Why I Became Vegan

For me, the quest for clear skin seems to be a never ending road. The last 10 years of my life I have been battling acne with everything imaginable and a few things have worked, but most have not. There was a brief period in high school where my skin seemed to like me- a result of going monthly to the dermatologist and getting glycolic acid peels. That could only last so long and eventually stopped working. I went to a new derm during college and she put me on Accutane. Worst few months of my life. Yes, the drug cleared my skin a bit but my skin was flaky, I was depressed, and as soon as I stopped taking it my acne came right back!

The second time my skin was relatively clear (minus pesky blackheads on my cheeks and nose) was when I was taking the Yaz birth control pill. That also came with side effects- crazy mood swings and generally blahness about life.

The primary reason I'm adapting a vegan lifestyle is to hopefully clear my body of toxins and clear up my unhappy skin. I also believe that it's something I'm eating that causes me to break out...along with my female hormones, of course. :) More on food allergies/acne in a later post.

So, for now I'm 98% vegan and 2% vegetarian (no dairy, though). I do that mainly for social reasons and as a way to slightly ease myself in to this lifestyle. Hopefully, by the end of summer I'll be 100% vegan and LOVING every minute of it.

I'll dedicate future posts to digestion/acne/overall health, I promise.

A secondary (but not any less important!!) reason is the impact of animal products on the environment and my love for all of mother nature's creatures. I've never been a HUGE meat eater, but when I found out that they cut down rain forest to build cow pastures, I just knew I had to stop eating those poor cows.

Anyway, enough about me for now.

Why did you become vegan? Or, Why are you thinking about becoming a vegan/adapting a healthier lifestyle?