Posts tagged ‘Stories of Evolution’
Stories of Vegan Evolution: Daria Zeoli
These are the Stories of Vegan Evolution, stories from vegans around the world sharing their personal journey into veganism. Daria Zeoli of VeganCynic.com answers the ever important question, why vegan?
It’s possible to change. I know it is. Two and a half years ago, I did.
I can only tell you that I spent most of my life disconnected. I was a burger queen. I would inhale a nine piece chicken nugget meal from any fast food restaurant (although I had my favorites). I didn’t think about where my leather sneakers came from and I had no interest in learning how to cook.
Sometimes the old adage is true: with age comes wisdom. As I approached thirty, I started to want to get my act together. It started with getting out of debt, and moved towards being more “green”.
One afternoon in the bookstore, I started to skim Skinny Bitch. I wasn’t hearing everything for the first time; I had seen Supersize Me, had read Fast Food Nation. For some reason, though, this little tome got to me. I gave up meat and dairy on the spot.
Not unlike many of you, I suppose, I come from a family with its share of health issues: diabetes, cancer, heart disease… the usual. I stopped eating land animals because I wanted to prevent these health issues from getting me like the got my grandparents.
But as I started to read up on things, something clicked. Sure, it made sense from a health standpoint. But it also made sense environmentally. And, of course, it made sense ethically. Within a few months, I had given up seafood and eggs. I’m afraid it took me almost a year and a half to give up that addictive poison, cheese, but I have been vegan since Thanksgiving 2009 and I haven’t looked back. I chose that day because I am thankful to have had my eyes open. Every year on my veganniversary, I will give thanks for the opportunity to do as little harm as possible to the world around me.
I have evolved from a card-carrying, meat-eating fast food junkie to a vegan who isn’t afraid to cook and who is still learning to have the same compassion for people that she has for animals. I count among my vegan heroes those who inspire, be it through their podcasts or through their farm sanctuaries. I feel like, now that my eyes are open, I hardly recognize the old me. I am excited to share facts with the omnivores around me. I have lent vegan cookbooks, books and films to others in the hopes of opening their eyes. I have cried when I was mocked and I’ve smiled when people have taken something from my example.
As vegans, I believe we are all constantly evolving. I recently heard someone say that we are at the tipping point when it comes to the animal rights movement, and as I look at how much information, food, and support is around us, I feel heartened that we’re about to tip over for the better.
Daria Zeoli was a self-described burger queen for much of her teens and twenties, but, two and a half years after her own “a ha” moment and a little over a year after finally kicking the cheese habit, she hardly recognizes that person.
When she grows up, she wants to be like Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Jenny Brown.
She blogs at Vegan Cynic and hopes to one day rescue a beagle that she’ll name Carlin.
As a vegan, you know that there are all sorts of challenges that you can be up against. From deciphering food labels, all the way to critically rethinking everything you’ve ever been taught about the rights of animals- veganism isn’t always black and white. One of the things that can help is knowing that there are other people out there facing the same issues you are and hearing their stories. It creates community, it creates a place for education- a place to share experiences so that we can all grow and evolve even further.
Find out how to contribute to Your Daily Vegan- who will you inspire with your vegan compassion today?
YDV Presents: Stories of Vegan Evolution – Franklin Morris
YDV Presents: Stories of Vegan Evolution, is our newest series devoted to learning more about our fellow vegans. These are the stories of their personal evolution into veganism and asks the ever important question, why vegan?
Franklin’s Vegan Journey
From the womb I have been part of America’s longest living community according to National Geographic, CNN, Good Morning America, Oprah, and BBC News. If you do a careful study on health, you will run into this group. This blue zone eats less meat than the average American population and emphasizes a healthy lifestyle. Some people in this circle are vegetarian or vegan. When we eat together on Saturday, we typically don’t bring meat to the table although some of us will bring dairy products.
My mother became part of this community before I was born and raised my brother and me vegetarian. Until I went to community college, I brought my lunch bag with me to school. During those years, I probably ate from the cafeteria 3 or 4 times. It’s hard for me to relate to people who ate a typical school lunch on a regular basis. Once when I was in elementary school, my mother mistakenly used the wrong sauce for my spaghetti. I tasted one bite, and it was awful! I couldn’t force myself to eat it. Although I didn’t know it was meat sauce at the time, I knew my body couldn’t handle it. Don’t get me wrong, I indulged in guilty pleasures like Edy’s ice cream and Pizza Hut pizza, but my worldview growing up was definitely bent towards being health conscious.
When I was 19, I enrolled in a school that advocates a healthy lifestyle to combat disease through eight simple and free laws of health: nutrition, exercise, water, sunshine, temperance, air, rest, and trust in God (NEWSTART). It even has a lifestyle center where people with chronic diseases live for 10 or 18 days. It address the root cause of their problem, which is lifestyle. This place is reminiscent of John Harvey Kellogg’s Battle Creek Sanitarium, which was a health spot that Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, and Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln, visited. Dr. Kellogg himself was for some time too an early pioneer in America’s longest living community.
As I took nutrition classes and ate at my school’s vegan cafeteria, I was convicted that this was the diet I wanted to have for the rest of my life. It just made sense. Why would I want to have a higher risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes when I could just go veg? Also, according to ancient writings, I learned that man’s original diet was totally plant based. Not only does eating this vegan food help me physically, but it also helps clear my mind so I can communicate more effectively with God.
Six years later I still am vegan, and I’m loving it. As you can see from these recent pictures from my school’s vegan cafeteria below, there is so much variety for me to choose from. You can see more photos on OpenSourceVegan.com’s Facebook page.
I am a believer in vegan food, and I want to share this healthy alternative with stanch meat eaters.
YDV Presents: Stories of Vegan Evolution – Charleen Angle
Introducting YDV Presents: Stories of Vegan Evolution, our newest series devoted to learning more about our fellow vegans. These are the stories of their personal evolution into veganism and asks the ever important question, why vegan?
Don’t call me a militant vegan because I sacrifice to stand for something, and you don’t.
When asked to write my story of vegan evolution, I thought, “Easy.” So, here goes- pretty straight forward stuff, I think.
One day, I woke up, after a quarter century of living, and thought:
“Why should I kill defenseless animals for food? I’m not living in nineteenth century rural America. I’m never eating meat again.”
Meat being cow and chicken.
So, after immersing myself in the vegetarian world for a few years, and learning more about human impact on the environment, I realized the error of my ways- fish are animals too. Killing them and destroying their aquatic home is morally wrong.
“No more shrimp and scallops for me.”
Not soon after this revelation, and further educating myself, I could no longer justify my dairy consumption. The facts are there- none of us should be eating the milk of other animals. Whether you choose to ignore the facts or accept them and change, is purely one’s own volition. I could not deny what my choice to eat dairy was doing to the animals and the earth- I was killing.
“I’m going vegan.”
Vegan. Seems to mean a myriad of things to different people. But, what it truly means is taking every precaution not to kill in order to live. No easy task when one considers the institutionalized killing in our society. Killing is a commodity. Not only do we kill unnecessarily for food, we kill to test our products. We kill to use our products. We kill to drive our cars. We kill to build our structures. We kill to make art. We kill to wear fashions. We even kill because we’re bored. It’s not easy being vegan. It takes guts.
I realize that just by being alive in this epoch, I contribute to the killing. But I also realize that because of this circumstance, life itself demands nothing less than my commitment to choose vegan.
I’m a vegan. You should be a vegan too. EVOLVE. Stop making excuses, accept responsibility to your obligations, stop being part of the problem- get off your lazy ass and help me save this world.
Charleen Angle lives a vegan existence with her lover and a horde of nine- canine and feline, in the United States. Traveler, art school grad, and lover of life, her stated goal is to promote vegan evolution in human beings through example and being a regular contributor to the kick-ass website, www.yourdailyvegan.com.
Charleen can be contacted via email, and would love to hear from you.