Why I am Vegan And 4 Reasons Why You Should Go Vegan Too

"I could never go vegan," is something my younger self would say all the time. And if you told me one day I would go vegan I would laugh.

When you are young you follow the habits of your parents. So for me, that meant eating hamburgers, fast food, and everything covered in cheese. It was all they knew and for me, all I knew at the time.

I knew in high school that I needed to make a change to my eating habits. Even though my family was against me going plant-based,I knew that I had to do what was best for me. So as someone who once said I could never be vegan here are some of my reasons I am vegan now:

1. Health

Growing up my mother was never a cook. She worked full time on her feet all day and was a personal taxi for my brother and me. So when it came to dinner there was a routine of Wendy's, pizza, hamburgers on the grill, pasta with meatballs, and then we would repeat. She tried her hardest, but in the end (due to my picky eating) I was only eating hamburgers, chicken tenders, and deli slices. I knew I had to change my eating habits.

I decided for my health to become vegan. The vegan world introduced me to delicious and healthy foods. Food I thought I hated like cauliflower becomes new favorites. The best part of the food I was consuming wasn't processed. The energy I gained from eating whole foods ended up making me feel like I had superpowers. And I knew I couldn't go back to eating meat again.

2. Animals

Even though I went vegan for my health, I started doing research about the dairy and meat industry and I am now vegan because of the animals. Growing up nobody talked about where food actually came from. All I knew was it was at the farm then to the supermarket before making its final journey to my plate. No one told me when I was little that in order for us to get milk that the farmers had to take and kill the baby cow for us to get the cow’s milk.

One thing that drives me crazy is when people say they “love animals,” but still eat meat. If people really love animals they wouldn’t eat meat. In the end, they just like pets because they could never consider eating their dog or cat, but a cow or pig is fine.

3. The Earth

The Earth, I feel, is something that people forget about all the time. People forget that the Earth is something that breathes and lives and is the only place we can inhabit. One of the biggest and easiest way to help the Earth and cut our carbon footprint is by going vegan. Researchers at the University of Oxford found that if you were to go vegan you could cut your carbon footprint by 73%. Cutting 73% of a carbon footprint can sound crazy, but it as easy as cutting out animal-based food, and I don’t understand why people haven’t changed already to save our planet..

4. The Food is Amazing

In the 1800s, I can only assume that vegans back then only ate carrots, now there are so many options for vegan food. Of course, there is still the classic salad, but now there is even vegan ice cream made from bananas and peanut butter. The vegan food that I have made have ranged from decorative smoothie bowls with fresh fruit to making zucchini veggie wraps with “ricotta” made from tofu and herbs. Even processed vegan food is tasty One of my favorite processed vegan food is Morning Star Farms’ Buffalo Wings. It’s crazy how vegan food nowadays can taste so much like meat that sometimes I need to look twice to make sure I am eating vegan food.

In the comments down below tell me if you’re vegan and why or why not you.