My Path to Veganism

I have been following the blog, zenhabits (zenhabits.net). It is a great blog and I am interested in and agree with his blog posts. I had been reading zenhabits before I became a vegan. Leo Babauta writes about simplicity, health & fitness, motivation, frugality, happiness, goals, and living in the moment. I am interested in all of these subjects. In May 2011, I happened to read a blog post he wrote about veganism. http://zenhabits.net/diet/ This blog post got me thinking. This is how my thought process went: If Leo writes about all of these topics and I agree with them, why am I not vegan? I decided to research further.

I am a huge fan of Ellen DeGeneres. I found out that Ellen is vegan. In an interview, she said that she became vegan after watching “Earthlings”. I decided to watch it. I was able to watch the entire thing for free online at earthlings.com. It was difficult to watch. After watching it, I decided to become a vegan. My husband and I decided that from that point on we would no longer buy non-vegan food, clothing, or support zoos and circuses. We became vegan in June 2011.

●I am vegan because I don’t want animals to suffer.

●I am vegan because I want to help the environment.

●I am vegan because I want to eat healthy.

●I am vegan because I want to reduce my risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure.

My transition into becoming a healthy vegan:

1^st Stage:

1.       An easy transition is to stop eating white flour, white rice, and white sugar.

2.       Eat whole grain bread, whole grain pasta and brown rice.

3.       Use olive oil instead of other unhealthy oils.

4.       Take a multi-vitamin.

5.       Don’t eat French fries, fried potato chips and donuts.

2^nd Stage:

1.       Don’t buy candy even if it is vegan.

2.       Don’t buy anything with high fructose corn syrup or white sugar.

3.       Eat vegan cookies, cakes, desserts once in a while.

4.       Eat frozen, processed foods once in a while. (Boca burgers, Amy’s Kitchen, Gardein, Tofurky)

5.       Eat pancakes/French toast once in a while.

3^rd  Stage: (This is the goal stage that I have not yet attained)

1.       Eat 80% raw.

2.       Eat more beans and nuts.

3.       Buy and use a dehydrator.

4.       Take a B-12 supplement.

5.       Sprout

6.       Stop toasting bread. Acrylamides are cancer causing substances. Toasting your bread increases the presence of these toxic substances.

*I will write a blog article about how to make a gradual transition into veganism.

I want to hear your stories!!! Comment and tell me why you became vegan and how you are trying to eat healthier.