From: Fawne (152.163.189.234)
Greeting: Hello )
Date: September 16, 2002 at 9:33 am PST

I'm new to this board. I had recently purchased and read "Being Vegan",
by Joanne Stepaniak, then I happened across this message board the
other day while I was surfing around.
I first started on the road to veganism in my early 20s when I
stopped eating veal. Once I found out how they were raised and killed
it made me sick and I vowed never to eat it again. I continued to eat
other meats until I was 24 or so, then I went through a period where I
stopped eating first red meat, then chicken and then fish. Due to a
move, and some unfortunate circumstances, I started eating meat again,
but never really felt good about it.
I'm now 32 and last April I started my most recent, and final
conversion over to veganism. Like the first time, I stopped red meat
first, then quickly cut out chicken, pork, milk, cheese and eggs after
learning alot more about the horrors of factory farming.
Fish and seafood were the last thing to go, but last week I ate my
last piece of that too. It tasted really gross and I know I won't eat
any kind of animal flesh again. Ice cream was another one of my hold
outs, but I ate my last ice cream cone several weeks ago and don't plan
on eating that again either. Dairy cows suffer just as much, if not
more than beef cows and they all end up in the same place anyway. I'm
not going to out another one there by eating ice cream.
So now I've eliminated all animal products from my diet, and I feel
very good about it. I feel like what I'm doing now is ~right~. It's
good for the animals and better for me too. I'm also using up my old
cosmetics, cleaners, etc. that are non-vegan and replacing them with
things that are vegan and good for the environment.
My boyfriend, who lives with me, is a meat eater, but he's been
adjusting well to the change. My two children, who are 8 and 11, don't
seem very happy about it, but I think that somewhere deep down inside
they really like the idea. I'm not buying or having any animal products
in the house, but what they do outside of the house is up to them. I'm
trying not to preach to them, but am hoping that a gentle, loving and
persistent exposure to veganism will convert them.
Thank you Joanne, for a wonderful book, and for this message board.
And hello to everyone.
Peace to all, Fawne