Hi, I went vegan on New Year’s Day 2014 (same as James Aspey incidentally) after being veggie 30 years. I realised I wanted to align my lifestyle with my morals when I realised being veggie wasn’t enough. The thing that stopped me originally was the usual ‘oh well I don’t like soya milk and can’t live without cheese!’ I also thought living with a family of 1 veggie and 2 omnis would make meal times impossible. As a veggie I had bought and cooked meat but hated it. Once I went vegan I could no longer do this so from them on in I only cooked vegan food. Now 1 daughter is vegan and my husband veggie so that’s progress. If you’re not vegan I’d ask you to ask yourself this ‘if it’s not good enough for you eyes is it good enough for your stomach?. Basically watch some of the documentaries I’ve listed at the bottom of this page. Here are some common questions/statements people say when they meet a vegan. But if I only eat eggs from my well looked after backyard hen surely that’s ok? Hens have been bred to lay way more eggs than they would have normally. This depletes their body from nutrients. If you buy products containing eggs from supermarkets or eat meals containing eggs outside the home they will most likely come from the cruel egg industry. Did you know male chicks are killed at 2 day old? Methods are gassing (happy egg company use this method), suffocation or live grinding. In some counties they just bury the male chicks alive. I only eat fish .... or chicken, or I only eat meat 1 day a week. All animal products are cruel, the sea is over fished and we are stealing food from sea animals and birds that rely on fish in their diet. If you’ve reduced your meat consumption with the intention of going veggie then vegan then fab. Otherwise you’re only paying for less animals to be killed. But cows need to be milked and no animals die in the dairy industry? Cows have to be pregnant and give birth every year to keep producing milk. The milk is meant to feed their calves but so humans can have a bit of milk in their tea or in their cereal (plant milks are amazing now and much healthier for you) or ‘can’t live without cheese’ the calves are taken from their mothers at sometimes hours old (and less). As a mother I can’t imagine anyone taking my child away. Both mother cow and calf cry out for each other. The calf is then either raised for veal and slaughtered at a very young age after being kept in confinement for weeks and months of Male, or if female raised to produce milk. Did I mention dairy is unhealthy? Check out dairy is scary. But animals kill other animals? To survive. We don’t need to kill animals or pay for them to be killed to live happily and healthily. In fact the world would be a much better place if we didn’t! But if everyone went vegan overnight what would happen to all the animals? Well that’s not going to happen is it? 😂 Veganism is increasing at a rapid rate (I can see a massive change in products available in the last 5 1/2 years). As more people go vegan less animal products will be produced and less animals bred to be slaughtered. It’s the circle of life. Not for humans, we’ve evolved haven’t we? Yes animals kill other animals but see above. We don’t need to. I’m a vegan runner and joined as soon as I dared. The first time I wore the green and black vest to a parkrun (every Saturday morning around the country at 9am) it was nerve wracking as I was the 1st regular to wear one. We now regularly have 5 and get together to celebrate milestones and birthdays. I started a number of FB groups to help vegans meet each other and share info about vegan products in the area. Through another FB group (I’m in a lot) I ended up joining an activist group 30 miles away and made some fabulous friends. I’ve attended many outreach events with them including the AV cube of truths, food and leaflet outreach, anti fur outreach and a march to highlight the plight of beagles used in labs for testing on. Last year myself, daughter and husband attended my first (and hopefully not last) animal rights march in London. If you’re vegan and want to go just do it. In my local town we’ve started to have more regular meet ups and 3/4 my new beginners running group members are vegan. Through parkrun I’ve met lots of lovely people but wearing the green and black vest means planting seeds and other vegans will always approach you because of it (or give you a GO VEGAN RUNNER) shout out. You don’t have to be fast or thin to join VR. Just google vegan runners, it’s only £6 for a years membership. If you’ve read this far and are not vegan I suggest watching one of the documentaries. Animal welfare Land of hope and glory Dominion Earthlings Environment Cowspiracy Health Forks over knives What the health Swine