I have not eaten meat in over three years, and during that time I was fully vegan for one year—no animal products at all, including dairy, eggs or even honey.

That ended this past weekend.

If you read nothing else here, read this: I encourage everyone to go vegan, or at least vegetarian, at some point, or even just for some meals.

Take some time to educate yourself about where your food comes from instead of just eating the way you always have. It will take sacrifice and some modifications, but it will result in personal growth.

I did a lot of research before going vegan—and I continued to educate myself after making the leap from vegetarian to vegan—and let me say that I still believe factory farming is one of the great horrors of this time. Over the past few years I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about how our food is produced, about health, about human nature, about animals and about myself. Some of it was appalling, and some of it was enlightening.

Going vegan was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I have some great new favorite meals and, most importantly, a new outlook on life and food.

So why am I “breaking vegan”?

Because when someone I care about offers me something to try—something they love or something they’ve made, I want to be a part of that.

Because when I travel I want to experience the food and flavors of other cultures.

Because going out to eat with my husband, which used to be one of our favorite activities, could be an ordeal.

Because this is a non-vegan world.

I will not be going out and ordering bacon cheeseburgers and cooking mac and cheese for dinner every day, but I will no longer be living by a strict list of what I “can’t” eat. I will still support vegetarianism and veganism by eating those meals when available and continuing to purchase vegan products for my own use, but I will also engage in the world as it is—a world this is not ready to completely end use and production of all animal products, but that could be helped towards using less of these products as a first step.

Of course, this excludes me from being part of the vegan community. To the vegans who see this article and are preparing to comment with the surprisingly scathing cruelty I’ve seen in the vegan circles: this decision has not come lightly to me. I am trying hard to find a balance between my beliefs, the maximum impact I can make and a healthy, inclusive lifestyle.

What we need to do is try to understand how we, as a people, can reduce the harm we are causing to the animals, to our health and to the environment because of the way we eat. Some people are not ready to give up favorite foods and family recipes, so we have to find a balance.

I am coming to believe that the way to do that, at least at this point where the majority of humans are omnivores, is not in sudden and total abstinence, but in reduction.

If the majority of people simply ate less animal products, that would have a bigger impact than a small percentage of people becoming totally abstinent.

I still want to be an example of compassion. I want to minimize my animal intake but not live by a list of strict “no” foods. I hope you will consider doing the same.