My story

About three months ago, I had a very unexpected interaction with a stranger that made me reevaluate my eating and drinking choices. On this day, I was traveling home on the subway after a long night out followed by a day of greasy comfort food for recovery. I needed to get home, shower, and go to bed immediately and I was in no mood to chat with anyone. Frankly, I felt and looked like crap. When the train opened its doors at one of the more popular transfer stations, I made eye contact with an older man who had a salt and pepper full beard and had a tattered long jacket on. After making eye contact with me, he stepped into the train and sat down in the empty seat next to me. Now that I had a better look at him and the large garbage bag he was lugging around, I was pretty much convinced that he was homeless and I was even more inclined to get home.

After the doors closed and the train started to move, he looked at me and asked how I was feeling. I gave a sarcastic laugh and told him that I'd been better and wasn't feeling my best. He then reached into his garbage bag and pulled out a dietitian book and said "It's your diet." He flipped through the pages showing me the benefits of clean vegan eating and told me how difficult it was for my body to run off of meats and dairy. He showed me what alcohol was doing to my body long term, even just a glass of wine at dinner and he told me the benefits of juicing my fruits and vegetables.

We road the subway talking until it was my stop to get off. I shook his hand, thanked him, and went on my way. I haven't had any animal by products since my interaction with this man. I don't know his name, and I have yet to see him again. I'm not even sure if he needed to be on that train, but he changed my life and my way of living. I now eat 100% vegan and I'm already seeing the benefits; my skin is clearer, I sleep better, I've slimmed down, and I find myself being happier and more positive though out every day life situations.

Even though I've been eating vegan for three months already, it's my new years resolution to introduce different foods into my diet and to make these foods in my own kitchen. I no longer will depend on restaurants, canned, prepackaged, or frozen processed foods.

So here goes nothing!