My name is Jasmine and I've been vegan now for one year! My journey didn't happen the way I expected it too. I honestly didn't know my journey would even lead to veganism. I started out as a pescatarian in October of 2014, mainly for my health. My husband was worried about our blood pressure since it runs in both of our families. So, I decided to take initiative and get on the right track. I was eating meat once a month and then in November of that year, the day that I had saved for my "meat day", I ate a burger, and my body chose to reject the flesh. I knew at that moment I was going to go full vegetarian (truly was pescatarian/ovo-lacto). In December I was curious about more vegan options and decided to look up something that I thought would be IMPOSSIBLE to find: vegan fried chik'n. All I could think was no way will I find this, and lo and behold, it popped up on YouTube!
I watched the video and told myself: you know what, if you can still have things like this as a vegan, why not just do it! My true transition began. I decided to try Veganuary for the month of January. I just completely jumped in. I wasn't sure what to expect, but once the month was over, I already knew it was meant to be: I had to stay vegan. I learned later about animal rights, and the cruelty of factory farming, and how despicable it is. It's even more of a reason to do what I do. At this point, it's about my health, but my number one priority centers on the animals. They don't deserve the exploitation. If veganism lets us still enjoy what we loved as omnivores in as cruelty-free a way as possible, why wouldn't we do it?
I currently throw monthly potlucks for vegans and non-vegans alike to show them the versatility of vegan food and how they're not "missing out" when they go vegan.
Here's my Instagram page: Jasmine_Goes_Vegan.
