My Journey To And Through Veganism

Eating for my health

My journey to veganism began over 10 years when I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an auto immune disease that attacks the colon. I wanted to find the best diet to deal with the horrible and painful inflammation. My doctors had told me that diet did not matter but I knew from my own trial and error that the opposite was true.  I cut out all dairy, eggs, fish, and meat and noticed relief right away. At the time, my husband, didn’t have any interest in joining me on my new lifestyle. But he was completely supportive and brought me to vegan restaurants all over NYC, cooked me amazing vegan meals and listened to everything I told him about the meat industry.  (Obviously a keeper!)

I became pregnant with my first daughter and had a very healthy, uneventful, all vegan pregnancy. She has been vegan since birth and is now 7. Throughout my pregnancy, I stayed in remission without symptoms. Once my daughter was born, my symptoms returned and it was obvious that diet would not be enough.

Although veganism didn’t cure me, it helped me so much for the following years until finally, I had to have a 3 step surgery to remove my colon. For 7 months, I lived with an ileostomy bag until my final surgery in which I was “hooked back up”. All through my surgeries, I remained vegan and I even healed remarkably fast after each one (so I was told by doctors and nurses).

Then came my younger daughter, she’s 2 and half now. I also had a fully vegan pregnancy with her and she has also been vegan since birth. This time around, I was feeling well before, during, and after pregnancy with no symptoms! Despite all this, my husband still wasn’t on board yet! When my youngest was about 8 months old, he decided to do a 30 day vegan challenge that lasted a full 8 months! He had an urge and ate chicken and other meat for awhile. After that little slip up, he realized how much better he was feeling while eating vegan. He’s now eating fully vegan for over 8 months now!

We love to spend our time in nature and road trippin’ for weekend adventures. We travel for vegan food as well but we have been fortunate to have so many options in our area now. A lot has changed since I started this lifestyle almost 11 years ago, but one thing that has remand the same is my passion for this lifestyle. I look forward to sharing more with you all!