Before I begin writing, I just want to make it clear that I AM 100% respectful of your food choices. I’m welcoming you right now, as a meat eater, egg eater, milk drinker, smoothie drinker, bug collector, carpenter, student, yogi, elementary school teacher– whoever you are, welcome. Seriously.

Today, I’m here to share my story. Not to tell you to give up your love of nacho cheese. 

I may be vegan but I know that I’m one of the lucky few that GET to choose. While I believe that a vegan diet is absolutely amazing, it just isn’t an option for some people. Whether it’s not having the accessiblity to whole foods or whatever, I know it’s simply not in the equation to some (however, that shouldn’t excuse you in giving it a try or even considering it if you have that priviledge to do so). 

I never in a million years thought I’d be a vegan. I thought they were a rare & mystical creature not only a year ago. But here I am, waving my hands in the air saying stuff like “GO VEGAN!” “KALE YEAH” “DON’T DRINK COW TITTY GOOP!”. Ok, maybe not like that…

Aaaanyways…. I come from a traditional Asian background and a lot of dishes can have loads of meat. I grew up with the World’s Best Cook aka my mom and so obviouly transistioning to a plant based diet meant I had to give up some childhood favorites. But I’m here to say: IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!

Today, I’m sharing why I turned towards a plant-based diet and how I plan to gear my brand/blog towards conscious and sustainable living.

Here we go.

It first started with cutting out red meat. That was a choice I made about a year ago (Feb 2016). Then in October of 2016 it was white meat. I still ate dairy at this point. Then in December of 2016,  as I started doing research and watching documentaries — it all clicked.  I’m the type that goes “all or nothing” so the moment it clicked for me, I was ready to change full circle. It might be different for some but that’s how I fully committed to veganism. It took one decision to try this lifestyle out and I never looked back. 

I remember the moment like it was an hour ago. I cried to myself in my room after watching Best Speech You Will Ever Hear – Gary Yourofsky , that was the night I was like OK— bye bye turkey legs. Just. Like. That. Yes, he can be really intense but it opened my eyes and I got curious about the subject so off I go into the mystical land of a vegan. 

I remember being so so so hesitant about telling anybody. Saying “hey I’m a vegan now” made me feel like a fraud and imposter. I thought “what if I don’t stick with this vegan lifestyle?” “what if my parents totally shun me?” “what if I slip up?”. GAHHHHH.

So much drama in my head. But I really wanted to give this a go because the ethics part of it made so much sense to me. I made a promise to myself that I would give it a try and I kept it pretty private up until a few months ago. I didn’t start to impress or to to be labeled anything- I was simply curious to see if I could do it. And to my happy surprise, I stuck with it ever since that decision back in December of 2016. 

It’s tough and somewhat hard at times, but I couldn’t imagine myself living my life any other way. 

Changing something so simple as diet has changed my attitude and mindset in the very best ways. After a few months of plant based eating I lost 12 pounds ( I can get more into that in another post).  It was completely unexpected and not the reason that I transitioned but heck, I was not going to complain. I also found myself actually feeling lighter and thinking clearer. I slept better. My nails and hair was growing strong. Etc Etc. You’re probably rolling your eyes right now but that’s my honest truth. I wouldn’t keep this lifestyle up if it weren’t the case because I do miss cheese on my nachos and a good salmon. But it’s not worth the trade off anymore so here I am– 9 months into my imperfect vegan journey, better than ever. Emphasis on the imperfect because you might have slip ups, but who cares. You’re doing your best and your eating whole foods most of the time anyways, I say that’s a #win. 

The most important thing for me was the decision to give it a GO. DECIDE that you want to pursue this lifestyle and don’t worry about the details or the possible slip ups and obstacles. Know that it is a process and always give yourself grace. 

Top 5 tips when starting:

1. Do research on vitamins and minerals you’ll need to pay attention to; iron, b12, zinc, magnesium, omega 3’s  
2. Follow and get involved in a vegan community online or off. My favorite is watching vegan youtubers! (ellen fisher, livshealthylife, sweet simple vegan) — to name some of the many few)
3. Let the people closest to you know why you are transitioning and the importance of their support. Trust me, telling my traditional Asian mother that I’m not eating her amazing pork steamed buns anymore was heartbreaking but she now is so understanding & in the end, it’s all worth it.
4. Having a health log aka food journal on what you eat, how you feel and any thoughts can really help when it comes to accountability.
5. Cooking is actually so much fun (and cheap) because there are so many resources out there. But start off with the basic dishes first then branch out to the fancier stuff, that makes it easier.

So that’s how I started my vegan journey in a nutshell.

Now, I have some exciting news to share– I’m currently rebranding my content to be more geared towards wellness and plant based living. In the upcoming months, I’m working on relaunching my youtube channel and putting together an ebook! *cue the confetti 

So much ambitious-ness but I’m ready to dive on into this and I’m so excited for you to join in.

I respond to every message, email or comment that I recieve so don’t hesitate to reach out!

nacho cheese and cow titty goop,

Bella  

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