My name is Maida and I have been a vegetarian for about 7 years now. My husband, Matt, has been a vegetarian even longer than that, and we are proud to say that our daughter, Emma, has been a vegetarian since birth (she’s almost 2 years old). We live just south of San Francisco, CA.
People always ask me why I became a vegetarian in the first place and the answer is simple: I wouldn’t eat another human being, so how could I eat an animal? While I was in college, I had to take a communications class as part of my GE credits. It was a group communications class, where each group was assigned a book to read and had to do a presentation to the class about the book. Our class was taught by an interesting dude- his disheveled appearance aside, he banned “junk stuff” from entering the classroom (which included soda and other less-than-healthy snacks commonly found on college campuses) and he urged us all to start drinking green tea. Hmmm… I bet you all can guess the types of books each group was assigned.
The first group to do their presentation was assigned the book Diet for a New America by John Robbins. I was on the verge of tears during their presentation and was left completely heartbroken. Up until this point, meat came from the grocery store and I never actually considered that it was once a living, breathing animal before being cooked up and put on my plate. This presentation was around Thanksgiving and, after it was over, our professor asked for a show of hands of those who would NOT be eating turkey that year. I was the only one to raise my hand and I told him that I would never eat meat again. He then told me that I would have a hard time breaking that conditioning, but wished me luck nonetheless. I know that I am doing the right thing by not eating meat, but at first it was more of a defiance to show him that I could do it. I have been meat free since. (In case you’re dying of curiosity, my group was assigned the book Natural Health, Natural Medicine by Dr. Andrew Weil- another great read.)
I thought I was doing my part by not eating meat, but after being a happy vegetarian for the last (almost) 7 years, a friend of a friend told me about another book, Skinny Bitch by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman. I expected a book that could provide me with an easy diet plan to follow so that I could lose a few pounds before my cruise in October. Man, what a wake up call this book was! I decided halfway through reading this book that I needed to become vegan in order to be healthy- and to save more animals from misery. I firmly believe that a vegetarian/vegan diet is the only healthy diet. Unless you raise your own meat and milk your own cows and know exactly where your meal’s are coming from, you can bet on there being really, really gross stuff in your food. Aside from that, can you really look at your steak, bacon or turkey sandwich the same way knowing what a horrible life the poor animal had before being tortured and slaughtered for you? Just some food for thought- if you don’t believe me, check out any of the books I’ve just mentioned and get with the program.
The purpose of my blog is to chronicle my journey to convert from being vegetarian (one who eats eggs and dairy products) to being vegan (one who eats no animal products at all). I hope that it inspires more people to make the change. At the very least, I hope you will try some of the recipes that I will be posting and will enjoy a meatless meal. If it seems impossible to not eat meat at all, it isn’t. It definitely is hard at first, but if you start small, you probably won’t notice. Start by having one vegetarian meal a day, then move on to two, then move on to three. You will miss those burgers at first, but these feelings will go away (I promise) and you will be so proud of yourself for making the change and sticking with it. You will probably even lose a few pounds too. What could be better than that?!
