A confession

I didn't want to go vegan. There, I confessed. You see, I had been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for 22 years and it was easy. I was comfortable. I was complacent. I had convinced myself that I was doing enough for the animals and I had all the usual justifications (excuses, really) for my actions. Q: What about eggs? A: It doesn't kill the animal. Q: What about leather? A: It's a bi-product of the meat industry and I wouldn't wear fur or anything killed JUST for its skin. These answers sound AWFUL to me now. It's difficult just to write it down!

I like to listen to podcasts while doing routine chores like weeding the garden. Looking on itunes for some new ones to try during the summer of '09, I stumbled across Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's "Vegetarian Food for Thought" podcast. I assumed it would be about vegetarian cooking, so I downloaded a couple of episodes. I quickly realized that although there were some great cooking and baking ideas included, the theme of the podcast is really vegan advocacy. But the episodes were engaging, and I was soon hooked. I downloaded the entire backlog of episodes and started hearing what I didn't want to know. I fought it for a while, but once my eyes were opened I realized that I couldn't go on eating dairy and eggs or wearing leather and live with myself. It took me a little longer to decide on honey, but after reading a book on beekeeping (in favor of it, actually) my eyes were opened and I said goodbye to honey and all my Burt's Bees lip balms as well. Then wool. Then silk. Pearls. The dominoes fell one by one.

When I became a vegetarian in 1988, I did it instantly. I had an epiphany -- that there's no moral difference between a dog or a cat and a cow or a chicken -- and the next moment I was vegetarian. But the vegan switch took longer, I'm sorry to say. I did NOT want to give up cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. I thought that without yogurt I might get yeast infections, and I was worried about calcium. I had to do some nutritional research, and I had to figure out how it would work in my marriage and my house, and my cooking. I had to think about how hard it would be to eat at restaurants, and what adjustments my friends and family would have to make. I needed to find out if I would be able to find decent shoes and belts and I had to figure out what to do with the leather stuff I already had. I took the final steps at the beginning of 2010, so it took about 6 months from the time I had the first idea that I might have to make a change until it was a done deal.

I am happy to say that all my concerns were unfounded. I have plenty of cute vegan shoes and belts and purses. I can eat out, and bake delicious treats, and I no longer crave cheese or yogurt. I figured out that if I take B12 and eat lots of healthful vegetables and a wide variety of leafy greens, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, that I'm covered nutritionally. I have not had a yeast infection, but if it had turned out to be an issue, there are soy yogurts that have active cultures, and there is acidophilus in tablet form. I gave up drinking cola to preserve my bones, and I get my calcium from plants. My family and friends adjusted, and are into the challenge of finding and creating great vegan meals. I'm the go-to girl for advice on a vegan diet at work as well. I was able to easily replace my household cleaning products and personal-care products and cosmetics with vegan products that work as well or better and are easier on the environment. Bonus! The internet is a great resource and made the whole transition easy and fun.

Most importantly, I have the inner peace of knowing that I am walking the walk. I don't have to make excuses or justify myself to myself. There is no cognitive dissonance between what I know to be right and what I am eating or wearing or using. It's a good place to be.