PaddynJordan
02-02-2004, 01:02 AM
My vegan journey all started with my dog, Jordan. I adopted her about 3 months ago. She was rescued from an EVIL EVIL puppy mill where she was forced to have litter after litter of puppies and was so mistreated that she only has 3 teeth left. (Which causes her tounge to hang out of her mouth)
I started researching puppy mills on the internet...trying to see what, no matter how small, I could do to help these poor animals. Well, of course, my search led me to generally animal cruelty including animal testing and factory farming and all the horror that these animals go through.
It literally kept me up at night. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about it. After a couple of months of sleepless nights I started seriously considering veganism. I knew it would be hard. I started educating myself via the internet and books about vegan foods and lifestyle. I decided that it was something that I had to do, and I made a game plan.
First, I would give up all red meat. I've done this sucessfully, and I'm now on my second stage, which is no meat at all. I'm experimenting with recipes that include vegan staples such as tofu, TVP, nutritional yeast...etc. My next step will be cutting out all dairy and eggs...and finally my diet will be animal free.
I've also started cutting items out of my everyday life. I didn't have much clothing type items to worry about. I got rid of two pairs of Dr. Martens that were entirely leather, and the shoes that I currently wear everyday (Sketchers) have a little bit of leather on them. I've decided to wear them until they're worn out, and then I will only by vegan shoes.
I've started researching companies that don't test on animals, or contain any animal products in their merchendise. It's been a pretty sad search I have to say. I've started making my own vegetable based soap, and soy wax candles. I've gotten a lot of vegan recipies for body care products that I'm going to try out.
So, basically, I'm working on it. I'm committed and I've no doubt that I will be successful! (I'm extremely hard headed).
No matter how small this is, when you think about vast scope of the problem, it has given me peace of mind.
I started researching puppy mills on the internet...trying to see what, no matter how small, I could do to help these poor animals. Well, of course, my search led me to generally animal cruelty including animal testing and factory farming and all the horror that these animals go through.
It literally kept me up at night. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about it. After a couple of months of sleepless nights I started seriously considering veganism. I knew it would be hard. I started educating myself via the internet and books about vegan foods and lifestyle. I decided that it was something that I had to do, and I made a game plan.
First, I would give up all red meat. I've done this sucessfully, and I'm now on my second stage, which is no meat at all. I'm experimenting with recipes that include vegan staples such as tofu, TVP, nutritional yeast...etc. My next step will be cutting out all dairy and eggs...and finally my diet will be animal free.
I've also started cutting items out of my everyday life. I didn't have much clothing type items to worry about. I got rid of two pairs of Dr. Martens that were entirely leather, and the shoes that I currently wear everyday (Sketchers) have a little bit of leather on them. I've decided to wear them until they're worn out, and then I will only by vegan shoes.
I've started researching companies that don't test on animals, or contain any animal products in their merchendise. It's been a pretty sad search I have to say. I've started making my own vegetable based soap, and soy wax candles. I've gotten a lot of vegan recipies for body care products that I'm going to try out.
So, basically, I'm working on it. I'm committed and I've no doubt that I will be successful! (I'm extremely hard headed).
No matter how small this is, when you think about vast scope of the problem, it has given me peace of mind.