Two cents on becoming a vegan

Two cents on becoming a vegan

We are both are vegans & we love it! Before that, we were vegetarians for more than 10 years. I feel when I was becoming a vegan, this is when I really woke up!

Becoming a vegan is a decision, and as with many decisions in life, you have to make it yourself. If you need information on why to start a plant-based diet, there is so much information is available for you. Also, there is lots of material, why not to go vegan. I hope this story helps somebody who is in limbo. If not that, then I hope it at least a fun reading of somebody’s personal story.

How it all started

I became a vegetarian or rather a pescetarian ( I ate fish sometimes) in 2008. It actually happened by a surprise. I saw a really vile movie made by the Animal Liberation Front. I remember the public free viewing in the local library still so clearly, as if it was just yesterday. The show hall was full and I remember myself crying a lot and shielding my eyes from the cruelty. The movie was mostly filmed secretly by activists and presented the relentless animal abuse in many institutions. After watching the movie, I knew I had to stop eating meat. I didn’t want to participate in such a heart-breaking killing of animals anymore.

Vegan tortilla with different toppings.
Wonderful tortilla with mushrooms, cheeze, salad, and Sriracha!

The shift was difficult of course. In Estonia in 2008, there were very few food options for a vegetarian. Of course, the beans and lentils were available, but since I didn’t like them, I didn’t have many options. While eating out the main meatless meal you were a tomato-cucumber, onion, and iceberg salad. Not very exciting, isn’t it?

I have always been a big animal lover, so for me going vegetarian wasn’t really so surprising. Though at that time, I really knew nothing about being a vegetarian! My new lifestyle didn’t mean I was instantly meat-free, I had some bites of meat in the next few months. I didn’t know what to replace meat with to get enough nutrients to obtain a healthy lifestyle. Or what to cook as a vegetarian – no, no, no. It was all if I can put it like that, lots of bulls**t! I even didn’t eat beans, so I wonder what I was eating at all then. Healthy eating wasn’t even a thought in my mind, but instead, my wish was not to consume dead animals. Eating was just for surviving not a pleasure.

Is becoming a vegan difficult?

It took me seven years to become a vegan. Why so long? I always thought that vegans were something superior. I was looking at them like they were a special species, thinking that I could never be one! Life intervened and once in 2015, I participated at a local Animal Protection Society’s summer days. The girl responsible for cooking the meals for us for two days was vegan. I approached her and asked “how difficult is it to be a vegan and what does it really mean’’? She said, that it is giving up all animal-derived products, like milk, cream, yogurt, cheese, eggs, and honey in addiction to meat”. I thought, well…that is not so difficult and I could give it a try.

The beginning of my life as a vegan, wasn’t so easy, as to be expected. I have always been into creamy cakes and sweets, and those usually have cream, cream cheese, butter and eggs in them. Little by little, I tried to become vegan, but I still had some cake every now and then.

Therefore I wasn’t really counting myself fully vegan until in 2016 when I saw another movie – wrong! –  I saw a 3-second clip of the “Earthlings” trailer. The disturbing part wasn’t even connected to the eating of animals, but abusing them for human needs. I am telling you if you have balls, do please watch it, but I can’t watch that movie. I have nothing to be afraid of anymore because I already have given up milk, eggs, cheese, meat, and even honey. It is just that I know I would ball my eyes out and I would be traumatized for all those animals, who are slaughtered or abused by people. This is why I can’t watch “Earthlings”.

How does it feel to be vegan?

So yeah, I have been vegan for more than two years now, so what has changed? I definitely pay more attention to what I eat. I eat more greens, more than I ever ate when omnivore or pescetarian, I eat more beans and nuts, which are really necessary for maintaining good health and I definitely cook more, therefore eating fewer preservatives, salt, and unnecessary food additives. Next, to the fact that I am feeling good, I love the variety of recipes, which I am constantly discovering thanks to the group of likeminded people around me in the virtual world.

When I was a vegetarian I wasn’t really thinking so much of the environment. When I become vegan this matter changed a lot. I appreciate Mother Earth much more for giving me all these beautiful plants to eat and feel good. I do not want to create more garbage, I want to save food and lives. Becoming vegan has made me love the environment more!

Saved foods before them going to the bin.
Dark greens are my new sweets!

What is the moral of this story – be who you are, make your own discoveries, educate yourself, try different foods, do not tell others how to eat and also don’t always try to eat food from a vegan’s plate. 😉



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