allison dabbs
I used to think vegans had a superhuman level of virtue. I love animals, but I love good food too. Fancy food. Restaurant food. Multi-course meals with wine pairings.
Someone like me could never be vegan, right?
Wrong!
One night I found a dog running across a busy street. I brought her home and named her Abra. Meeting Abra changed my life. Living with and loving a dog brought my discomfort with animal exploitation front and center. I couldn't ignore it anymore.
So I educated myself. With new awareness of the violence and environmental impact of animal agriculture and commercial fishing, I wanted nothing more to do with that way of life. I learned how to cook, and I learned the secret that made it easy for me to become and remain vegan: The food is good!
Vegan food is good, y'all! And I don't mean good as in an ok "substitute" for "normal" food. I mean good as in GOOD. As a vegan, I enjoy fancy food, restaurant food, and multi-course meals with wine pairings more than ever!
My passion is sharing what I've learned: We don't have to choose between having a satisfying, exciting food experience and being kind to animals. There's no conflict between pleasing the palate and promoting peace. We get to do both.
Jeb brown
My yoga practice started before I knew what the word yoga meant and before I'd performed my 1st downward dog. In my early 20s I was unhealthy, depressed, lethargic, selfish, and mentally hazy. My body ached all the time, and I was resigned to thinking that was just the way life was.
One night I found myself in a deep state of introspection that left me with a resonating thought: this life is not to be spent waiting to die.
I began to practice this kind of introspective meditation as often as possible. The more I started to balance my mind, the more I realized the direct connection between what I was consuming and how I felt. I started exercising and eating more whole foods. And as my body and mind started to feel invigorated, my path lead me to studying yoga and nutrition.
The physical actions of exercise, asana, and changing my diet gave me clarity of mind, emotional stability, and a peace of spirit that made meditation and all other aspects of life easy, centered, and balanced.
When I started studying plant-based nutrition, I was already eating a vegetarian diet by intuition. My path led me there because I had set out with an open mind to find the healthiest diet no matter what it was. The deeper I dove into the science, the more it was clear: Plant-based is the healthiest diet there is.
Once I started studying plant-based living, it was impossible not to learn about the way we treat animals that we have deemed "food". I saw that all the neatly packaged "products" in the store were once living, sentient beings. My yoga practice had brought about an awareness that all life is connected. I soon came to the undeniable conclusion that veganism is the only way to live by the yogic principle of non-harm. I was ashamed that I had taken so long to see the connection.
Throughout my years of being vegan, I constantly hear that the biggest obstacle to people is food. I've always been a foodie, and I eat more variety and more mind-blowing food now than I ever did as an omnivore. I do think compassion starts on your plate, and I love showing people that you don't need to kill anyone to enjoy the best food there is.