Its so hard to really write about yourself. Here goes nothing....
My name is Valerie. I live in New Hampshire with my two dogs Bailey and Grady, and my two cats Oliver and Consuelo, and the occasional foster dog ( We are probably one pet away from being legally deemed a zoo) I find happiness in the small things in life, and I try to find the beauty in the simple and ordinary.
My first dealings with veganism (or even hearing about it for that matter) started in early 2006, my Aunt Kathy gave me a book called "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins. That was all I needed to convert. At 19 it really shed some light on issues that I had no idea were going on, and I was completely outraged. My heart bled for the voiceless victims of factory farming. Hearing about the sick, dying and tortured animals sitting in small cages and pens, I was deeply horrified. While thinking about those horrors, I made a serious connection between these poor creatures and my two dogs. I really couldn't draw the line at which ones were for eating and which ones were for loving. It just didn't make any sense to me anymore. After I finished that book, I gave up meat and dairy and I never looked back. I felt like something inside of me was awoken.
It really was a huge lifestyle change for me, it opened my eyes to so many different aspects of being a vegan, not just the food parts. I started to become more conscious of the dangers of a typical American diet and lifestyle. Slowly I stopped eating processed foods, I stopped buying leather and other animal based clothing products, started using eco friendly household and beauty products, joined yoga classes, I even started to cook vegan dog food. I've never felt better. Myself then would have called myself now a crazy hippie, but I can honestly say that I feel like a more grounded, stable and connected person.
To me becoming a healthy vegan was all done in steps. At first, like a lot of us, I think, I ate a lot of faux meat and dairy products. (veggie burgers, faux mac and cheese ...etc) I had to learn how to feed myself all over again. I started to become a little impatient. Why aren't I feeling any different? Why is my skin still breaking out? Why am I still hanging onto these extra lbs? After awhile, little by little my taste buds started to change, and my body started to crave whole foods. And that's when I saw the significant improvement in my health and mental clarity and I was HOOKED.
