Welcome to The Joyful Vegan: Stories of Transformation. As the founder and director of Compassionate Cooks, through which I teach vegan cooking classes; sell my cooking DVD, cookbook, and recipes; write extensively; and produce a podcast, I have the privilege of hearing from countless people who have become awakened to their own values of compassion for animals and who recognize that being vegan is a powerful means for preventing animal suffering and cruelty. Most everyone who learns about the unspeakable cruelty perpetuated against animals on our behalf often experiences denial, then anger. But what most don’t realize – and can’t until you go through this experience yourself – is that what comes next is beyond what anyone could have prepared you for. The sense of freedom, of empowerment, of joy that comes with knowing that you are no longer part of that violence is indescribable.
Once the lens through which you see the world changes, nothing is ever the same again, and I believe that in order to stay humble, we need to remember our story. We need to remember where we were and how we got to where we are now. At the same time, in order to feel supported, respected, and understood, I believe that we need to connect with other like-minded folks, as we navigate through a world that champions animal cruelty as a social norm and looks with suspicion and derision upon those who reject cruelty and violence.
Sharing our story with each other validates our own experiences and helps us see that we’re not alone – that many others go through the same feelings of pain, disbelief, anger, joy, relief, and frustration.
This blog is for all of you. I invite you to submit your stories of transformation: what your tipping point was, how you made the decision to become vegan, and what the experience has been like since you made the change. Your stories of transformation will inspire others to find their own voices and to recognize themselves through your stories.
For the animals, both human and non-human, I thank you for participating in this project.
~Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Founder and Director
Compassionate Cooks
http://www.compassionatecooks.com
Colleen:
You are wonderful! Thank you for posting my story; I really get a feeling of belonging when I read about the experiences of other vegans and see my own views mirrored in their statements. If you decide to run for President, please give me a little advance notice so I can get American citizenship in time to vote for you.
Hi, Colleen. Thank you for inviting me to share my story with you. Actually, it’s OUR story; my 15-year old daughter and myself. Your podcasts inspired us to become vegan forever. We were horrified by the videos and the sad reality of these industries. Please continue to spread the word, my friend.
My husband continues to eat meat, while we’ve been vegan since February. It started as a way to give up something for Lent, and we have never looked back. It was a “safe” time for us because we were giving up something. Once my husband realized we were serious past Lent, the pressure began.
“You’re one of those PETA people!” he accused early on. He even went the “why do you care for animals over children?” routine, which you so astutely brought up as a common misperception in one of your podcasts.
Jessica and I weathered the “storm” with my husband, who has now lost weight due to the vegan dinners I prepare. Earlier in the spring, I wrote you a letter stating my despair and grief over the reality of what’s happening out there. Jessica and I continue to share our thoughts with others, and it is simply amazing how many respond over time.
I love your name, Compassionate Cooks, because you are not only compassionate to our animals, but also to those who are still in the dark about this reality. It is YOUR COMPASSIONATE APPROACH that has been needed for quite some time, so others can be reached. The overwhelming response to your podcasts, myspace and websites, I’m sure, are a testimony.
Lastly, please know what made me vegan, besides the obvious…I didn’t know that I could literally survive without meat. Thank you for helping me understand that this was a lie I was told many years ago..by my parents and society.
Keep up this amazing labor of love, Colleen.
Gratefully yours,
Linda Castor and Jessica Larson
I became a veg* over 10 years ago, but would falter at times. I then met a wonderful woman in Houston with a vegan radio show and she gave me the final “push”, as it were to become a vegan. I have never gone back and enjoy good health and such a wide variety of foods to eat, all with compassion. Now, living in western Montana and the difficulties of now being in a hunting culture, our family is building, as I write and starting a farmed-animal sanctuary near Missoula,MT. I am sitting here caring for my six dear little chickens and know I will be giving safe, loving care to future farm animals at: NewDawnMT Sanctuary.
Sincerely,
Susan Eakins
I just found your blog, and am very happy I did! I’m a vegetarian as of about 65 days ago, and have decided to become vegan as well. The play I’m in opens next weekend, and we run for two weekends–between now and then I’m crazy busy with work, rehearsals, family stuff, and don’t have the time to cook at all. But I’ve committed to myself that the day my mother returns back home after her visit ends on August 8th, I will cut out the dairy products.
I’ve been a little worried, because I have relied rather more heavily on cheese than I felt comfortable with, if only for my health reasons. But after reading so many other people’s success stories, and finding so many incredible vegan recipes, I’m confident that I can do it.
Now to bear the barrage of criticism from my well-meaning but non-understanding husband. Sigh.
Hi Colleen,
I’m so happy to have found your blog. I stumbled upon it while searching for the written version of one of your podcasts, The Joyful Vegan. I thought I would print this out to show my mum, hoping it would help her to understand why I’m vegan.
You convey a sense of peace, a sense of calm. When I listen to your podcasts and read your essays, not only am I comforted by the knowledge that I am not alone in the way I see the world, but I am grounded as well; I remember why I made the decision to avoid animal products, even though at times it can be a challenge.
I wish there were more people like yourself.
Thank you,
Tere
Great blog Colleen! Some FAB information within your posts. I look forward to reading more in the future. Keep up the great veggie vision. My Veg Blog
I am so glad I found this blog, I have almost no support in being vegan, I have been a vegetarian for 17 years, since I was teenager and I just didn’t know how to be healthy and have no dairy or eggs, now suddenly I have become aware of the dairy industry and the egg industry and all its horrors…..but the thing is, my husband is totally unsupportive and thinks I am being extreme and difficult, he wont listen to me and everytime I say I cant eat that because of cheese or whatever he gets annoyed. Now other people in my family are telling me that soy is dangerous and will give me and my children cancer, I dont know what to do if I cant eat or drink soy either. But I dont want to contribute to the suffering of animals. I dont even want to give my children meat or dairy because of how unhealthy and dirty it is besides how terrible the animals are treated.
At least I have this blog now to go to and read other peoples comments and know that i am not alone in this.
Thanks.
Hi, Colleen and readers,
I really admire those of you who struggle with veganism, but still persist! For some people, it is an incredibly difficult transition, especially if other household members do not join in. It is so inspiring to others who would make the switch to see others overcome the challenges associated with going against the grain. I attempted to be vegetarian twice as a child- but my parents couldn’t provide the support I needed (since I couldn’t exactly ride my daisy bike to the grocery store alone). Now I am very fortunate to have a husband that fully supports my veganism at home. I have been sharing all the amazing vegan recipes I have found (Like the Magic Chocolate cake- wow!), and I think I am definitely winning over my family members who were convinced they would starve to death if they went vegan.
Good food will win the world!
Hello
Very interesting information! Thanks!
Bye
I finally saw the light after coming across the Vegetarian Food For Thought podcast in a crazed state of download mania (I admit I’m a podcast junkie). So once I listened to a few episodes, I started to question why I pamper my dogs and treat them like royalty, then turn around and force other animals to suffer for my pleasure. Since I couldn’t find any difference between my precious pups and pigs, cows, and chickens I decided to go vegan right then and there. Was a pretty simple decision.
Hello from Cattle Country,
My wife and I watched “Lady In The Water,” and afterwards, while I was out working in the garden, my wife went ‘internetting’ and found that the star of the film was a vegan as a result of this film called “Earthlings” so she pulled it up on YouTube and began giving me status reports. “Oh great,” I thought every time she’d come out and go “OH MY GOD!” but as I walked by I started watching.. and couldn’t stop …. it was like a car accident: you don’t want to stare, but you can’t look away. Worse, it was like seeing your SELF in the car crash.
“Well, so much for meat….” I said and that was it. No more meat. We even had a roast thawing in the sink and ended up throwing it out because we couldn’t break that knowledge. Veganism took about 2 days longer – how could we be ethical vegans and continue to consume products with so much horror attached? Might as well eat meat… so we quit.
We found your podcasts while looking for a supportive community and congrats, you really bring that sense of community. I drive for a living and listen to you pretty much all day, off and on. Reminds me that I’m not crazy. So, thank you very much and keep up the good work.
A couple of things I’d like to share with you:
I am a courier and used to work for Greyhound. Up here in northern alberta, I was horrified a couple of winters ago to be unloading the bus and finding that the box I was handling was “cheeping”. Baby chickens. Chicks. In the belly of the bus, in the middle of winter (it was about -40C). Half of them were dead. Even as an avowed carnivore I was disgusted by this practice. Now I realize that this isn’t the only horror these creatures have to endure, but it hasn’t really been mentioned… they’re born, stolen, debeaked … next scene they’re in the factory farm. But these animals are SHIPPED LIKE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. The boxes are handled by people, many of whom are just like factory farm workers: overworked, underpaid, and a little sadistic. I saw how these critters got handled just at our one station, god only knows how the rest of their journey went. Arg.
So I no longer work for the bus but still do courier work in rural Alberta. There is a chicken farm between the town where we live and the main urban center from which I pick up my freight. Even as the avowed carnivore visiting this facility made me sick: the stench. The lack of windows. The terror in the clucks that I heard. To find a consignee I had to enter the offices of the “barn” (large windowless steel shack) and the stench of.. poultry (dead birds and chicken crap) was so revolting that I nearly horek’d. Every time. And I still ate chicken. Since awakening I wondered what I would do the next time I had a delivery for them. Well, it happened the day before yesterday, and after speaking with my union rep and knowing that I couldn’t endanger my own family’s welfare (ie continued employment), I refused the delivery on the grounds that the site made me ill. They can drive into the city and pick up their stuff from now on.
Finally, I would like to give you an analogy for the transformation my wife and I are feeling since awakening to the truth – see, I hear “The Matrix” (or “Meatrix” if you prefer) used a lot, but unlike the Matrix, if you take the Blue Pill you go back and forget what you’ve seen. I can not forget. Have you seen “The Truman Show”? Basically this guy is raised living his entire life ignorant that everything around him has been carefully scripted for a TV show, and once he catches on and discovers the truth, he can’t go back.
That’s what I think it’s like. How could I go back to living the lie and pretend I didn’t know that almost everything around me was a lie, a carefully orchestrated facade designed to keep me consuming and perpetuating the industrial complex.
So long for now, we plan to sponsor your podcast as soon as we’ve paid off the bills.
Peace be with you and kindest regards from our family,
James & Marci Bethell
and our sons Darwin & Orion and our daughter Ella
and our dogs Bosley and Foxy
and our kitty Mini-Mews
Hi Coleen. What a great site!
I am actually here because your photo icon for blogspot — the one where you’re lying on Lili the Pig? — made me laugh out loud. I have a picture EXACTLY like that of my daughters. Must be a go-to Farm Sanctuary photo opp:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20092026@N00/498677572/in/set-72157594506820687/
Ok, let me read all these great posts now . . .
I’m sure this has occurred to you…
“The Joyful Vegan: Stories of Transformation” could be the basis of a wonderful book (one that could come out in a newer, more updated version.)
The diversity of the stories contained here continually blows me away (and blows away most, if not all, of the stereotypes about vegans). If there were a book version of this, I’d buy a copy for all my friends.
For the same reason that Studs Terkel’s books were such good reason (the authenticity and diversity of oral history), this could be a powerful book, in which almost every non-vegan reader could find their vegan mirror image.
Of course, you’d need permission from submitters, but I’m sure most people here would love to see their stories featured in a book that could transform more lives and help support your work.
I became vegetarian and later vegan as a result of two different experiences happening at nearly the same time. One was a conversation I had with my husband discussing my friend’s veganism. The other was the news story about Scarlett the cat. Scarlett was a cat found by a firefighter outside a burning building. She had repeatedly gone back inside to rescue each of her kittens until her feet and hair were singed, her ears burned off, her eyes seared shut. But she kept going back. I couldn’t get her out of my head. Every time after that I wanted to consume meat, I would get a mental image of Scarlett and lose my appetite. After some research on the net and email help from my friend, I later went vegan.
My husband is now a vegetarian also. My son is vegetarian now and makes “Ew, yuck!” noises when he even sees a commercial for meat on t.v. We sponsor a rabbit at Farm Sanctuary and a turkey for Thanksgiving. Meat has been forever banished from our home.
Dear Colleen:
Thank you, thank you for your terrific podcast. I have been a vegetarian for about 6 weeks. It has been a slow, long process to get to this point. I’ve always been a picky meat eater, never eating veal or rabbit, more fish than chicken, but I did enjoy foie gras until about 5 years ago when I witnessed jars and jars of enlarged livers at a shop in Nice. Super Size Me and Fast Food Nation opened my eyes to the evils of the fast food industry, and as an environmentalist who is always looking for something else to do I was very interested in “cost” of raising meat to our environment. I started replacing the protein dishes that I was used to all my life for veggies with a side of Tofu, but I was definitely still eating meat. I only started listening to your podcast to get some more vegetarian dish ideas, but instead you opened my eyes and mind. I had no idea the demise of male baby chicks, or the conditions at slaughter houses. I didn’t know any of this. Of course I started listening to your podcast 3 weeks before a trip to Prague and Budapest. I thought about waiting until I got back to start totally eliminating meat from my diet (my many excuses including: it’s so hard to read an Hungarian menu, they won’t offer me any Vegetarian food, etc), but something you said about “doing something rather than do nothing” made me think. My master plan — eliminate meat from my diet for three weeks, fall of the wagon and eat meat in Europe and then come back and eat a plant based diet again. But it only takes three weeks to change a habit. And it was so easy being a Vegetarian in Europe. Almost every menu had a Vegetarian section with wonderful foods to choose from and the wait staff was always accommodating. I did not have any excuses, yes, as a “newbie” I messed up a few times, but almost all of my meals were vegetarian or vegan. And I had a wonderful vacation with lots of energy and a clear mind. On the train from Prague to Budapest I listened to 6 hours of your podcast and now I am completely “up to date” waiting for your next one. And I plan to sponsor your podcast as soon as I have paid off my trip
P.S. Last week I went to a Chinese Hot Pot restaurant and had the veggie-based soup with delicious vegetables, noodles and frozen tofu! I had never heard of frozen tofu before … you put a firm tofu in the freezer for a day and it creates these little holes that, when defrosted and put in a soup or stir fry “holds in” the flavor .. delicious!
Collen, I listen to your program often. I really enjoy the perspective, the way you frame your arguments and all of the information you give to back the cause. Please check out my blog sometime: http://www.punkrockpedagogy.wordpress.com. I am an aspiring vegan biology teacher. My passion for the sciences and understanding the interconnectedness of everything eventually led me to change my eating and consumptive habits. I set up the site for many of the same reasons you set up the Joyful Vegan, we should draw from each other’s knowledge and positivity after all. Take care.
thanks for the information.
Hi Colleen,
Thank you, this is just what I needed. I am Christian vegan. I have to say, I never have had so much opposition in my break room at work as to when I pull out my hummus and carrot sticks. It makes me sad and attacked. Sad, because I would like to believe if they new the suffering these animals went through, they would be doing the same, and attacked, because of the things said back to me with such hostility and defense.
Nonetheless, I am thrilled to be making a difference in the lives of animals. If I think too much about them, I feel flushed and I could cry, and I have to say I think I am a pretty tough gal when it comes to expressing my emotions. Anyways, I needed to hear from another Christian with her feet on the ground to say that you feel the same way. I have to say when people say what I am doing isn’t biblical, I just say the way these animals are treated aren’t biblical either. After all a proverb says that a good man takes care of the needs of his animals, and that God knows even when a sparrow falls the ground. God just doesn’t create things that He doesn’t love, and if He loves animals (which He does), then I know we should love then too. Unconditionally. Who knows, if the world treated animals the way they did in the Old and New Testament, maybe I would eat meat, but for now, I am totally meat and dairy free.
Blessings and puppy kisses..
I too protest the inhumane treatment to animals. I am a vegetarian. I have recently created a blog about the inhumane treatment of animals, personal views of such things, and am starting to write about chinese fur farms. My blog is of such things and would like to know if any animal supporters would take a look. Thanks and thankyou for your great blog. http://proactionsite.blogspot.com/
Colleen, thank you so much for your podcast! I am the mother of a beautiful baby boy and my husband and I have decided to raise him as a vegan. Friends and family have been hounding us for months over our decision, one friend even told me her doctor said raising him vegan would be the equivalent of cruel and unusual punishment. The same day I had decided to give in and add dairy to our diet, I stumbled across your website and listened to your podcast on the mothering instincts of cows. Thank heaven I had put off going to the grocery store! My husband and I have been reafirmed in our decision to remain a vegan family and I am at peace again.
Thank you so much for reminding me of the peace and joy found in living a vegan lifestyle.
God Bless
I too am a fresh Christian Vegan! Truly I was lead by the Holy Spirit to adopt this lifestyle and feel truly blessed to have a peacefull plate during each dining moment. My family of a dear husband and three daughters think Momma is crazy but they have noticed my new passion and appriciation for all of God’s creations =). They all still choose to eat meat and animal products… I have proven that you can eat vegan anywhere. Today my husband chose BBQ yes yuck… my 13 year old daughter choose the meat free baked potato! I was so proud of her I mean we were at a place w/ little pig drawings every where how could you enjoy meat.
What a neat enlightment & I am so glad I can share it with Colleen and others.
I am a Christian vegan and many of my friends are vegans and vegetarians. I adopted the diet a long time ago to reduce animals suffering. It is something I believe strongly in.
Your blog is really awesome and I will share it with my friends.
I went vegan on December 1, 2007. You hit a very important point, for me. When I made the decision to stop consuming animal products, I happened to be in a hotel room on business travel and caught PeTA’s Meet Your Meat video on TV. I was shocked and frustrated and a lot of other things. The part I did not realize, is how alone I would feel being vegan. I mean, I grew up in Indiana and it’s simply not part of the culture in my friend group. Mostly, people laugh when I tell them. But living in Southern California now, I’ve been reaching out to other vegans as best I can. Thanks to the internet!
I couldn’t have said it better…
“Sharing our story with each other validates our own experiences and helps us see that we’re not alone – that many others go through the same feelings of pain, disbelief, anger, joy, relief, and frustration.”
For one thing, it is a different world now than it was 9 years ago when I decided, like an experiement, to ‘try’ being vegetaring… just to see if… what? If it could be done?
7 years before that, my little sister announced her decision to be vegetarian and it felt like an attack on our family’s way of life. Everything she told us caused me such pain I simply denied it. I loved animals, of course. But if eating them really was not right… people wouldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be legal. And certainly if it were actually unethical to eat chicken, our own beloved mother would have let us in on it. When I was 15, somehow, my mom still knew everything. Her response to my sister was; “it’s ok to be vegetarian; and it’s ok not to be.”
I was allergic to milk and dairy products and most of my food consisted of ‘very healthy fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean meat.’ I was very into health yet had never heard of tofu. My sister’s veggie sausage links made the microwave stink; I didn’t know how she could suffer through them. But when she decided to go vegan a few months later, I could finally relate. Now that she eliminated cheese from her world, I had someone else in the family with whom I could share all things food (though it obviously wasn’t mutual , as I still ate those “healthy” decaying animals). We had soymilk in the house, (which I had never tried, despite my dairy allergy; I grew up eating my cereal with apple juice:) Although neither of us liked it strait, we started cooking with it, and trying other non-dairy stuff. Still, the pain of it was so hard for me. when she showed me pictures, I looked right at them and told her they weren’t true. That couldn’t happen. No way. Peta’s extreme. There must be a mistake.
At a Lilith Fair concert two years later (I’m 18 at this time) I walk by some animal advocate booth and get that little brochere; the one with the red and black animal cruelty pages that turn to fresh and green yummy ways to eliminate it. I looked through it, and looked up at the people at the booth. Does this really happen? I asked them. Yes, they assured me. This is terrible, I told them. Yep, they know they told me. In my heart, I decided- though still heavy with denial- that I could no longer in any way support factory farms, and it might be ok if I just tried to go vegetarian (which, with my allergy meant mostly vegan) and avoid it all together.
I was about to start my freshman year at Ohio State, and actually being away from home made it easier. In all these years, it’s always been most comfortable away from home. When I moved back near my family a few years ago, I literally got pulled back off the path. It didn’t feel horrible, and for health considerations, I thought I ‘had’ to do it (60 grams of protein a day from vegetables, avoiding soy products? How?) But no sooner was I back in my home town, than I began connecting with others who were vegetarian- totally non-judgemental- and when I realized – more deeply than before the essential compassion piece- about a year later, I was clearer than ever and never looked back. On Christmas, I gave up non-vegan dark chocolate (yep; sometimes it has milkfat) and chex mix (why must milk infect chex mix? oh well, I make it at home) and went totally vegan. Now, It’s so strong in me, and it’s been such a long time on the path that no one can even ask me if it’s healthy. I make vegan lunch for my office staff once in a while and lay out all the vegan cook books for others to browse. Our last two family holidays (with many extended family) were 90% vegan with a strange cooked animal hidden, almost with shame, out of site. I was a bit late to Easter due to a wedding (my family celebrated Easter on a different day:) and the poor sacrifice had already been removed from the dining room by the time I got there, with no trace left, except un eaten parts on some plates. It seems to me, those around me who aren’t vegan are simply vegans still in denial. I know that my judgements are not helpful, but it’s so clearly wrong that it’s so weird meat eating is even practiced anymore. God is blessing our planet, but each of us must wake up. I pray we do, as a people, as a planet.
I did a post (#3) in May, 2007. A little over a year later, I’m adding another post. Warm hello to Colleen!
As I write, my farm sanctuary is a reality in western Montana, near Missoula. It is called: New Dawn MT Farm Sanctuary, located in the Rocky Mtns. Website to follow in the near future.
In our current family of farm animals is: Belle and Anastasia, 2 Yorkshire pig sisters. They were rescued from a factory farm as former breeding mothers.
Next: Mort, Mollie and Minnie, 3 sheep. Very loveable!
Angie, an Irish Dexter cow. She was court ordered removed from a neglectful owner in the county we live in.
And, my dear 5 chickens continue to thrive. Last, a bunny and 2 rescued dogs make up the non-human family members. Me and husband, Lee keep thing afloat.
What a wonderful thing to be providing a safe, permanent home for these wonderful beings and a safe haven. All the animals truly have such precious personalities, each in their own way. Ambassadors all! Veganly, Sue
Very interesting information! Thanks!
Hi from Australia. (”land of the meat pie”)
What are you doing to America?!
Ridiculously impressive website!
A rare breath of hope on the web.
Magnificent work!!!
Best wishes.
hi,collen I’m vegetarian from july to Now!
I feel really great,i have more energy
i ‘m very happy being a vegetarian
and i love animals,i love them
i would do many things for them
i LOVED your Blog
and I will write my history how i made a decision!
God Bless All Vegetarians & Vegans
I finally don’t feel so all alone! I have been a most of my life. My Mother said I started talking about animals since I was 2 and never stopped. I couldn’t eat them as a small child and I will never contribute to their harm. I do not understand how anyone can hurt an animal neverless purposely kill them. I am disgusted at how people think humans are above animals. That is so incredibly selfish and selfserving. Just because they don’t speak human doesn’t mean they are any less important.
I am so angry at society and I am so horrified at what humans do that I am ashamed to be part of the human race.
I personally do not know of anyone else who is a vegan. I live in Chilliwack, BC. It is a hunting/fishing farming city. I want to leave here more than I can say but I do not know where to go that has less cruelty and more people who feel as I do. I am considering the Okanagan.
Thank you for having a website I can feel part of.
http://anotherchristianvegan.wordpress.com/ I’m a Christian and a vegan
First of all, I want to thank you, Colleen, for who you are, what you give to all of us who listen to your podcast, and for what you do for the animals. You have made a difference in my life and also in the lives of those around me.
I’m an American and I’ve been living in Egypt for 12 years. I have been a vegan now for 9 of them. Being a vegan in Egypt (and I’m willing to bet, in any Middle Eastern country) has its challenges and its benefits. Christians here fast (or refrain from eating animal products) for a good portion of the year, so there are almost always vegan alternatives in the market for us to enjoy. Also, people pretty readily understand what you mean you say you don’t eat animal products.
However, no one seems to understand reasons for refraining from animal products besides a ‘fast’. (And of course, it would be strange for anyone to ‘fast’ all the time, right?). So, when you say you NEVER eat animals or their secretions, people start to be confused. ‘But what about the feast? What do you eat then?’ It’s even stranger to them if you start talking about animal rights or about living a compassionate lifestyle. There is so much poverty and need among the HUMAN animals here that sometimes people overlook (or can’t find the energy for) the need for compassion towards the non-human animals.
Well, when I first became vegan, it was for health reasons. At one point, several people very close to me became ill at the same time with diseases that were directly linked to the intake of animal products. So, I gave them up! I lost a lot of weight and people started realizing the difference this made in my appearance (I had always been heavy!). Little did they know that what was changing on the outside was only a reflection of what was changing on the inside! As I read more and more about vegetarianism and veganism, in particular, I became more and more convinced that I wanted to live this lifestyle not just because of my health, but because of the health of the earth and all the critters in it! As people talked to me more, it was easy to talk about the health reasons, but not so easy to talk about the environmental and animal rights aspects of my reasons (which actually became the core reason for the change!)
Time went on and I managed. I refrained from talking about the real reasons I chose to live this way and focused on the health matters. Then, in February of this year I got an iPod for a birthday present. That’s when I discovered you and your amazing podcast!
At once, I started to feel supported, inspired, amazed, informed. I had always felt that I had no sense of belonging and no way of finding it. Egypt is pretty far from California! But, your podcast let me into your home and your life and gave me the feeling that I was understood. I love hearing your stories, and your insight has given me the strength to start speaking my truth!
I started sharing your podcast with my very close friends here. And since then, one of them has become vegan! More and more your message (our message, if I may) reaches those who are willing to listen.
From all the animals, human and non-human: Thanks, Colleen!
I’m so glad I stumbled here… I haven’t submitted “my story” yet – but wanted to thank everyone else who let theirs be known. The feeling of community and comradery is welcome.
Thanks so much for this blog and for your podcast. Thanks for all you do for (us) and the animals. Now I’m going to read the stories others have written and share my own.
Hi everyone
I am so glad that there are other caring compassionate people out there-i have been totally vegan for about 12 years. I feel that once your eyes are opened to the horrors of the the meat industry -animal experimentation-fur farming and all the other hideous ways humans abuse animals you cannot forget. I feel so sad that a huge percentage of people are ignorent or simply don’t care about the mistreatment of animals. I never apologise for being Vegan but i do get fed up with the endless comments “what do you eat, lettuce leaves” well actually last night I had roasted tofu with satay sauce and a brown lentil and lemon salad!! That usually causes a few looks and they are often amazed at how varied and interesting vegan food can be once I have explained that we can survive quite nicely without consuming our friends.
Sometimes I feel so upset that animals are dying for no reason except greed and money -I cry myself to sleep quite often – when will people will start to realise that animals are sentinent beings who give us love and are important to our eco systems and our planet .
to everyone that is vegan -never give up
My turning point came shortly after I moved out on my own last summer. I tried so hard to be a vegetarian multiple times by my own accord in my teens and early 20’s, but I couldn’t afford to buy all my food on my own and didn’t have a support system at all. I kept on falling back to being an omnivore because it was familiar and I felt pressure from people around me.
After a couple of shopping trips, I just couldn’t buy meat anymore (I only consumed fish for a long time) and decided, overnight, to become vegan. I had thought about how revolting I thought it was to consume dairy and eggs, but I was afraid of being *that* different. Now, I couldn’t care less what other people think and am proud of being vegan. It means I can question the status quo and not be afraid to be myself. I enjoy my food so much and lost 20 lbs without even trying (not that I was heavy in the first place, but now I feel so much better). I have gotten stupid and offensive comments, like every vegetarian or vegan has, but many people have also been very accepting and interested in finding out more about my eating habits.
I could never go back! I have seen the light!!
Love this blog! It’s a nice support for me when I’ve had a rough day and need encouragement. Since going vegan I’ve faced growing opposition from family and coworkers. People tell me they don’t want to talk to me or have anything to do with me. I’ve been labeled a radical, an extremist, and family members think veganism is a cult. I stay true to my beliefs and my dream of sparing animals from the horror of mankind. I dream of a world where there is no more suffering; where humans and animals can coexist without exploitation. I cannot forget the truth. Peace and love.