Vegan Transformation Story

Hi everyone!

This post is not so much about recipes, but about encouragement and sharing some of my story.

June 16th, 2016 was the day I finally made the decision to go 100% vegan.


The first step on my journey to going vegan: The documentary "The Cove" (2009) and South Park "Whale Whores" Season 13, episode 11.

The film "The Cove", is about the yearly dolphin slaughter happening in Taiji, Japan. It's a horrible practice, with real footage of the dolphins being rounded up and killed. I felt horrible. The film left me outraged and saddened. 

And then...South Park came out with an episode about the Japanese killing dolphins and whales. The episode is very much satire, but then it ends with a biting conclusion: 

Don't kill dolphins and whales. Kill cows and chickens instead.

Suddenly, I felt a sting of conviction. So many people are outraged about the slaughter of dolphins, whales, or dogs, and yet no one bats an eye at the relentless mistreatment of chickens, pigs, cows, and many other exploited animals. 

I had to make a change. Around 2010, I became vegetarian. I lasted for about three years. I didn't know how to cook and I didn't have a lot of support. In 2012, I was offered a job that provided free lunch, and I slowly slipped back into eating meat again. 

I always wanted to make the change back to vegetarianism, but it was so hard to get it to stick. I would go back and forth for several years.

Then, I read an article about the dangers of dairy to the body. I'd often wondered if I was lactose intolerant and so I decided to cut out as much dairy as I could...until one day I went to eat a huge pot of fondue with my family.

After cutting out so much dairy, this sudden influx of cheese caused me to get so sick. I was hurting for several days. I decided in that moment that enough was enough. I had made so many excuses for so long. 

On June 16, 2016, after years of excuses and wavering back and forth, I committed myself to doing the work. I learned recipes very slowly. I learned about the horrors of the meat, dairy, and egg industries. It's been a lot of learning. 

Now, a year later, you can see the difference! 

I lost some weight and I gained a lot of cooking knowledge! Here on this blog, I hope to share with you what I've learned so far. The rest, we can learn together!

Thanks for reading through my post. You can follow me here at exuberantvegan.blogspot.com 

or also, you can find me on Instagram at exuberant_vegan!