Actors, athletes, even the nice family next door are doing it. Why aren’t you? Here are three accounts from everyday people who shared their poignant but inspirational vegan stories with me, as well as publicly documented accounts of two celebrities who have made the switch.

“Being vegan is something I never thought I’d do, but I’m trying it out and it’s going great. Eating animals makes me sad because I can’t imagine hurting one, yet I was consuming them and even saying that makes me feel horrible. But, that’s how I grew up. Leaving meat and dairy and everything else behind has been pretty easy. I miss cheese a lot, but I’m checking out some cashew and almond milk cheeses that are pretty good.”

“I’m the product of an Indian dad and a Caucasian mom – both are vegans. I knew a lot of kids who ate the same way we did. I was never curious about meat at all. However, in college, I attended a Friendsgiving dinner and I ate turkey for the first time. For the only time. I was so disgusted with myself. I felt sick afterwards. Not sure if it was what I ate or the guilt of having eaten it, but, yeah, I’ve never deviated – you know – from it since.”

Moby shared his story via his TedxVeniceBeach talk, in which he credits his childhood cat, Tucker, with his switch to a vegan lifestyle: 

“I looked at Tucker, and I saw this perfectly formed being, this individual with two eyes and a central nervous system. And all of a sudden, that phrenological wall in my head disappeared, and I extrapolated. And I realized that just as Tucker had two eyes and a central nervous system and a rich emotional life, I mean, he had personality, he was funny, he was idiosyncratic, and he had this deep desire to avoid pain and suffering and to be alive and to be happy. And so, suddenly, I extrapolated, and I realized that every creature with two eyes and a central nervous system was like Tucker. They just wanted to avoid pain and suffering and wanted to be happy. So in that moment, I left behind hamburgers, hot dogs, etc., and I became a vegan and an animal activist. And that was 35 years ago, so I’ve been a vegan animal activist ever since then. And it’s the most important part of my life.

Music legend Stevie Wonder’s vegan revelation happened back in 2016. He shared his story with AOL at Global Green’s Annual Pre-Oscar Party: “I’ve been a vegan for two years, so that’s helped my already good-looking self,” Wonder said. “I think that eating healthy is important.”

“Look, I’m not even gonna lie, I never really cared about animal rights. I grew up in the sticks, and we just don’t care about that kind of stuff. We couldn’t afford to care about it. … You get older, and you get out in the world, though. You see stuff, you hear stuff, and one of my clients at the salon where I used to work was steady sending me these YouTube videos and it just didn’t sit right with my heart. Just the way they was slaughtering the animals and how they had them all jammed in together. Something about that just didn’t feel right,” she explained. 

“I kind of started thinking about it every time I ate. And just more and more, it turned me off. Right around then, people was talking about going vegan. I had moved to Atlanta by then, and I just decided to try some of the food, just to see how it taste. The first couple of things I didn’t love. I’ll be honest. But more and more, you find your little snacks and your little go-to’s. … I give money here and there to places to help educate folks [about veganism]. I just do my part, and I feel better. I feel a lot better healthy-wise, but it’s good to be good because we all God’s creatures.”

That’s how it started, but how is Nedra’s vegan journey going? “Oh, my bad, yeah, I been full vegan now for over a year.”

Source: Moby.com, AOL