Before you assume that I am one of those "vegans-from-birth" who “never experienced the great taste of a medium-rare, juicy hamburger before”, let me tell you a little bit about my journey.

My grandfather was a butcher. I grew up with my mother cooking me steak and potatoes, meatloaf, chicken parmesan; basically, the only vegetables we ate were sides to the main, meaty dishes. I never questioned where my food came from; I never even associated meat with the animals I claimed to love so dearly.

During my junior year in high school, I became a fitness junkie. I worked out every day, ate healthy salads for almost every meal and drank copious amounts of water. While I was cautious of the food I put in my body, there was still a part that was disconnected from reality.

I didn’t want to give up the comfort food that I grew up with. But then, one day I ran into a post that said “If you can’t kill it, how can you eat it?” and the lightbulb moment happened instantaneously.

It was then that I knew I must watch the videos I avoided for so long. I stopped saying “but I just couldn’t live without chicken” because the truth was that chicken couldn’t live as long as I was breathing. I was killing the animals and I was killing the planet. Needless to say, I bawled my eyes out while watching Earthlings for the first time, and I’m not sure if I was crying because of the torture I was witnessing or because I was a consumer of that exact pain and suffering for the entire 16 years of my life.

I have been vegetarian for 3 years and vegan for 6 months. In the short amount of time that I have been vegan, I have noticed a bigger change in my health than I did while rigorously working out. Veganism has changed my life, and I owe my health to the videos I watched that opened my eyes to the truth.

Am I missing out on anything? No, I don't think I am. In fact, I am more satisfied and fulfilled than ever before.