Why/How I became a Vegetarian

My journey to vegetarianism began in college. I was on campus (Florida A&M University) at the first annual "Be Out Day" in line behind a girl getting her food. She commented that the only meats that she ate were turkey, chicken and fish. My interest was piqued.

The next month, through not intentions of my own, I did not eat any beef and noticed that I did not have any cramps that month. Now to understand how significant this was, you need to know that when I had my first child, I experienced the same pain that I had experienced every month!

I went back to eating beef and the cramps returned. I have not had a piece of beef since. That was 1995. Thus began my journey to healthy living. Next I did research on pork and after finding basically NOTHING positive, I gave that up. In 1997, I was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a church that is well known for it's promotion of healthy living through diet and exercise. I met several people that were vegetarian and did lots more research. I eventually gave up all other meat, fish being the last.

I studied about how the original diet of Adam and Eve was vegetarian and as I longed to be restored fully to the Creator, embracing the original diet of man soon became a part of that desire.

I gave up dairy through no choice of my own. I desired to give it up eventually, but was forced to do so after having my son. He is allergic to cow's milk, and I developed an allergy to milk shortly after having him. Whenever I have milk, my asthma flares and I have trouble breathing. It only took a time or 2 of that to be completely end my relationship with milk! Now my body is so sensitive to it that I can tell within minutes if I have eaten something that has milk in it.

One thing I must say is that there was a time that I had pretty much given up meat, but I would eat it when I went home for the holidays. I could tell such a huge difference in my body. I went from feeling fabulous to feeling almost lethargic from the meat. It was then that I knew that there really was a difference in what it was doing to my body.

Today I don't eat meat, because I believe that my body is the temple of God and that His perfect will for my life is to eat the diet that He created just for me!