Narrative: My Vegan Story

Trigger Warning: Eating disorders 

Five years ago, I decided to go vegan. Going vegan was a huge life change for me; especially coming from a family where meat was in every meal we ate. I never thought I would make such a big lifestyle change. I vividly remember being in high school, talking to a girl who was a vegetarian. I said to her, "It's great what you're doing, but I could never do that. I love meat way too much."

Here I am, five years later, and I am a passionate vegan advocate. This is my story.

The summer going into my junior year of high school, I wanted to eat as healthy as possible. I struggled with an eating disorder all throughout high school and was on to my next way of staying thin, which was eating clean. 

I started watching all these vegan fitness YouTubers, and they were all so thin, and I wanted that. I saw them eating so much food, but still staying so skinny, and I was so surprised. 

I researched the vegan diet and found that because there were so much fewer calories in plant foods compared to meat, it was very easy to naturally stay thin. So that's where my journey started. 

I started eating so much fruit, beans, rice, and potatoes. I found that when I started eating these foods that I was so scared to eat before, I enjoyed them so much and didn't feel gross anymore. Once I stopped eating meat and animal products, everything changed for me. I had so much energy, I would go on runs every day (and I used to hate running!). The foods I was eating now truly fulfilled me and made me feel satisfied. 

The next time I went to the doctor, I had actually gained back all the weight I had lost when I was restricting, but I didn't feel bad because my body felt so good.

All the beautiful, colorful, foods I was eating were nourishing my body and giving me the energy to go and run, hike, bike, and more. 

I gained the weight back, but I also gained back so much happiness that my eating disorder robbed me of for so many years. Going vegan opened me up to so much more food than I wouldn't let myself eat before because society deemed carbs as the "enemy".

Initially, I did go vegan for the wrong reasons. But once I became vegan, I started educating myself more on the effects of animal products on our environment, and all the terrible things the animals go through. I watched the documentary Earthlings and my heart broke into pieces. 

I saw the way these beautiful animals were treated, and I knew I could never consume them again. I became an ethical vegan, and animals became the most important thing to me.

Becoming an ethical vegan gave me my life purpose. It might sound strange, but before animals, I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life. Once I realized all the horrible things that happened to them, I dedicated my life to saving them and advocating for them. 

Now, I want to be an investigative journalist and go undercover to expose the conditions they face. I also want to go to law school to become an animal rights lawyer.

As you can see, going vegan has done so much amazing things for me, and I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Get To Know The Animals You Eat: Esther The Wonder Pig

In one of my previous posts, I discussed my day where I got to hang out with Esther The Wonder Pig and her friends! (You can read that here)

In this post, I am going to tell you all about Esther and her story, and how she changed my life. I touched on her story a little bit in the previous post but will go into more depth about her here. 

Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter were living in Canada when Steve got a call from an old college friend. The friend knew that Steve loved animals, and she had a "mini-pig" she was trying to rehome. 

Steve knew that was a big commitment, but when she reached out again saying if he didn't answer soon, she had someone else who would take the little pig, he jumped on the opportunity and little did he know his life would never be the same. 

He went to pick up the little pig he would call Esther:

                                     Photo Credit: EstherTheWonderPig.com

Steve was under the impression that Esther would grow to be the size of a large dog, but boy was he in for a surprise. 

After telling his partner Derek, Derek was not pleased and did not want to keep her because they already had two other dogs and two cats. But eventually, as Derek saw Esther's personality and how intelligent she was, he couldn't help but fall in love with her.

When they took Esther to the vet, they were in for the news of a lifetime: Esther was not a mini pig (fun fact: mini pigs do not actually exist!) but a full-sized, commercial pig who was born on a farm that would eventually turn her into food. The vet said she could grow up to 600 pounds, and she did just that (Esther currently weighs somewhere around 500-600 lbs).

When they found out she would keep growing, they knew they could not stay in their house in the city where there was no room for a pig. Steve started posted pictures of Esther on her own Facebook page and saw that she was gaining many supporters. He would eventually start a fundraiser to raise money to buy a farm where they could live, and take in other abandoned animals who needed a home.

They reached this goal and ended up raising almost half a million dollars, and bought a farm in Campbellville, Ontario. Now, Happily Ever Esther is home to so many different animals who get to live the rest of their lives with no worries of pain or sorrow.

Esther, because she is the queen of the farm, lives inside the home with Steve and Derek, and her dog and turkey brother, Phil and Cornelius. Esther actually has two beds, one in the living room, and one in her own room. Esther has millions of Facebook fans who come to see her over the tour season. 

                         Esther, Phil, and Cornelius: Photo Credit: Esther The Wonder Pig Facebook Page

I, myself, travel up to Canada every summer to go see Esther because she has impacted my life greatly. During a time where I was struggling with severe anxiety and depression, I would watch Esther all day and smile. I loved watching her get into trouble and seeing how smart she was. She would open the door with her snout, knock things over to get food to fall on the floor, and more. She also loved going swimming in her pool and getting belly rubs.

Many people might see Esther and think she is different, and one of a kind of a pig, but she is not. All pigs have feelings and want to live. Getting to visit many farm sanctuaries, pigs are incredibly affectionate and have many traits similar to dogs. 

If there is any reason why you would leave pigs off your plate, do it for all the pigs who never got the chance to experience a life like Esther. If you want to follow Esther's daily happenings, follow her on Instagram at Esther The Wonder Pig, or visit her facebook page.

My Day At Happily Ever Esther

It’s not every day that you get to meet a famous pig. For a few years now, I have been following Esther The Wonder Pig on social media. I came across her page on Instagram years ago and read her story. Her dads, Steve Jenkins, and Derek Walter thought were told that she was going to be a mini pig, not growing larger than a big dog; but when they found out she would be the size of a normal commercial pig, their worlds changed forever.

They were faced with the difficulty of raising a constant growing pig in their house right outside of the city of Toronto. Soon enough, they were forced to move to a bigger house with more land. Esther's dad, Steve, started an Esther The Wonder Pig facebook page to post cute pictures, and when the page gained a lot of traction, he decided to start an Indigogo fundraiser, where they raised almost a half a million dollars to create their very own farm sanctuary. They would rescue abandoned and abused animals who needed a home.

They eventually opened their sanctuary to visitors, and I had the opportunity to visit this magical place. My family and I arrived for the tour on a hot summer day and were met with many friendly faces. We signed in and were told to wait and relax until the tour started. They offered us drinks and some light snacks. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.

A volunteer started the tour and told us about the history of the farm. Although I knew a lot from reading online, getting to see the residences I saw pictures of online was so exciting. We first got to meet the birds of the farm, which included some chickens, roosters and a beautiful peacock. After that, we moved on to the pigs, which was my favorite part because pigs are my favorite animal. I recognized the pigs from online; Len, Bobbie Girl, and Captain Dan. Captain Dan had floppy ears and was so sweet. He came up to the fence and let me touch his snout.

After the pigs, we saw huge cows who were just happily walking around or laying down on the grass. All of the animals looked so happy and at peace; something that was very far from their life before Happily Ever Esther.

And finally, we got to meet the queen of the farm, Esther The Wonder pig and her turkey friend Cornelius. Esther opened the back door of the house with her snout and came outside to say hi to everyone. She went to the bathroom and took a watermelon treat from her dad, which she happily ate while everyone took photos. After that, she took a dip in her piggy pool and laid down and rested a while. Soon after the tour was over, I got to meet Esther’s dads. Steve and Derek are the loveliest people I’ve ever met, and I am so happy I got to meet them and spend the day with some beautiful animals. Her dads even let me go behind her fence and take a photo with her. She was even more adorable in person and I can definitely say meeting Esther and her family was one of the best days of my life. Most people say DisneyLand is the happiest place in the world, but for me, it’s Happily Ever Esther.