I never expected to make this video when I went vegan almost a decade ago (March 2014), but a lot has shifted for me in the last year, and this video opens up about why we no longer will be adhering to a strict vegan lifestyle.
My biggest change is that I started craving animal products after giving birth to our son, Max. I never had this feeling during my pregnancy, but about six months postpartum, my body kept telling me to eat eggs. I thought at first I would be able to adjust my supplements/the food I was eating to fix whatever hole in my diet was creating this craving. I upped my fat and protein intake. I ate tons of chia/flax/hemp seeds for omegas. I supplement with b12, vegan Dha, choline, and vitamin d.... I eat tons of calories. I came at my vegan diet from a place of preparation and a lot of personal education, but no matter what I switched my mind kept going back to eggs, and then I started craving chicken and steak.... it was a really strange experience for me because in the past I always looked at animal products and "non-food" like i never felt restricted because I never even considered eating them.
This physical craving and our experience moving to the woods, getting to know farmers, and setting up our homestead made leaving the vegan lifestyle even more appealing. We realized that we could become self-sufficient much quicker if we got animals on the property in a typical farming/homestead tradition instead of what we had originally planned of having farm animals on the land in an animal sanctuary model.
I know this news can be hard to hear if you are a vegan and have been following us for our vegan content. For those of you who aren't vegan, you might be confused at why this is "such a big deal," but this was a way of thinking, an ideology, a lifestyle that we were part of for a long time. I am grateful for this chapter of our life; it helped me open my mind to so many things in the world. I grew as a critical thinker. I ask more questions about all of the systems in my life that serve me. But at the same time, in the last few years, Lou and I both have felt like we no longer want to live inside any other boxes and want to have space to be free to do what we feel is best for us. I want to raise our son to trust his intuition, so it is time for me to do the same thing.
Thank you for all your love, support, and understanding. We are so grateful for this community and look forward to how things unfold from here.
