I have always had a deep love for animals of every sort. My earliest happy memories are of my best friend, Peanut, our Lhasa Apso. In practically every childhood photograph of me I am either with an animal, or cuddling a stuffed animal. As much as they fascinated me, I could never watch wildlife shows growing up because I found the "circle of life" scenes too traumatic - in fact we couldn't even watch most shows with animals because I would invariably find something tragic and sad and begin crying inconsolably, convinced the animals were being hurt. (I am like this to this day, much to the annoyance of my boyfriend.)

Ironically for me... our household was VERY meat and potatoes; this was the foundation for every meal. Vegetables were just a small side dish to accompany the meat (My mom actually told me this was how she was taught to cook). My grandparents hunted, both of my parents hunted, pretty much everyone I knew hunted. Every Fall/Winter there were turkey carcasses hanging in our basement and dead deer strung up in the garage to be gutted. Our home had trophy buck and bear heads on the walls. So how was it that being so sensitive to my furry friends that I didn't make the connection between the cow that I loved in the field to the burger that I devoured off of my plate? Or the adorable pigs with the intelligence equivalent of a four year old human child, yet bacon... OMG well, it's BACON - that delicious tender yet crispy, salty, smoky deliciousness that was perfect eaten with just about everything. As I grew into a teenager, desperately wanting the attention and affection of my father, I even took up hunting deer with him. How could I, the girl who couldn't handle the Disney flick "Bambi", have looked into those crosshairs, saw those big soft brown doe eyes and STILL pulled the trigger?? And yet I did.

In my early thirties I became involved with an all-breed animal rescue after seeing the tragic and senseless loss of animal life during Hurricane Katrina, where many people were forced to leave their beloved pets behind. Rescue quickly consumed me. Within two years of volunteering I became President of the organization and assumed full ownership and responsibility. It was during this time that I began to make the connection between the animals I loved and the food on my plate and recognized that ALL animals have the will to live. They are all sentient beings that give and receive love, communicate, and have the purest and strongest maternal instincts I've ever seen. This was when I first began thinking about giving up eating meat. My then 10 year old daughter really solidified this for me when she came home from school one day declaring she no longer wanted to eat meat because "eating animals is wrong, Mom." Okay kid. Let's do this.

We ventured into vegetarianism together first cutting out all "land animals" and eventually fish and seafood. It wasn't easy, it required research and label reading, and we didn't have much support from anyone else. Most people I knew thought we were weird or crazy. People began arguing with me about my diet; suddenly everyone was an expert in nutrition, physiology, and ethics. "Where do you get your protein?", and  "We evolved from cavemen. We are SUPPOSED to eat meat. Our bodies require it.", and my personal favorite  "God wants us to eat animals, Janel. It says so in the Bible.". Funny thing was, I wasn't lecturing anyone about THEIR diet. So why did they suddenly care so much about mine??

About four years into going vegetarian, my husband's job required that we move from central Pennsylvania to the central coast of California. I found my new hometown more open to vegetarianism with a wider variety of restaurants I could eat at and veg-friendly products to be found at stores like Whole Foods. I had been feeling a strong tug to go full vegan after learning about the horrors of the dairy and egg industries, and I finally felt I was in a place that I could do so. Honestly, the only thing I thought I couldn't give up was cheese because, well, pizza, and wine with cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches, and PIZZA! So I decided to do a 40 day cleanse and go full vegan during that time to see how I felt. To my surprise it was easy, and I didn't even miss cheese! Not even pizza! I have learned that I can get the same omegas that are found in fish from algae omega supplements, I get B12 shots once a month, my protein intake is totally on point thank-you-very-much, oh and vegan cheese has come a LONG way even since when I first went vegan. There are even delicious handcrafted gourmet vegan cheeses that my non-vegan friends can't tell the difference. #Miyokos - if you can find it, I HIGHLY recommend it!

It has been nearly seven years since I went vegan, and I feel great! Not just great in my body but great in my mind and most importantly, deep within my soul. To say that veganism to me is like a religion is not inaccurate. It is a highly spiritual thing for me to know that I personally am doing everything I can to no longer be a participant in animal suffering . Why did it take me so long to come to this realization? How was it that as a most passionate animal lover practically from birth, I couldnt... no, I WOULDN'T, see past what satisfied my tastebuds for a mere moment? I know there are many variables in that question and to ponder it brings me a lot of emotional pain. I try to focus on where I am now, the good in that, and the future good I can do.

One last thought: I do not lecture others on their food choices as I dislike being lectured about mine. I see other vegans who take this militant educational approach and I don't believe it is ever well received. The food we eat is a very personal thing. There are emotional attachments, memories, comfort, ritual, and pleasure derived from food. Any of these can make changing ones diet a very difficult thing to do. People go vegetarian/vegan for different reasons. For me it's all about the animals, so for someone like me that probably makes it easier to stick with it. Ghandi once said "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him... We need to not wait to see what others do." Or, in shortened bumper sticker lingo "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

Okay Ghandi, let's do this.