I was always aware of there being something wrong with eating animals but raised in a strong family with two elder brothers my ideas were always considered childish. I tried to turn vegetarian when I was 12 but was confronted with mum trying to sneak ham into my sandwiches and so many comments of ‘it’s just a phase’. Having been unable to stand up for myself most of my life, I just conformed, it was the easy option. I kept my head down and worked through school and university and got married to a bully who make me feel even more worthless as a person.
Two years later after a string of events I plucked up the courage to stand up for myself. Finally. I have never looked back. After vowing to stay single I met a wonderful man, Matthew, who just happened to be vegetarian and we moved to the country. Living near animals made me aware of the choice I’d never truly made but knew I should so I gave up the meat. I could not watch the lambs in the field infront of our cottage and laugh as they bounded from one side to another playing games and then eat a lamb roast. Couldn’t do it. So I was a vegetarian. I never considered becoming a vegan until I listened to a podcast from Compassionate Cooks. My now husband Matthew fell upon the podcast one day and told me I must listen. He was a bit stunned after I did listen and decided I was immediately vegan. He took some friendly persuasion but I am thrilled to say he has now made the same decision and we decided to raise our two children as vegan also. We have a little girl, Heidi, aged 2 and a son, Miller, aged 7 months.
We have encountered difficulties as vegans, not least being that we live in Northern Norway (we are English but moved over here in 2004) in a small community where meat eating is abundant, vegetarians considered mentally instable and where elk hunting is quite common. Needless to say I have to travel far and wide to get the basics I need to keep my family healthy! But we are healthy and I feel more alive than ever. When I gave up the dairy I noticed so many positive changes, I lost all my pregnancy weight and my shape is better than ever, my skin is flawless (I had excema before, none since), my hair shines and I no longer feel sluggish or bloated. I also feel more in control of my life and am so happy not to contribute to suffering.
I feel my life continues to improve in leaps and bounds. I am quite a different person than the shy girl I grew up with inside of me. I am part of a media company which I helped found here in Norway and am writing a script for a children’s television series alongside many other arts projects. I am also a qualified yoga teacher. I have a blog entitled new vegan mom (www.newveganmom.blogspot.com) and my son and I make a weekly vlog for new mums and their babies entitled ‘Yoga Baby’ (www.yogababy.tv or you can go to blip.tv or itunes and subscribe). I am also writing an interactive book for children (www.snoredust.blogspot.com) where kids can submit ideas and pics to be included in the published novel. I guess you could say I’m busy!
I encounter many people who just do not understand why veganism has such a positive impact on our lives…but then occasionally I meet one person who does…
~Jill in Norway
I gave up red meat a few years ago because of health reasons but it hasn’t been easy among a large family of meat eaters. When I leave extra Amy’s vegetarian frozen t.v. dinners at my parents house my sister keeps trying to throw them out saying nobody is going to eat these but my mom luckily stops her. I leave extra’s over there so I have something to eat when I visit. When I am on vacation I make my dinner separate from my family’s dinner. They see my dinner and start making rude comments about my tofu and my vegetables. I have learned to ignore them. Once I gave up red meat I started feeling a lot better. I do not miss it. I am not afraid to tell my relatives that I feel 100% better. My doctors understand that I do not eat red meat and they are o.k. with it. I have just started to give up chicken and turkey. I have a Wild Oats Community Market in the next town that I shop at. I use public transportation to get there and have a special cart that I use along with cloth bags to put the groceries in.
[...] Jill writes that she did eventually go veg when she learned to stick up for herself and met a supportive vegetarian. [...]