HAD-THE-AIM-OF-PURIFYING-MY-CONSCIOUSNESS-TO-SUSTAIN-HIGHER-LEVELS-OF-SENTIENT-AWARENESS-&-I-WAS-LED-TO-VEGANISM

I came to veganism through The World Peace Diet and truly believe that world peace is both achievable and inevitable with veganism. And I am so grateful for and inspired by everyone I meet in this movement.

I stopped consuming animal products when my father was diagnosed with cancer. I helped him to examine the scientific literature to find answers and came across the work of Dr T Colin Campbell. Then a few years later I went to a vegetarian expo and saw footage of what happens to animals to produce animal products. Because I had already stopped eating animal products, I had no need of defenses against this information and I easily made the connection with the ethical reasons behind veganism.

I was always an animal lover and grew up in the country near cow pastures. As a child we went to “visit the cows” and I came to understand them as the unique beings that they are. So, I haven’t eaten a cow in over 30years. Next came pigs: became aware of their intelligence and character and stopped eating pork. About 5 years ago, I started having multiple health issues and then changed from a high sweets, junk food diet to a healthy diet. As I kept learning more and more about how animals were treated, the effects on the environment , health and how the human body isn’t even designed to eat much meat I slowly changed to a vegan lifestyle. Dairy was the hardest and last to go - I loved ice cream, coffee cream, butter,… Don’t miss it now.💕

I'm a bird lover & started getting interested in fancy pigeons, which lead to an interest in fancy chickens, which lead me to learn about the cruelty in animal ag, which lead me to go vegan.

My name is Marco Knox. I am the founder of The Phytogenic Chef™ and this is the story of how I transformed my life and became a whole food plant-based chef and advocate.

The Beginning:
I have been cooking since I was 12 years old. I got my first start at my big brothers’ restaurant; ‘The Bridge’ — a large waterfront seafood restaurant at the foot of the bridge that leads you to beautiful Ft. Myers Beach, Florida. I would come down from the Great Lakes State of Michigan and spend a month or so during summer break. I earned my stripes by cleaning the parking lot, touching up the paint and other odd jobs around the property. However, my curiosity and awe of what was happening in the kitchen was always drawing me away from the ‘job’ at hand. My brother, a very successful restaurateur and chef, saw the same passion in me that he possessed and gave me my first chance to work in the kitchen. Now it wasn’t glorious, my first summer was spent washing dishes and scrubbing everything in the kitchen, I had that place shining! Eventually though, he allowed me to do some prep work and I was hooked! I instantly became a favorite amongst the kitchen staff for my quick work, willingness to do what was needed and consistency. Naive? Perhaps, but somehow I knew then that being a chef was my calling. So, I went back home after my summer break ready to get a job in the industry. One small problem — I was still under 16 years old and I couldn’t get a job like the one I had at The Bridge. I learned that the only reason my brother could allow me to work at his restaurant was because we were directly related. While I was disappointed that I couldn’t get a job yet, I knew my day would come eventually. In the meantime, I spent my free time educating myself by reading about restaurants, famous chefs and food preparation while anxiously awaiting the next summer break and my chance to go show my brother what I had learned.

I spent the next three summers working at The Bridge and learning the fundamentals of cooking. Then the summer of 1992 arrived along with my opportunity to get a real job, I was now 16! It was in New Baltimore Michigan at the ‘Green Turtle’, a family owned restaurant that served a wide array of dining options that I got my second real job. I started out in the dish tank but that didn’t last very long. The owners recognized my dedication and hard work, so they actually gave me a shot as a prep cook. I took full advantage of this opportunity with the intention of proving to the owners that I was worthy of being a line cook. After a few weeks it paid off, I was promoted. Now this is like being a freshman in high school and being called up to play varsity ball…it was a big deal to cook on the line with some industry veterans at only sixteen years old.

I continued working in restaurants into my mid to late twenties. Everything from ‘fill ’em and bill ‘em’ concepts, to 5-star dining and world class resorts. I won’t go on record by saying that I learned it all, we are all constantly learning and growing, but I learned a lot — from the five mother sauces to growing all of your own produce and creating menus from the harvest.

The restaurant industry is a hard business and like a lot of folks that work in this sector, I burned out and needed a change. So, I jumped into the fitness industry. I had always been pretty athletic and took good care of myself so it seemed like a natural fit, and it was. I loved it so much that I started my own personal training business and eventually worked my way up to a Strength and Conditioning Coach for the local Arena Football team. Life was great! But as I neared my thirties, I decided that I needed to start focusing on what I deemed as a more long-term career field.

I don’t regret any of the paths that I have chosen to follow, it’s what has helped shape me into the man that I am today. However, it wasn’t until recent years that I didn’t look back and wonder why I left the fitness industry. But I did, and became a multi-line road sales rep with ironically, my big brother! He was now retired from the restaurant business and had a sales agency that was booming. We traveled the eastern United States selling our lines to big box retailers and made a great living doing so. Years went on and I was working for some of the largest apparel brands in the business, life was great again..so I thought….

The fall of 2017 was a life changing time for me. It was during my annual doctor visit that I received news that frightened me to my core. A little family history — my father died at an early age from heart disease and diabetes. After his passing I had made a personal vow to myself that I wouldn’t ‘go out like the old man’. But here I was at age 40 facing hypertension, diabetes, dangerously high cholesterol, medically obese with an overall poor health grade. What did I do wrong? I mean I thought I ate healthy, I worked out regularly and I felt pretty good. The truth was I wasn’t living a healthy life at all. I had gotten pretty out of shape by drinking alcohol, eating nutrient deficient foods and succumbing to a sedentary lifestyle. It’s a strange thing that we humans do…this denial behavior, and trust me when I say, I was leading the pack when it came to denial! I just chalked it up to my age and this is just what happens. I mean come on I am 40 now, right? Wrong! I was denying my true self, my dharma and I was doing it by making extremely poor food choices. Me, a chef, a fitness professional, a person that should absolutely know better, no excuse! The truth was, I had gained over 35 lbs. of body fat and was tipping the scales at a very unhealthy 250 lbs. All my clothes were busting at the seams, I couldn’t walk up or down the stairs without feeling completely winded and I had severe back pain, I mean laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling begging for relief type of back pain. The time for change was now!

The solution didn’t come to me right away. I did the whole ride my bike and get a gym membership thing for a few months, but the results were inconsistent at best. I would lose 10 lbs. here, gain 5 lbs. back there, it wasn’t a real change and I needed a real change or else I was repeating my father’s mistakes. That’s when I discovered a whole food plant-based lifestyle. Mind you, I was a chef and I had always prided my chef skills by the wide variety of meat, poultry and seafood dishes that I could prepare. How could I cook without those ‘staples’…where would I get my protein, and how would I get enough B12? Learning comes to us in all sorts of forms — mine hit me through a few awakening documentaries which spawned into extensive studying and a new way of living.

I started out by eliminating dairy and only consuming chicken and pork, no red meat. The impact was noticeable in a couple of weeks. Inflammation that I didn’t even realize was negatively impacting my body, went away. So, I decided to go all in and eliminate all animal products from my diet. After a few months it was working, I mean really working! I had not consumed a single animal product for 8 months and I now weighed 205 lbs. and I felt better than ever! I was riding my mountain bike through trails with some of the best local riders and keeping up! My back pain —  completely gone and my clothes, well I needed new clothes because nothing fit anymore, they were all too big!

But the question still remained, was what I was doing from a food perspective actually healthy? Or was I robbing my body of essential nutrients? I had pretty much known from my own research and quite frankly, how great I felt, that what I was doing was indeed very healthy. But the numbers don’t lie. So, after one year, I went back in for my annual physical and had my blood work done — a full lab; cholesterol, glucose, everything. Not to my surprise, it all checked out! Not only did it check out, everything drastically improved. I went from all of the aforementioned health issues to all of them no longer even remotely a concern. Cholesterol was perfect, even better than perfect. Hypertension and diabetes, zero trace!

I walked out of the doctor’s office that day smiling from ear to ear and what felt like a green glow (you know, plants!) surrounding me — that day The Phytogenic Chef™ was born! It is my calling, my purpose, my dharma to share this story and help others that are in the same place that I once was. I wasn’t living a bad life, I just wasn’t living to my potential and now I am.

Marco — The Phytogenic Chef™

Originally became vegan for better athletic performance but realized complete benefits: longevity, enviornmentalism, ethics, et.c

Vegan for the animals and the environment.

I was lucky enough to meet a vegan girl who opened my eyes to the truth.

I wanted to lift weights, but not eat so much chicken and fish. Looked for recipes, found lots of Videos and disturbing Info, 2 months later, after listening to a Reporter tell about her experience in a slaughterhouse, I told my husband I'm never eating animal products again.
I showed hin the Video, and he went Vegan the next day.

When I saw photos of cows going to the slaughterhouse.

I am an ethical vegan and animal advocate who promotes veganism around the globe. To me, veganism is the most vital path for world peace and compassion. My background information can be found at my website, vegansmakeadifference.com

Watched Food inc with my husband & never looked back! Our family of four are Whole Food Organic Vegans & bring our knowledge & food to the community through our business: AVO Café in Santa Monica.

Went vegan about 2 months ago and have lost 35 pounds

Has eat a lot and all, but one day found a small video about human digestion, and after that wanted to try a raw-food for one week. After that was months and years of vegan and vegan raw-food.
Especially one person has described me, if I eat someone, it almost the same if I bite or hurt myself.
I hope someday everyone will be vegan or raw-food vegan.

ive always had a passion for the natural and the outdoors. didnt take much for Veganism to get me.

Still working on it

I was introduced to a vegan diet at a Buddhist retreat centre.

I read "Eating Animals" and my entire mindset was changed.

I went vegan in 1997, after reading Diet for a New America, by John Robbins. I am thankful for Dr. Greger for teaching me how to eat the best vegan food, at www.nutritionfacts.org.

I woke up one morning and lost 50% of strength on my whole right side body. I feel out of bed thinking I was able to walk normally.
This was followed with months of research and understanding what MS really was. I started addressing lifestyle and went PlantBased. Initially I did not call myself vegan because I was doing it for health purposes. I didn’t even yet know about the animal suffering in animal agriculture. I had never made the connection. So as I started watching documentaries and making the link; I then ensured to not make exceptions and to always read ingredients. I also started implementing lifestyle changes beyond stopping eating animals. Like not wearing them (wool, silk, leather) or not going to places where the abuse or exploit animals for profit (animal rides, racing, zoos..)

Once I really understood that I could be healthy and take a social Justice stance at the same time, I was ALL-IN. I became a strict vegan and animal rights activist in 2015.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney disease.
I was told that I would have to get a kidney transplant, or go on dialysis.
I also have CHF as well as Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.
I am obese and have been for most of my life.

Willing to give the science a try

Born vegan. Force fed the belief that eating animals was normal. Fixed it.

Like everyone else, was brainwashed to believe animals were here to eat, until I started watching docos, opened my eyes to the truth, vegan for life now

I went vegan with my eldest daughter for various reasons and as a doctor took blood samples at the beginning and after the first three weeks. I had way too high cholesterol levels all my life - despite a "healthy diet" and was amazed at the improvements after such a short time: they turned normal for the very first time in my life...
Ever since I really enjoy learning a whole new way of cooking/living and am always enthusiastic about trying out more vegan recipes 🙂

Fighting body inflammation

I will share a bit later.

Vegan since 2019
Currently a volunteer for SlaughterFreeLA
Trying to help the animals thru political action

Eczema from head to toe is difficult, embarrassing, and devastating. I could not get a diagnosis or a solution. I had inflammation throughout my body due to an acidic diet, I was eating fish and chicken and cheese and drinking wine. My plant based foods were less than 30% of my diet. I was eating saturated fat from fried foods and animals Now I am invested in the plant based healing. I am a vegan chef and a walking encyclopedia about nutrition - it is a magic bullet and I am thrilled to join the community! My spirit is relieved that I don't contribute to the killing of 70 B animals in our food system (pork, chicken, beet, fish, etc). Thanks you to Dr. Michael McGregor for your research on evidence based nutrition! I have many doctors mentors "on line" and they each make a difference for my raw vegan journey.

I could no longer ignore that loving animals and eating them was not the same thing, I followed my values and become vegan.

I am on a Whole Food Plants Based (WFPB) diet mostly because there is precedent of heart attack (and cancer) in my close family. I started after reading Dr Fuhrman's "Eat to Live" book... the correct description of my eating style is "Nutritarian" ... and the "deal as closed" after watching Forks over knives in 2011.
Today I am a Pharmacist advocating Lifestyle Medicine and a WFPB diet to Prevent and Reverse most of Chronic Diseases; thus reduce or eliminate the need of Medications.

I am a vegan therapist in California specializing in trauma, addiction and relationship issues. I use EMDR and Mindfulness to help clients overcome past experiences and become grounded in the present moment. Go to my website for more info and to set up a free 15 minute consultation. I can't wait to hear from you!

I had been vegetarian for a few years moving away from animal products, primarily because of my health although compassion for other sentient beings added wait to my decision. On 6 June 2012, I got invited to speak at a festival called Venus love to celebrate the transit of Venus. It was here I met my partner who already was a vegan and had been so for the past 15 years. A few weeks later, I was vegan, although not a healthy vegan diet I must say. This came a year or so later at the birth of our daughter and what clinched the healthy vegan push was that we didn't want to model unhealthy food habits to our daughter, wanting to give her the best nutritional start we possibly could. Slowly but surely one challenge at a time out when the bread, out went the pasta, out with the sugar, out when the bad fats. Since making that switch a couple of years in, I was looking for changing career, I made the decision I wanted to retrain, possibly something in the health industry as I had already done a significant amount of research in that sector, after a couple of days of searching for something different. My partner's inbox received an email about the idea of becoming a health coach. I must admit I never heard of a Health coach before, so after finding out it as much as I possibly could I made a decision, I would make health my career and help other people to achieve a healthy lifestyle to meet their full health potential. Five years on and I'm still at it, both online and in-person small groups and focused one to ones.

I recently went vegan March 1 2023 at the age of 67 years of age.

My initial interest in becoming meat free was to actually see if I could go vegetarian and nowhere near the vegan lifestyle. However my son was a vegetarian from before birth as he would not allow me to eat or even smell meat without serious consequences. I mastered making him meat free dishes and still was okay with testing the vegetarian lifestyle, as long as I got to keep my artery clogging cheese coma going on, I was willing.
Then comes soon to be husband and his doctor actually informs him that he needs to clean up his eating act and drop as much of the bad eating as possible. Pretty much all meat and increase greens intake by tenfold. I leaped onto the chance to show my support and decided then and there we would test out becoming vegans. We had to quickly get a firm foundation in the fact that we would commit to this fully and not give ourselves a deadline. So we slowly but surely act down our "bad" pantry that had just been stocked up on junk snacks and high sugar juices and a deep freezer full of meats to portion out for later use. Luckily the fridge ran on empty and on my next grocery trip I spent close to 3 hours perusing every isle as I bought only vegan items. Being still new I bought only items that plainly stated vegan on them. Now I know to read the entire box and even if they don't state vegan, that could very well still be!

We have been transitioning vegans for 2 1/2 months as we whittled away our old supplies in pantry stock up. We converted to full vegan Jan 1st 2021. It was amazing how quickly our bodies were okay with no meat or dairy substance. Now we feel it if we chance a meal and get non vegan food.
So far the journey seems well worth it and has opened up our eyes to being able to create all our old favorite dishes but modified! This is a change we are very happy to see and plan to stay the course going forward!!!

My vegan journey became a blog that became a book: "The Skeptical Vegan."

Hello, I've been working on the website hard since April 1st 2024. So, you may see some changes. But, I've made significant progress. All the core functionality is there though. So join, make friends, post to the blog, add listings, and add events to build up your community and a vegan world! Ok, back to work. Here's a bit of my vegan journey. I need to update it but here's a start:

I went vegan after watching Gary Yourofsky's best speech in 2011. I literally did nothing more than stop eating what little animal I was eating already and just ate more of everything else I ate, including french fries. In 2017 I had my bloodwork done to save money on my insurance. My total cholesterol was 121!

I remembered having my bloodwork done about 6 years earlier; in late 2010, right before I happened to go vegan. My total cholesterol was 168 then. Six years of not eating animals, no other changes, brought my LDL and Triglycerides down that much and HDL up too. The visceral fat fast that had been progressively accumulating around my waist just like my father, and both of my grandfathers, vanished. And still now at 51 in 2024 I'm basically the same as I was when I was in my late 20's. And, I no longer get sick. Before going vegan I would usually get sick twice a year at the change of the seasons; hence the reason I had my bloodwork done in 2010.

All of this intrigued me. So, I started listening to doctors on YouTube. I also just started walking in my neighborhood for the first time. I would take these long walks and absorb so much of it that I was inspired to prepare more whole plant foods, dig deeper into nutrition, and that led into a little into science, biochemistry, anatomy, evolution, and logic, looking at how others are doing around me, how I've improved but my extended family didn't when they were in their 30's. I'm now 50 with the same body I had in my 20's and very sedentary with all this editing and not being very happy with walking in this neighborhood anymore.

I went vegan for ethical reasons in 2011. In 2017 I realized everyone can be vegan and may even be significantly healthier as a result eating a well-planned vegan diet. Understanding the potential a vegan way of eating has for human health I became obligated to do all I can to share this information, learn more, explore far, and help others along the way as much as I can. To make sure, again I had to ask, "is there any reason to eat animals?" and no one could justify it for anything other than social conformity, an infantile habituation really.

In an effort to organize my contributions and efforts, free content creation for vegan businesses and events, I started VeganLinked.com as a website directory. I didn't have the budget or help to accomplish much beyond that in the first stretch of working on the site. I took a break from developing the site after a few months into it and just left it on autopilot while I was building up the YouTube.com/VeganLinked channel.

Now the channel is approaching 100K subscribers. I’ve shot hundreds of interviews around the country on location, solo. I produced a documentary for Jane Velez-Mitchell in 2019. I bought a house an hour and an half from me in 2020 to produce videos with Dr. Garth Davis; after fixing the house up, renting it b/c I can’t afford it, putting an accessory building on the property and turning that into a studio.

Garth and I did about 5 videos before he and his family suddenly had to move back to Texas. At the same time Dr Kong approached me about the book she was working on called Vegan Voices; composed of stories from 50 different authors.

I offered to interview some of the authors from her book if she helped me with travel and coordination. And it was that first run that set motion for hundreds more interviews to come.

Right away, about 3 interviews in, I realized I needed to do a documentary. I had helped Jane with hers but that was her vision and entirely her style. I just did all the editing and helped think things through and shot some of it.

The documentary I would love to do hasn’t been done really. And it’s unfolding now through the interviews as they progress.

As time has permitted over the years I have tried to come back to the website. Each time I have spent a couple or few months dealing with the developers and ultimately brought it a step further. I worked hard on the site from 12/22 to 3/23 and really overcame some milestones (with listings & events) that were holding me back for years. This enabled me to focus on and try and take the site to a new level (with user profiles) which brought on new issues. Now in 2024 I’m getting past those user issues and implementing a forum and hopefully getting to a point of stylizing the site and actually start promoting it.

So, that’s just some of how things evolved in my vegan life; from ethics to health, to everything and everyone, to doing all I can and now this is all I do. I would love to pull off a huge documentary. But, thus far it’s just been me with really zero budget. Consequently, it may just end up being more of a compilation instead of reshooting specifically for the documentary and with a team.

Our family were long term vegetarians and went vegan overnight after watching "What The Health".

Looking for info on osteoporosis and being vegan

I became a vegan for health reason and it was the best decision I ever made. I love eating plant based foods.

Hi, I’m Andy Liu, the founder of HZCORK. I met with Portugal cork on the year 2015. I went on an exclusive tour to Portugal and found there is cork shop in every streets and alleys. I was astonished by how cork can be used to do. Every cork item looks so beautiful and unique, like a piece of art. I decided to bring them to my homeland. So I create my own cork fabric manufacturing factory.

Cork is one of the most sustainable products and cork is very resistant, impermeable, vegan, eco-friendly, 100% natural, lightweight, recyclable, renewable waterproof, wear-resistant, biodegradable, does not absorb dust, thus preventing allergies. No animal products are used and no tests are made to animals.

Cork is also sustainably harvested-- the trees are not harmed in the cork removal process.

In 1984, I contracted chronic fatigue, irritable bowel, candidiasis, sinusitis, & 57 allergies. After a 3 year struggle with medicine, I got myself well within 6 months. I've been a raw vegan since 1991 and haven't been sick a day in nearly 33 years.

🫑🧅

Macrobiotic for many years, vegan from around 1990, at 62 feeling best I ever have, professional Alexander Technique teacher.

Volunteering in a farm made me realise how much like traditional pets, pigs, sheep, cows etc are. I realised I was hypocritical loving some and killing others. Videos online of the mistreatment of animals were the final tipping point and I've never looked back since.

I run Living with Warmth Vegan Family Guide

I got tired of being ill.

I was vegetarian for about a year because I became aware, and saw how animals were treated whether that be the food system, testing, or in products. I had heard animals were also treated like crap in the production of milk, eggs, cheese etc. And around this point I had not seen videos but decided to go vegan because animal exploitation is wrong, my mom and dad looked at me like a was crazy, and the only way I could prove to her that this was valid was through showing her validated statistics regarding the food system, and videos of the animal abuse, by the point I had watched one video it was enough to convince me to become straight vegan, it was hard at first but thankfully to the bounteous options Publix and Kroger have I was more than fine. And vegan lifestyle fits me well, for about a year it was hard however now I no longer crave meat or dairy products and my horrible allergies have disappeared, thanks for reading (:

A selfish unethical vegan. It's not about the animals and it's all about my health.

Been veg*n a long time.

I am the creator of Veggiepedia, your one-stop shop for all things vegan and green. Browse vegan foods, recipes, courses, cookbooks, brands, social groups, organizations, activists & much more. Coming soon also in ES, FR, PT, IT, DE! Read more about Veggiepedia and how you can join us or support us at https://www.veggiepedia.com.

None.

Caddied for Jack LaLanne as a teen, became an earth scientist, lost too many friends to heart attacks… All roads pointed me to plants.

Always had a connection to animals and once I learned I could live without harming any living being I couldn’t turn back!

For 32 years of my life I loved animals, but like most of us I also ate them.
Now 33 years later a 65 I remember the day I went fishing and hooked a fish in the Eye!
That was it, I could no longer cause pain and suffering too another Sentient Being.

I’m starting my vegan journey today! I’m ready to walk a spiritual path

After starting to raise silkie chickens as pets and learning what wonderful creatures they are, I realized I didn't want to eat chicken any more. Cutting out other meats became easy after that, but cheese, yogurt, and eggs remained in my diet. At that time I was still operating on things I had been led to believe from my past, like dairy and eggs were good for you, so I continued to consume butter, cheese, yogurt, and eggs. (I was also mostly unaware of the extend of indecencies that are occurring in big Ag, and I had a mental picture that vegans were protesters, which is not something I align with.)

Physically I had been steadily gaining weight since becoming a mother. A couple times I worked out really hard for a prolonged period of time and regained my prior lithe figure, but soon after lowering my activity level my weight would start to go up again. It was the proverbial story of "after having kids my body was never the same--and then after menopause it became worse." What became really frustrating was that no mater what I did to turn the table, I continued to gain weight. In my mind being vegetarian should have helped with weight loss, but not only was I steadily gaining weight I was steadily becoming more and more frustrated with my body, a self-picture that was new to me and was very disconcerting.

After being "mostly vegetarian" for a few years I was introduced to the whole food plant-based diet concept after watching "The Game Changers." At the conclusion of that movie the most prominent thought in my mind was, "Why haven't I heard this before?!" At that moment I became consumed with learning as much as I could about a whole plant diet and the health and environmental benefits of it. I watched every documentary available on Netflix and YouTube, then started watching every presentation by the prominent doctors and experts in the plant-based world I could find. Alongside that I began cleaning out my frig and cupboards of all dairy, and stopped eating my beloved chickens' eggs.

On July 4, 2020, I had my last vegetarian meal and began eating plant-based. I have no question in my mind of the power of this diet and look forward to experiencing its benefits myself. I also have no question that this will be my diet of choice until my end. But I also know that I'm fully dedicated to the plant-based lifestyle because I took the time to learned a lot about the nutritional, agricultural, and environmental factors. Based on my experience, I have a much better understanding of how much it takes to turn around one's mindset, and it is my hopes that I can, in some way, contribute to others beginning on the plant-based journey as well.

I had gone through a rough period in my life where I would get little sleep, no exercise, and ate fast food every day (McDonald’s what is the only place open at 1 AM). In late 2010, I decided I needed to make major changes having just tip the scale at 195 (only being 5’7”). One of the decisions I made was to change the way I ate. That let me to read book after book about various diet … and I read a lot of them. There were two books that I read that pointed me to a vegan or whole food plant-based diet: the China Study by T: Campbell and How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell Eccelstyn. So I adopted a plant-based diet in early 2011. I also decided to take running back up and began running marathons. I was quickly back down to my normal weight of 150.

While I see I adopted a vegan diet, I wasn’t very good vegan and consistently fell off the wagon. Cheese pizza was the usual meal that let me down the dark path; I guess you could say cheese pizza was my gateway drug. I would go off the wagon for 46 weeks at a stretch, which start feeling lousy, and then jump right back on.

I see my vegan story begins on June 27, 2017, because that’s the day that while I was riding the New York subway, I had my heart attack. Fortunately, it was an extremely mild heart attack … I walked to my office from the subway … after several doctors visits, one doctor sent me down and said the plaque on my arteries was better than most people, my age, but given my diet lifestyle, weight and cholesterol (175 at the time), I shouldn’t have any plaque. He suggested that I get tested for LPa. I tested positive for high levels of LPa and the doctor recommended. I keep my cholesterol as low as possible. That’s when I became a serious vegan.

I had discovered during my vegan apprenticeship, that it’s easy to cheat when you’re just eating for yourself. I then studied the effects that the meat, dairy and eggs industries have on the planet and more importantly, on the animals. It was, then I decided that I was going to eat not only for myself, but for the planet and my furry, feather and finned friends. I haven’t touched an animal product since.

My vegan journey is a long one. I stopped eating red meat and pork in 1996. I stopped eating white meat (turkey and chicken) in 2001. I stopped dairy in 2015. I was pescatarian off and on until 2019.

update later

I grew up thinking that animal products in general were such a part of "normal" everyday life. I never challenged any of it. Mid 2016, a friend started sharing information with me and I began to learn what I felt I already knew. It was difficult, realizing how long I had my back turned to the truth. I decided no more, I confronted the truth and learned to be a more compassionate and empathetic person. I believe in the movement so much, its also what I do for a living! Veganism is the future!

Devised a way to help people learn to improve health by leaps and bounds, including immunity! #byebyeCOVID and most other diseases, hello average healthy lifespans--> 120 years!

born and raised vegan! have enjoyed 47 years of vibrant health and feel better than ever - have been an advocate of going vegan for health, the animals and the planet since childhood and have guided many to this lifestyle... so thrilled to see how far it has come via sites like these

Transitioning to vegan lifestyle for the animals and the planet

Giacomo is the co-founder of VeganProteins.com and also co-founded PlantBuilt.com, a non profit organization of strength based vegan athletes who compete together to raise awareness for veganism and money for rescued animals at farm sanctuaries. As an assistant coach, Giacomo works in daily communications with coaching clients. Giacomo also uses his unique strengths to make sure the client is getting the best programming and guidance they can from the VeganProteins team. Giacomo has been vegan for over 10 years and involved with fitness for over 20 years in many different arenas and specializes coaching others and actively competes in bodybuilding and powerlifting specifically. Giacomo uses strength based sports & traveling to various Vegan Festivals across the country to raise awareness for animal rights and welfare. Giacomo has coached clients at NYSC, Bally’s Sport Club and LA Fitness. Currently, he coaches clients online for VeganProteins and holds a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from Cornell University.

I felt hypocritical calling myself an animal lover yet paying for someone to treat them inhumanely, slaughter and warehouse them for my future purchase and consumption.

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I had been vegetarian for around 28 years when I began to understand the horrors of the dairy industry. I went vegan in (approximately) the summer of 2013.

My girlfriend and I became vegan to try and improve our overall health; I had spent years feeling terrible and constantly getting sick and she suggested we both try it. Shortly after starting we watched the documentary Dominion and haven’t looked back since. Now we remain vegan not just because of the benefits to our body... but the earth, ecosystem, animals and every reason in between!

My doctor watched The Game Changers and encouraged me to go watch and go plant-based only. I laughed... UNTIL my hero Arnold Schwarzenegger explained how he went plant based, and from there I realized how many other people I greatly respected had also gone Vegan. I ordered cookbooks and haven’t looked back.

Went vegan for the animals, now it's mainly to save us all!

I have been vegan for over 5 years. I first went vegan for health reasons and now I am vegan for the animals. I am a full time animal rights activist.

8 years ovarian cancer survivor. No quimo or radio thanks to WFPB diet.

I'd been vegetarian for the past three years, and I didn't know the horrors of the dairy and egg industries. When I happened upon an article online, I realized I wasn't living consistently with my values, so I went vegan.

I went vegan for ethical reasons and plant-based for my health. Having grown up with dogs, I eventually got dogs myself. It was the amazing bond I formed with my pooches as an adult that opened up my empathetic eyes to the complex and beautiful spectrum of emotions that animals possess, and ultimately, provided me with the conduit to vegetarianism in 2014. After watching Earthlings, and resonating so profoundly with the message of activists like Gary Yourofsky, James Aspey and Earthling Ed, I went vegan in 2016. During this period, I had transitioned fairly seamlessly from an omnivorous junk food diet, to highly processed, vegan junk so I was a poor candidate to discuss, let alone showcase the health benefits of whole food, plant-based veganism. Documentaries like What the Health and Forks over Knives along with compelling literature such as The China Study and How Not to Die were pivotal influences in my decision to give up junk food, take control of my health and become a “poster boy” for plant-based eating.

Vegan runner

We were vegetarians for about 25 years and went vegan about 3 years ago. We only wish we did it sooner. We learned about the dairy industry and the terrible suffering of the cows and wanted nothing to do with it. We also learned the truth about the egg industry and it made us sick. Vegan for life!

I was vegetarian for 20 years and finally went vegan when I saw Mercy for Animals videos about the egg and dairy industries.

Inspired by a fellow runner's weight loss, and Bill Clinton going plant based. Read The China Study and How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. Decided to kick the tires on a plant based diet for one day, and never looked back. Effortlessly, lost nearly 90 lbs over the course of year.

I went vegan for the animals in 2020 when I realized iys not ethical not to be. A year after, I started a vegan & cruelty-free business for making vegan living easier.

I’m a former open heart recovery nurse. My husband and I have enjoyed a whole food plant-based lifestyle since 2011. As with many other health professionals, it was a life changing revelation to learn that we can prevent and reverse disease rather than merely attempting to slow the progression of disease.
One of the most challenging aspects of our plant-based journey has been growing our community of like-minded people to share life experiences. Even dining out with friends became a challenge because of limited healthy offerings.
I partner with the National Health Association (NHA), a non-profit science-based organization that has been championing the gold standard of a whole plant-food diet and lifestyle since 1948. We provide opportunities to travel promoting an active lifestyle with like-minded people enjoying healthy plant exclusive meals. I’m fortunate to be able to combine my passions for wellness and plant-based travel.

Just wanted to be healthy

I’m allergic to dairy and eggs and my sister is vegan. I moved down here and lived with her for a bit so I became vegan too.

I don’t really have a story. I’m not even sure why I transitioned but I do know that I feel better physically and mentally and I’m never going back.

I've been vegan since some time in early 2000. My reasons have shifted over the years, but I am primarily interested in the environmental benefits nowadays.

I was vegetarian for almost 30 years but still, I was Cognitive dissonant to the true plight of animals. With the birth of my daughter, my wife and I decided to take the big step of eliminating all animal products from our foods and from most of the items we use in our lives.

Watched "Forks Over Knives"
And was shocked!

Health reasons

Have none

I went vegan out of my love for animals.

Vegan low fat diet is my new plan, to overcome heart disease & pre-diabetes

I have not had meat since 1968 Became vegan in 1998

Co founder of www.plantbaseddata.org. Vegan physician and expert on vegan diet and health, environment, and pandemic risk reduction. Special interest in global equity and food security issues as related to plant based diet.

Grew in interest because of health problems and watching various documentaries on the whole food plant based diet.

Watched several documentaries on factory farming and found better vegan alternatives

At 58 a love for animals led me back to living as a vegan There were 4 failed attempts (from age 14 to 2005), all health-driven, each about a year long, and each ending because I felt I was inconveniencing those who cooked for me. In 2019 my biology students asked whether my love of animals had made me vegan. I was fermenting milk kefir then, and the question made me ponder long and hard. The next day I told my partner I would no longer eat animal products, and he was very supportive. COVID lockdown gave me time to learn to make my own food, so I’m never inconveniencing anyone else with my food choice. I’m a full-time wildlife and landscape painter, but 25 years in education (teaching biology) and 6 years as a chiropractor still had not readied me for the amazing health benefits that followed this last move back to the lifestyle that most suits me. Now I’m an evangelist!

During Corona quarantine, I became familiar with veganism.

Tenho 33 anos, nasci no Brasil e quando não estava muito satisfeita no meu curso universitário no Brasil, decidi visitar o Canadá - isso foi há 13 anos e desde então me tornei cidadã canadense.


Minha jornada veg começou aos 13 anos, quando li num zine, num show alternativo de punk rock, que mais de 90% das florestas são desmatadas por causa da “agricultura animal”.

Meses depois (1999), deixei de comer animais, também inspirada por uma nova amiga vegetariana na escola.



15 anos mais tarde, comecei a procurar grupos online de pessoas veg. Num evento, contando como eu era ovolacto pra uma moça, ela me perguntou “por que não é vegan?” - Eu não tive resposta e naquele momento já soube que queria ser vegana. Pesquisei, mudei hábitos alimentares e outros, assisti documentários e eventualmente vi um post no Instagram sobre uma vigília, evento da organização The Save Movement pelos direitos dos animais.
A partir daí, fui me envolvendo mais e mais no ativismo, até após 1 ano resolver sair do meu trabalho corporativo de 9 anos, me desfazer do meu apartamento e carro e viajar pra deixar de participar daquela rotina sistêmica e passar mais tempo com a família e vivendo a vida.
Minhas participação e organização de eventos ativistas enquanto fazia o mochilão não foram despercebidas. Falar português e espanhol também foram fatores pra uma das organizações que mais admiro me convidar pra turnês pela América Latina pra abrir mais grupos, atender VegFests e organizar vigílias, oferecer palestras e expandir o movimento pelos direitos dos animais nos países de língua portuguesa e inglesa.


Desde então, viajei por 20 cidades de 12 países exclusivamente pelo projeto #SaveLatino, abrindo novos grupos e não só organizando vigílias e palestras, mas também participando e (co)organizando eventos de conscientização, reuniões, Cubos da Verdade (Anonymous for the Voiceless), interrupções (DxE Direct Action Everywhere), resgates, investigações em matadouros, fazendas e feiras onde animais são usados e mortos.
Fora as ações de rua e o ativismo diretamente relacionado à causa animal, também participo ou apoio e tenho interesse em movimentos em prol do meio-ambiente, da população indígena, de imigrantes, moradores de rua, LGBTQ, saúde física e mental, e outros que lutam por um mundo mais justo e compassivo.

Mais recentemente, tenho aberto as portas da minha casa pelo AirBnB, onde posso conhecer e compartilhar experiências e informações com pessoas do mundo todo sem sair de casa. Também tenho pesquisado sobre o desperdício de alimentos fazendo o Dumpster Diving, onde temos a oportunidade de oferecer alternativas àqueles que não têm dinheiro pra se alimentar.