Living healthier on a vegan diet

With every new year that approaches, everyone seems to have a list of their own New Year’s resolutions. However, following through with the resolution normally only lasts until the end of the month. Senior Nicole Brown made a resolution January of 2018 and has kept up with it since.

“I normally don’t keep up with my resolutions,” Brown said. “I think being vegan can turn into something I want to do for the rest of my life.”

For Brown, her resolution of turning her no dairy diet into a vegan lifestyle was harder than she had expected. Not consuming animal products took a toll on her, mentally.

“The transition is hard because you definitely get cravings a lot,” Brown said. “I’ve even had weird dreams about Chick-Fil-A chicken tenders. I even went through a stage of wanting to put mac and cheese on pizza and eat it.”

Different factors played into Brown’s decision of switching to veganism. Brown looked at the food that surrounded her and realized that half of the food she consumed, she could do without. She is lactose intolerant and befriended a few cows near her grandparents’ farm. 

“A combination of health and the cruelty of animals both made me want to be vegan. I also befriended some cows, and being able to pet and interact with them made me realize that I couldn’t eat meat,” Brown said.

When Brown’s peers find out about her diet, she often gets reactions stating that she is missing out or that they could never give up meat. Yet, Brown doesn’t feel like she is missing out on any of her favorite foods due to vegan substitutes.

“I miss it sometimes. Meat tastes good, dairy tastes good, but I feel better not eating or harming animals,” Brown said.

Although Brown regularly brought a packed lunch to school prior to her new no animal product lifestyle, she realized that her school offered its students little to no vegan options. She also stated that because of this lack of options, a petition called “Meatless Mondays” began being held. This happened weekly for roughly six weeks.

“Meatless Mondays was a petition held at my school to try and get more vegan options at my school. I don’t think that it had much of a result,” Brown said. “If you signed the petition, you got a sticker that said ‘Meatless Monday’.”

Through the cravings and petitions, Brown is still carrying out a vegan diet. What started as a New Year’s resolution soon turned into a new lifestyle that she hopes to continue for the rest of her life.

Senior Nicole Brown sits near a bench that reads ‘live ethically’. Brown chose to live a vegan lifestyle due to health and ethic reasons. She has been a vegan for over six months.