Carry on Beautiful!

That’s right kids, today is THREE YEARS since I went vegan!!! Considering I’ve been told on facebook, anyone who’s vegan will die after two years, I think I’m doing pretty good! Jokes aside though, going vegan literally changed my life, even after writing a blog post about why I would never go vegan. I want to take this post to talk about what the last three years of a vegan lifestyle have been like, and how I’m feeling now!

I went vegan literally overnight. I woke up on July 1st 2017, having spent weeks educating myself on veganism, and I just knew I couldn’t keep consuming animal products, and I haven’t since! In that time, I’ve also lost over half my body weight to become much healthier, I’ve become a much happier person, and Rich has gone vegan with me!

I was never particularly healthy, I grew up in a household that thought mash and sausage was a good, healthy meal, and I didn’t know people actually regularly went to gyms until I was well into my teens, so veganism and exercise have been huge new additions to my life.

Having a vegan diet has really made the weight loss journey mostly easy for me, I still regularly eat burgers, pizzas, all the good stuff, just the vegan versions. Just the decrease in fat and calories from doing that made the first 100lbs of weight loss almost unintentional. Add in some exercise, and a job where I’m constantly moving boxes of VHS tapes, and man do I feel good. I really don’t believe I’d have ever lost weight without being vegan, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to maintain a healthy(ish) lifestyle like i have.

Losing weight is definitely not the most important thing though. I know a lot of people think vegans are a bit stuck up and think they’re better than everyone else, and I don’t want to put myself across like that, because I really don’t care what you choose to eat, but it’s nice knowing that in the last three years, veganism has helped me really cut down on how much damage my diet causes the environment, and that, although of course animals have still been slaughtered, none have had that happen because of me.

It’s also been great seeing veganism become so widespread. It was already considered somewhat ‘trendy’ when I made the switch, but it’s the last two years that have really seen the rise of being able to go out and be able to grab a sandwich from a supermarket, or go to a restaurant and eating something other than chips without having to check online for vegan options. It’s become so easy to be vegan, and I much appreciate that.

Veganism has by far been the best diet and lifestyle choice for me, and although I’m not trying to preach or convert anyone, I do think it’d be a great choice for many people. So, if you’ve been thinking of giving veganism a go, do it!

-Dana