Since the day I was born, I’ve loved milk -- probably a bit too much, to be honest. Are you a toddler who’s just had too much daycare drama to deal with and hates their greens? The mini version of me would’ve told you that milk is the answer to all of your problems! Way past the regular span of a child's milk obsession, I could be seen experimenting with different cereals and switching between my 2 percent and chocolate milk phases. Soon, a morning devoid of my daily ritual of a glass of milk resulted in a slightly off-balance, if not completely disastrous, day.

But what if I told you that the milk we’re drinking comes from a cow and is filled with a bunch of growth hormones that a baby calf is now being deprived of somewhere? The weird thing is, most of us probably already know this information, but have some vague idea about the “humane” ways animals are treated in order to create products such as meat, honey, and cheese. Or at least we’re conditioned to believe that's the case. Food, after all, has become a part of our culture and our diet is very personal to us, so why change it?

After spending summer nights obsessively watching documentaries such as “Cowspiracy” and “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” I couldn’t believe the things I was hearing. Whether it was because of the environmental impact, disease prevention and health benefits, or animal and human rights, I knew I wanted to make a change and start eating a whole foods, plant-based diet (no, that does not mean I’ll be eating only grass from the grocery chain Whole Foods, in case you were thinking that and were about to call me up to prevent me from making this bad life decision). Say hello to the newest member of the weird and “extreme” vegan club! (Should I list this on my resume before or after “angry feminist”?)

Jokes aside, this is something I really care about, and I wanted to write about it because I know there are a lot of people out there who are thinking about veganism. It is, after all, a process and doesn’t happen overnight, so it helps to have support, even if it’s from an online community. I also wanted to be held accountable in some way, even if that’s through this article that probably only my mom will read.

Besides the struggle of finding equitable alternatives to tasty Indian fish dishes and the classic mouth-watering hamburgers, there are also fun experiences such as going grocery shopping with your dad on a Friday night. So to end this new nutritional proposal to myself, I thought I would share a couple pretty pictures of the food haul I got to hopefully inspire me (and you!) to make more conscious food choices as a consumer. And to my fellow milk addicts, there is hope… delicious soy and almond alternatives to continue fueling your love.