The most common question I receive when people find out that I am a vegan, is “Why did you decide to become one?” So here is my explanation:
I grew up in Plano, Texas a nice suburb of Dallas. In case you have not heard, people in Texas love their meat. It is not uncommon to go out to dinner and see a 12-year-old boy enjoying a 16-ounce steak. Sound excessive? Like many kids who grow up in Texas, I ate a ton of meat, and I loved it all—steak, cheeseburgers, chicken strips, and hot dogs. I preferred either pasta or french fries to vegetables, and I rarely ate fruit.
When I reached middle school, I was a little pudgy, and I began eating less food in order to lose the weight. It worked, and by the seventh grade, I was thin again. However, I like many girls that I knew, struggled with my weight from seventh grade through the end of high school. I had a love-hate relationship with food.
During my first semester at Brandeis as a midyear, I gained seven pounds. The summer following my freshman midyear semester at Brandeis, I became enthralled with nutrition– I poured over countless books and I read everything from the biochemistry of food and nutrition to the tongue-and-cheek fad diet books.
What I found was that many authors had completely different opinions on food. Some swear that fruit is not good for you, while others believe that you should have exactly six small meals a day with no snacks. Despite the variety of beliefs that many authors wrote about in their books, they all seemed to have science that support their claims. It is pretty insane!
Instead of adopting one of the many diets I had read about, I simply began to eat healthier. I incorporated more fruits and vegetables into my diet, ate chicken or fish instead of red meat, and consumed less saturated fat that is commonly found in cheese and eggs. I also started practicing yoga every other day. I lost fifteen pounds that summer, and I felt great.
Once the school year began, it became more difficult and expensive to eat healthy food on the Brandeis meal plan. After one month of school, I became a pescetarian, and I felt awesome. In early November, I began to crave fish less and less, so I switched to a vegetarian diet without realizing it, initially.
In early December, I noticed that I did not feel as good as I had felt when I was a pescetarian, so I did some research on how to be a healthy vegetarian. I read that the most common mistake vegetarians make is eating too much dairy and eggs. I was that vegetarian. I had replaced fish with heaping amounts of cottage cheese, feta cheese, egg whites, and Greek yogurt to make sure that I “got enough protein” as people always tell you to do. I began to cut out the dairy and eggs, and I almost instantaneously had more energy and felt better.
At this point, I was basically eating a vegan diet without realizing it, so I decided to do the research and try to be a vegan. I read about the amazing results people had attained on a “whole foods, plant-based diet” (as stated by the medical profession), and it made sense to me that I was feeling so fantastic. I was eating all of the fruit, vegetables, legumes (beans), nuts, seeds, and whole grains that I wanted. I was sleeping deeply and waking up before my alarm, wide-eyed and ready for the day. In addition, my skin was clearer than ever before and my weight had never been so stable.
For the first time in my life, I feel satisfied with the food I eat, and I actually crave fruits and vegetables. I aim to eat healthily, I never count calories, and I stop eating when I feel full.
I absolutely love being a vegan, and I am always more than happy to help anyone who wants to give it a shot, too. Currently, I am the Student Union Representative of Vegan and Vegetarians on campus, and I am enthusiastically spreading the word about the many benefits of this way of eating. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.
In addition, consider participating in the nation-wide Meatless Monday Campaign. If you do not eat meat for lunch on Mondays and swing by the purple table in lower Usdan from 12:00 – 1:30pm, then you will receive a free vegan dessert from the Brandeis Vegan/Vegetarian Initiative.
“Scientific data suggest positive relationships between a vegetarian diet and reduced risk for several chronic degenerative diseases and conditions, including obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and some types of cancer.”
-American Dietetic Association