My old about page is here. It’s wordy and long.
Here’s the new version. I feel like so many things have changed and my blog deserves a new ‘About’ page.
The biggest change in my life was going plant-based in 2019 and then turning vegan soon after I watched, read and saw the horrors of animal agriculture. It didn’t happen overnight. I first gave up eating animals around the year 2017, slowly taking the time to transition to a ‘no animals in my food’ approach. I’ve always been conflicted about eating them and asked many questions (inward and others) about the hypocricy of eating some animals and not others. It took me many decades to come out from what I now recognize as ‘cognitive dissonance’ (very interesting).
In 2019, after removing animals from my plate, I decided to go a month without dairy (never been much of my preferred foods) and then without fish. The change internally is beyond words – something that I still grapple with explaining. It’s like the ‘extraordinary lightness of being’ and I’m not joking.
What I felt was a sense of freedom from a burden of guilt I had been living with for a long, long time. This is difficult to understand. It’s hard to describe. But it’s also one of the best feelings in the world. Dairy is one of our greatest evils and after knowing more about how female cows are treated, there is absolutely no way I am going to change how I feel for cheese, ice-cream or any food from an animal. There are also way too many equally delicious alternatives to eat food that comes from or is a part of an animal. When I stopped putting animals on my plate, I also thought I’d ‘miss’ everything. I don’t. Maybe the flavors and taste sometimes; but not enough to go back to sentient beings. There is always plant-based meats/alternatives as an option.
Around the same time I went plant-based and vegan, I then embarked on a few courses to learn how to cook, exclusively with plants. I highly recommend these two courses.
- Forks over Knives, Culinary Certification
- Plant Based Nutrition from T Colin Campbell Institute
I travel pretty differently now but my goal is usually to find good vegan food everywhere I go and I haven’t found it as difficult as I thought it would be. Most restaurants have a vegan option (or there’s always accidental vegan food like French Fries and baked potatoes :-). I also live in one of the most vegan friendly cities on the planet – Vancouver – so I have no reason to complain right now. Someone asked me if it’s ‘hard’ begin vegan; but I didn’t choose this lifestyle because it’s ‘easy’. I chose it because it aligns with my philosophy of ahimsa and being kind to all beings (aka, everyone deserves to live their lives and not have us take it away because of our five minutes of pleasure).
After completing my plant-based education, I also got myself certified as a yoga teacher from Goa Yogashala, in Goa, India. That month long journey deserves its own blog post, which I should probably publish soon!
Life in Canada
In July 2022, after 7 years in the Bay area, California we moved to Vancouver, Canada.
I feel like I’m still settling into life in a new country. While there are similarities with the US and the Bay area, there’s a lot that’s different. For starters, I no longer have access to the communities, friends and groups that I was plugged into. I think for me, that is the hardest part of life in a new environment. While I am an extroverted introvert (ambivert?!), it does take me effort to form new bonds and friendships. I do depends on a support system and friends/acquaintances to feel mentally and physically well-balanced. I continue to explore this new city and hopefully find a strong root. Before we move again, but hopefully not too soon.
The intention of this blog is to share all the various aspects of my journey and hope it will resonate with some of you, inspire some of you and some others curious about the impact of making positive changes.
Vancouver is an amazing city to explore the outdoors and we’ve been doing a lot of it. From drives to long hikes every weekend – we try and experience the beautiful outdoors as much as possible.
In 2024, I hope to make vegan travel to India a reality. Come travel with me!