of veganism. On the contrary, it just scares people away. In my own experience, I have convinced people over time, by doing nothing but being a glowing example of health, eating delicious food.

When people ask me about my diet choice I give them an honest, neutral answer, but I make sure to let them feel that I don’t judge them. I make sure that I understand, accept and don’t have a problem with them eating animal products. My explanations are clear and I adapt to the person I am speaking with. Some people, like hunters, wouldn’t agree with my standpoint of animal suffering, but they understand the negative impacts on our environment, created by mass farming. Some people rather understand the health implications of eating meat, like slow digestion and feeling heavy after meals. People I never thought would decrease their meat consumption have cut down over time, becoming more aware of their digestion.

When I see the results of different kinds of demonstrations, I see that the aggressive demonstrations anger people and drive them away, while harmless demonstrations educate people and invite them to think differently.

Conclusion

Veganism is awesome, and we need to change as human race to keep ourselves and our planet healthy. We need more love in this world, in any shape or form and veganism is a lifestyle, which embraces love. This is why I love being a vegan and why I think we should all lead as examples of love and kindness, rather than aggressiveness, judgement and hatred. When I started as a vegan, I had to restrict myself a lot, as my food choice was very limited. Nowadays, it's very easy to embrace a plant-based diet, with all the new vegan products on the market. Just give it a try.