#myveganstory

[hapyyfood-blog]

About me

Hi, I’m Karolina and I live in Germany but I’m actually from Poland (I moved to Germany a few years ago). I’m still going to school (and this is in fact a school project that we are doing) and I’m one of those people who really like school. I know you probably aren’t and I can understand that because school sucks sometimes but most of the time I really like it.

Another thing that I really enjoy doing is cooking (and of course eating what I cooked). It’s a really big part of my life because I’m vegan and my family isn’t so I have to cook on my own but it’s not a problem for me bacause like I already said I honestly love it. 

And this is de facto what this blog will be about : FOOD (vegan food of course) 

Maybe a short story about my vegan journey. I became vegan at the beginning of 2019. At the end of 2018 I didn’t eat any meat because I just didn’t like the taste of it and then I started doing research about vegetarianism and veganism. I found a lot of information and documentation about this topic and it really shocked me because as a kid in a non-vegan family you don’t really wonder where your meat at the plate comes from and why you’re actually eating it. After that I decided that I want to try with veganism and see how I do. It was actually my New Year’s resolution and I just did it. Like you see I’m still vegan and it was a lot easier than I thought at the beginning. 

So now you know what I’m doing here and I hope you will read my next post.

~Kala 

[veganvan916-blog]

The Longest Year of My Damn Life

This has been the longest year of my damn life! Well... Not really but kind of! You see the year has been extremely informative and educational. It has also been tumultuous and rewarding.May 17, 2018 marked my 1 year anniversary in this vegan world and let me tell you, this shit is amazing. Side bar- The word vegan gets so much negativity attached to it, so I have started using the term “Earthly Eater” meaning that I eat what comes from the Earth. From now on I will refer to vegan as Earthly Eating. Okay! Good... 

 I have learned quite a bit of things over the past year and I know that I will only learn a ton more as the years go by.  In this blog I will take you through some of the most important things that I have learned over the past 367 days and give you an insight to what this “Earthly Eating” can do for you. I will break it down into sections and explain so that I can clearly paint a picture of what I learned as well as sprinkle knowledge onto someone who may be at the precipice of jumping into this Earthly life. I hope that these words find everyone who reads this well and sheds some light on to your lives. Let’s start with one of the main things that I have learned...

START SLOW

Not as in slowly ween yourself off the meat and dairy,however, if you need to do that, DO IT. But start slow as in, know that it is okay to eat processed foods at first. Know that you are NOT perfect and there may be a time where you eat something in this stage that upon further review, contains milk. Yes, you will forget to read the label EVERYTIME, but you will learn to. You will forget to eat before you go out or pack a snack for after your outting, but you will learn to.  All of these things will help you find your way in the world of earthly eating.

UNCERTAINTY HAPPENS

If you are uncertain, IT’S NORMAL! Not 1 person has jumped into this earthly lifestyle with all the answers.  Example.You may be asking, can I have marshmallows or gummy bears? No because of gelatin. What is gelatin? Pork fat! It’s not listed on the packages in bold lettering like milk or eggs. I didn’t know at first, but they MUST list milk and eggs on the bottom and in BOLD if they are used in the making of that food item. They also have to list other stuff like soy and nuts because of they are a part of the 7 deadly allergens, EGGS, TREE NUTS, PEANUTS, SHELLFISH, FISH, WHEAT & SOY. So ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS and when in doubt put that shit back

 FINE TUNING HAPPENS

On its own, it happens, as long as you stay the course. You will learn things like which foods are processed and which are not. You will learn how to cook foods that you never thought you would even try... What you know about fennel or rhubarb. A funny thing happens when you actually dive into earthly eating without restrictions or limitations. You stop being lazy and start getting back to the basics. You start cooking again. Y’all remember what that is right? Pots, pans, seasonings you know shit like that. Not only that. You start challenging yourself and the cooking becomes FUN. You find new things to cook and develop in the kitchen. Now, that boring recipe for rice and beans becomes a curried garbanzo dish over cilantro rice, or instead of getting canned beans you get dry beans and go through the labor of letting them soak rinsing them and then finding out that, shit, if I add smoked paprika and a bay leaf to this it gives it a way better flavor than the canned beans. You get ideas in your head like, if I take these 2 bean types combine and mash them with some spelt flour, instead of regular flour, and seasonings I can make gluten free burgers! You start to fall in love with what you can do for yourself and your family in the kitchen and it is no longer cooking but it is an adventure.

 MENTAL CLARITY HAPPENS

At some point in your journey, if you are actually doing it and removing processed foods and other “bad vegan” foods from your diet, your brain opens up to a different level of ascension . For myself, this happened 7 months into my lifelong marathon. Once I removed the loads of processed crap from my life, I started to recognize something changing. Okay, I can’t lie… Potato chips have been the hardest to get rid of…. Damn chips! I started to see things that were happening around me in a light that I had never experienced before and it was BEAUTIFUL. I stopped using derogatory words to address myself and my friends, and started using uplifting and inspiring ones. I started to notice how, everyone knows this exists we just never fully pay attention to it and don’t understand that we are being affected, I started to notice how the media was DIRECTLY attacking the minds of our children, using beautiful colors and jingly ass jingles to shape and mold our youth into yearning for whatever product they were selling and or guiding them to whatever specific outcome they were seeking and it made me sick. I have children, and when I hear my son sing a jingle that has nothing to do with childhood, I CRINGE. You know, “When steak is really this good, you show it in slow mo”. Not saying that earthly eating puts up some magical shield against these jingles, just saying that I was clearly seeing the brainwashing and it sickened me. Instead of laughing at my kid for singing whatever jingle, I looked at myself and knew I had to do more to shape and mold his mind. I had to make the promise to myself that I was going to do everything I possibly could to combat the onslaught of brain washy ass uppercuts that they were throwing to make sure my children can formulate their own opinions.

 POSITIVITY HAPPENS

Not sure when it happened or why, but I got happy. I mean I got really happy. I started listening to motivational speeches and joyful jams, that’s literally the playlist I have on my music app. I started to smile more and enjoy the moment. I started to STOP complaining. I took a deeper look inside myself and decided that I would no longer let the small things bother me. I became filled with joy and with each passing day the joy that I had intensified. I stopped entertaining complaints, and whenever someone came to me with them, I would do one of two things, I would say “ok well, what are you going to do about this situation” or I just wouldn’t respond. I started to see something amazing happen. Other people around me were starting to catch the joy that was oozing out of me, and people were letting me know it. They would come up to me and say, Ian I don’t know what changed but you have been super happy on social media and in person and it is contagious. Not only that. Positive things started to happen for myself as well. I had been wanting to start my cooking business, as well as  start spreading positivity about this life, and just like that, I did. One day I just started doing things and I haven’t looked back since. Because I have been focusing on the positive and removing negative thoughts, great things like meeting new people with a mutual interest in helping each other has happened I have had complete strangers reach out to me and tell me that they love my energy, I mean I truly changed my ways and I was all the more better for it.

 HEALTH HAPPENS

I was pre diabetic, had high blood pressure and ached EVERYWHERE! Well……… Notice I said was! Yeah, that’s right, WAS. Since becoming an Earthly Eater, the aforementioned issues are null and void.  I noticed that I was able to work out now and I felt completely different than before. I also noticed that after the workout, instead of being completely gassed and wiped out, now I was actually good. Don’t get me wrong now, I can tell that I have worked out, but the aches and pain from all the inflammation that I had was gone now and the sheer exhaustion had left with it. My health completely turned around and I was all the more better for it.

 LIFE HAPPENS

The biggest and greatest take away from this is that LIFE HAPPENS. When you eat the way we were designed to eat, Life truly happens. I have lost weight, gained some back from drinking but that’s a different story. I have improved my health; I have cleansed my soul and gained a joy that was unknown to me. I have gained a higher level or thought and education. I have seen a light shine in others because of how bright the light shinned in me. All of this is life & all of this is love. In reading this I hope that you all will take away 2 things.

Number 1… Eat Earthly damnit lol

Number 2 and more importantly, because I know that even after me telling you that this has been the best decision of my life a bunch of y’all are going to go eat a damn steak, hell some of y’all are reading this with some form of animal product on your plate or in your hand, put down the drumstick man lol.

No seriously number 2, Be the love that you want to see. What I mean by that is, if you are someone who wants to see a better world, then be that “better”. If you are someone that sees mass shootings, unlawful police killings, crimes against children or any other atrocity and it makes you sick to your stomach. If you see these things and it makes you say NO! This isn’t right and it must change! If this is you, then I need you to BE THAT CHANGE.I want you to approach each day and opportunity with positivity. When the bullshit comes your way, sidestep it and get right back in your positive lane. I want you to remain in your positive space because I can guarantee you this. If the sun shines on you long enough, you can’t help but to warm up! This means, be that sun and shine your light on others so that they can’t help but to warm up. Be the love you want to see. Stay positive, smile, laugh and love life. After all… as far as we all know. You only get one. Till the next time… PEACE!

Ladies & Gentlemen I appreciate your attention and I appreciate your time. The fact that you took time to read this is extremely humbling and I want you to know that you are appreciated.

Please subscribe and follow my journey through this Earthly life on YouTube where you will be able to find weekly recipe videos, tips and updates.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pwEWkm0qsPOzqU0pKHxPA

[thecouragegiver]

Today is a great day to take a #risk on your greatness #inspiration #listen #confidence #courage #vision #nobrainer #change #overcomingobstacles #life #hope #iamrjjackson #mystory #arepositionedjourney #afatherslove #secondtimearound #takeariskwithconfidence #success #veganstory #myveganstory #journey #food #dontjudgemechallenge #podcasts #women #plantbased #womeninpodcasting https://www.instagram.com/p/BxK7LwiF7Xh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1j7uzuty1hz27

[cutelilshit]

Story Time

Actually this really isn't a story this is me just writing something in the hopes that out there somebody somewhere would take the time to actually read this. In advance I apologize for my improper grammar. I've never been good at writing. Well life update since I feel as if I have disappeared from some things in my life such as just happiness. This was led up by a girl in high school who had a shitty self esteem and admiteddly relied on a boyfriend to be her emotional support and everything. Daddy issues to the max to be honest, but with all that aside I think I am finally getting my shit together. It's fucking amazing. I mean of course it's not perfect I have been really neglecting on practicing and maintaining my studies, but sadly I think I will need to end some of my activities just to ensure that I get things that I need to do done. Aside from that I have been doing really well with furthering myself. This past year I searched for help with my anxiety and depression and on the way to effectively like being able to function again. First semester I hit the wall really fucking hard after being told that I had carpal tunnel in my left wrist and being a classical guitarist finally falling in love wiht everything was heart breaking. A lot of things went south that semester and I was really alone and scared. Shit honestly sucked a lot. Plus school wasn't super easy for me. Having no prior music education like in a classroom definetly kicked my ass and still does when jumping into the collegiate level of the subject. Moving onto the good shit. I'm doing things and healing myself. I admit that my family experience was not a normal one and realized that the verbal abuse still can effect you no matter the form. Hoard eating and emotional eating has assisted in my immense weight gain. Realizing that I will be unhealthy very soon to the point were I will be stricken with illness that are conjoined with such a unhealthy weight could really destroy the happiness I have found a motivation to finally create for myself. On April 13 of this past year I finally went vegan. It had been something I was planning to do for years, but never had the guts to do it. At first it was a way to kick my ass into getting healthy with working out and such but now it's something completely different. I never feel guilty about the food that I eat. I have always loved animals, but it wasn't just the guilt to the animals it was also to myself. I was feeding myself these processed, unnatural, and just the product of a corrupted system due to the greed and the high demand that nature doesn't have enough time to defeat. Now, I am happy when I eat and I just don't eat as much from this tranisiton my binge eating and just the portions I consume have decreased imensely and it isn't that I am starving myself I'm full and all the food has amazing flavor. To be honest that is one of the things that has always irritated me the people who say there isn't any flavor and that could not be further from the truth. Since I have gone vegan and being back home I have forced myself to go to the gym. I don't rue it or hope for it to be over I encourage myself to push my times and enjoy the empty space in my mind when I'm just running to music or just focusing on my breath pattern. All in all shit is going better and I can proudly say that since I believe January I have lost 25 pounds and to say that gives me the largest weight of off my shoulder. I catch myself smiling now, I can't remember the last time I did that.

[vegannewsnow]

#MyVeganStory : Cassie King DxE Communications Lead

[luvfitall]

New video here! https://youtu.be/hLZtoi4W2_I I discuss “What 8 Years Of Being Vegan Did to Me and My Body.” Plus give you a few “Reasons I am Ashamed to be Vegan.” And Yes my hands have green dye all over them because I am turning into a vegetable. (jk-this was filmed on St.Pattys Day and …well..enough said) Sincerely, thank you for watching! Hope you enjoy! #WhatVeganDidtoMe #WhatBeingAVeganDidToMe #8yearsvegan #vegan #veganlife #veganstory #myveganstory #thetruth #ashamedtobevegan #veganlifestyle #healthy #holistic #holistichealing #healing #health #healthylifestyle #veganlifestyle #healthylife #healthyliving #reasonsiamashamed #howibecamevegan #nutrition #body #benefits #veganstory #healingnaturally #energy #nutrients #lifeasavegan

[thecouragegiver]

❤️We are LIVE today at 3:30p pst. 5:30p. and 6:30pest. Tune in LIVE or watch the replay starting at 4p pst ❤️Would you like to learn why RJ is vegan and more about the vegan plant based #diet ❤️It’s happening today and you are #invited to meet us at the table for an epic conversation at http:// conversationsoncourage.com ❤️Tune in NOW at https://conversationsoncourage.com Link in the bio Or on itunes, iheart, spreaker or your favorite podcast platform. ❤️Tune in and share the broadcast. #inspiration #listen #confidence #courage #vision #nobrainer #change #overcomingobstacles #life #hope #iamrjjackson #mystory #arepositionedjourney #afatherslove #secondtimearound #takeariskwithconfidence #success #veganstory #myveganstory #journey #food #dontjudgemechallenge #podcasts #women #plantbased #womeninpodcasting https://www.instagram.com/p/BxLZfi7ly2J/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=vata3azc1au5

[vegannewsnow]

#MyVeganStory: Philip Anthony Mangano, From Self Destructive Partier To Health And Fitness Model

Philip Anthony Mangan was on a self destructive path with partying and drinking literally being his business. Veganism turned that all around and now he tells his #MyVeganStory.

Ever wonder what exactly makes some people change their lives completely and just how they manage to do it?  Well, it’s some of the same questions that researchers have been trying to figure out for decades.

It’s also the questions that Philip Anthony Mangan wondered about himself before making all of the positive changes in his life.

Over the past few years becoming a successful model &…

[amysveganadventures]

I created my You Tube channel! Check out my first video. If you want me to post more videos like and subscribe!

[thecouragegiver]

❤️We are going LIVE today at 3:30. Tune in or watch the replay starting at 4p pst ❤��Would you like to learn why RJ is vegan and more about the vegan plant based #diet ❤️It’s happening today and you are #invited to meet us at the table for an epic conversation at http:// conversationsoncourage.com ❤️Today , May 7, 2019 at 3:30p pst• 5:30p cst• 6:30p est ❤️Tune in at https://conversationsoncourage.com Link in the bio Or on itunes, iheart, spreaker or your favorite podcast platform. ❤️Tune in and share the broadcast. #inspiration #listen #confidence #courage #vision #nobrainer #change #overcomingobstacles #life #hope #iamrjjackson #mystory #arepositionedjourney #afatherslove #secondtimearound #takeariskwithconfidence #success #veganstory #myveganstory #journey #food #dontjudgemechallenge #podcasts #women #plantbased #womeninpodcasting https://www.instagram.com/p/BxLGMZxFGq5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2u4svlncdfnn

[vegannewsnow]

#MyVeganStory : DxE Organizer Kitty Jones

[josephrocca]

A good friend started the ‪#‎myveganstory‬ page on Facebook and asked me to contribute. I also painted the above 2 pictures for the occasion (left from reference, right from imagination, higher res here).

I grew up on a farm in Tasmania for a large part of my childhood. It had rainforest, a river with waterfalls, real-life Tarzan vines (which rarely broke mid-flight), and lots of animals. It was a goat dairy, so those animals were mostly goats, but we also had dogs, chooks, horses, a ferret, a budgie, a pet possum, and the wild animals, including wallabies, rabbits and all sorts of birds.

Looking back, we treated the animals according to their species, and in some cases, gender. If you were a dog or ferret we protected and loved you for your companionship, if you were a goat, we protected you for your utility, unless you were male and therefore couldn't produce milk. As is the case on most dairies, almost all males are killed at birth, or sold to be grown as meat. If you were a bird, you were left alone, or shot, or bred, relative to your usefulness; hens got to live, roosters were killed, our budgie got to live, sparrows got trapped and killed.

All this, as some of you probably know, is pretty standard farm practice. A farm isn't a holiday for animals - it's a business, and if you're an animal that's causing profits to fall, you're not going to last long. In all cases, animals lives depended on their ability to please us, whether by profit or affection. I didn't realise this, or if I did, I managed to convince myself, like we all have from a young age, that it's necessary to treat animals this way - a necessity that I now completely deny. In our society and many others, the lives of humans, dogs and cats have moral value, whereas the lives of cows, pigs, chickens, sheep and goats have only economic value - they're commodities.

Of the killing, without getting into too many details, it is worth mentioning that bullets are expensive and dangerous to use in sheds. Clubs and knives are favoured alternatives with exceptions for larger animals like horses. Killing is only half of the story though - dehorning, castrating, ear tagging, and a bunch of other painful procedures were necessary to run the farm properly. Dehorning, for example, involves burning into the kids head with a specially made iron (ours looked like a oversized cigarette lighter), to the extent that the horns don't grow anymore. It's a bit like holding a the cigarette lighter to the base of your thumb nail until it's burned through and created enough scar tissue to stop it growing back. Harvey Fresh doesn't tell you this on the carton.

Hunting was a regular pastime and necessary activity to keep pests out of the paddocks - mostly wallabies, but the hunts I remember best are the ones we went on after moving back to WA. 'Serious' hunting in the south west of Australia is pretty much restricted to pig hunts. They're introduced, so hunting them is encouraged. We hunted with a ute full of trained dogs along with the guns, knives and a spotlight. We'd drive until the dogs got the scent, they'd jump off, and then we'd follow. The three or four dogs would run down a sow or a big boar, and we'd arrive not long after. With the dogs locked onto ears, legs, tails and whatever else, it was safer for the dogs and more sportsman-like to 'stick' the pig, rather than shoot it. In the early hours of the morning, only minutes since it had been happily living its life with the others, a sows final sensations after the long chase were of its ears being torn off, bones being broken by dogs renown for their bite strength, and then, finally of a blade through her ribs, or across her throat.

Hunting pigs is different to hunting many other animals - mainly because of how smart they are, but also because of how hard they fight until their last breath. They aren't a natural prey animal, so they don't 'give up' or go down as quietly as animals like the buffalo and deer we see on nature documentaries, they'll struggle and squeal right until the end. They'll also work together and help each other to fend off the dogs when they've been cornered or exhausted and back up into hollow tree trunks or thick mud where they'll be able to defend themselves better. Pig hunters enjoy hunting them precisely because of these reasons - their intelligence and relentless lust to survive makes the 'game' more fun. An ex-pig hunter I know who is now pescetarian summed it up well, he said (paraphrasing): "Hunting pigs is more like hunting a tribe than a herd; they work together, strategise to throw the dogs off or lead them away from their young, and fiercely fight back when cornered." And I guess you wouldn't expect any less from a species whose intelligence rivals dolphins and elephants in many aspects.

Maybe you're wondering how anyone justifies this sort of barbarism? Well, they're damaging our farms and our wildlife (never mind that 54% of Australian bush has been turned into meat livestock grazing land), and so it's easy to look at them as 'others' and aliens which need to be annihilated with a get-out-of-jail-free card for any moral concessions that have to be made along the way. In the hunting community it goes further than this though - pig are hated; half because every now and then a much-loved hunting dog is killed by a boar, and half because the hate becomes a necessity if you're going to maintain sanity when you're regularly causing that much suffering.

My transition to veganism began a few years into my uni degree. I'd lost interest in hunting, though we still went every now and then. One night a few friends and I were talking about slavery, racism, oppression and other tragedies of humankind's past, and at some point we started to talk about how future generations will look back on us. We all agreed that since it's possible to live a healthy life without killing animals, and since this is known by most people, our generation would eventually be looked back on as ridiculously immoral for the billions of animals we kill or cause to suffer each year. Nothing ground breaking - even Leonardo da Vinci, being centuries before us predicted this, writing:

"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."

But at that point we realised that it's so easy to notice our immoral actions, but then ignore them for the 'reality' of the situation, or because everyone else is taking those actions anyway. So, sort of in defiance, we decided to align our actions with our beliefs by turning pescetarian.

Six months later I watched Earthlings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibuQ-J04eLQ) and after a little more investigation into production animals and fish sentience, I was vegan.

A few months later and my whole family and several of my friends are now vegan or vegetarian (and 1 pescetarian), many thanks to Earthlings, Farm to Fridge (http://vimeo.com/22143776) and research of their own.

There is no reasonable and consistent moral philosophy that mandates avoidable suffering and murder. Nevertheless, we humans have managed to convince ourselves that it is the right of our species to dominate others based solely on our capacity for language and high-level reasoning. We think that since a chicken or pig is not as intelligent as us, it can be exploited without moral consequence. We think that 'the circle of life' is a justification for causing completely avoidable suffering - a tragic appeal to nature. And maybe worst of all, we think that our philosophical position is reinforced by consensus - by the same herd morality which has been used to justify all sorts of oppression including slavery and the denial of certain rights to other races, women, and countless other 'inferior' and 'less intelligent' groups. For animals, besides denying them the fundamental right of freedom from involuntary servitude, we even deny them the right to their own wings, arms and legs. Next time you bite into a drumstick, consider whether it was you, or the chicken who had more right to its own legs.

Hopefully, if you're not a vegan, you don't take this as me judging you for your philosophy - I hunted, ate meat, and probably caused far more suffering and death than the average person in the 20 or so years that I wasn't vegan, so there's no way I can judge you. I only urge you not to feel smug about being on the side of the majority - I know I did. Be skeptical, critical and let evidence and reason guide your decisions over the potentially uninformed majority's consensus.

I think it's clear from my story that for me (and actually, for most vegans I know), veganism is not a diet. It's the philosophy that animals should have the right to own themselves and determine the direction of their lives. It makes the obvious statement that we should not treat animals differently solely on the basis of their species membership, and that animals have interests that should be defended. Killing, whether fast or slow, deprives a being of all it has and all it wants. It wants to live more than you want to eat it. Plutarch, like da Vinci, Pythagoras and many other great philosophers of the past thought that animals deserved to own themselves:

"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy."

[veganfeministunicorn-blog]

Can't keep track of days anymore...

So it's definitely been a few days since I've posted! Worked double shifts at work Thursday, Friday, & Saturday, went out Saturday night then spent most of Sunday hungover followed by Chipotle & Selma at night. Today was spebnt cleaning then tomorrow I start classes again! So I definitely won't be able to post as often as I would like...but let's review how I'm doing with veganism.

I had two missteps from veganism: 1. Brownie Sundae from my job 2. Ice cream sandwich. Although I am not disappointed because technically I did give myself until March to be completely vegan so I am glad I am having my "one last time" with some of my favorite foods before I take the total plunge!

The hardest part is probably all of the food prepping I need to do in the mornings, I am an extremely busy girl working 30-35 hours a week as a waitress + 15 credits at college + all of my extracurricular including being the President of our Feminist Club, so taking a little over an hour in the morning to make my food is sometimes a little annoying, but I know that my time is definitely worth saving all of those animals <3

[olayamachado-blog]

Devenir Vegan: mon histoire

Devenir Vegan: mon histoire

Jusqu’à l’âge de 18 ans mon alimentation était… catastrophique, attention âme sensible s’abstenir ! Mon régime alimentaire était composé de céréales pour le petit déjeuné (sachant que je pouvais me faire un ou deux bols de plus dans la journée), pâtes au fromage, riz simple, gâteaux, biscuits, brioche à gogo,  beaucoup de lait (très souvent quand j’avais soif je buvais du lait au lieu de…