Lindsay is a professional dancer, Shiatsu Therapist, fitness trainer and Therapeutic Recreation student from Toronto, ON. She is constantly working to help others mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Being vegan for over a year, she now implements her vegan lifestyle into all areas of her work. Whether she is creating dances, fitness training or healing others with Shiatsu, she is continuously advocating for others to take on a more vegan lifestyle.

Prior to becoming vegan, I was an extreme healthy and chemical free vegetarian. When I decided to go vegan it was for spiritual and cleansing reasons. I felt in order to be whole mind, body, and spirit that it only made sense to cleanse myself of all animal flesh. My friends and family are used to me going to the extreme in my life, so going vegan seemed natural for me. I have even now inspired some of my friends and family to slowly transition to go vegan.

Veganism is a vital component in keeping your body healthy on the inside and outside. As a fitness lover, dancer, and trainer I feel so much more energised since I became vegan. What's important to remember is that going vegan does not mean instant healthy bliss. The fact is you need to avoid junk food, processed foods, and chemicals as much as you can; just as when you are not vegan.

I think being vegan as a black woman can be very influential and is really important to help rid the black stereotype of our inability to live without eating chicken and other flavorful foods. If we consider the Rastafarians who live an "Ital" way of living in which they utilize and only eat from the earth, this would suggest that veganism has nothing to do with being a "white' fad or trend right now.

In regard to veganism being expensive, I would tell people to go in their fridge and look at what they are already spending their money on. Most people spend more then enough money on meats (eggs, chicken, bacon etc) as well as other processed foods that just sit in their cabinets. Going vegan means you will buy a lot of veggies, fruits, legumes etc, however you will no longer be buying all that meat and processed foods. So as far as being expensive that won't be the case, you would either be spending the same amount, or from my experience and after helping others to transition, you can actually end up spending a lot less.

On a final note, as a black dancer and woman I think we have to work much harder at advocating and bringing awareness about veganism and racism. I use dance performances as a means to tell a story and through that hope to influence other black women to understand how beautiful and how much power and influence they can have in this world.

Both physically cleansed and at my highest state of spirituality, going vegan was the best decision I have ever made.