THINK BIG, THINK GREEN

By : Ricardo Hernandez

I believe I was always meant to be a vegan because of my love for the animals, when I was a kid I didn't had many friends at school, I was a bit sad. One day we adopted a dog from the street, he became my best friend, after that we adopted more pets in my family, and I really loved them all.

In 2010 I was a fan of a reality business competition called "The Apprentice", one day I was reading the stories of the 16 contestants, all of them had business-related information, but one of them surprised me and I saw something that made me curious. It was a 30-year-old woman named Brandy Kuentzel, she was a corporate attorney, very smart, her story had something that all the other 15 contestants didn't had, it said: "Brandy is a vegetarian and an advocate for animals rights" , I really liked those statements, it was something new and different. By that time, my 10-year-old Belgian shepherd, Bruno, passed away, he was a beautiful dog and his death made me think, so I remembered what I read on Brandy's story and I said to myself "I want to become an advocate for animals rights because I love animals and I also want to do it in Bruno's memory", so I contacted some people and in 3 months I was rescuing dogs & cats all over the place with some wonderful charities and some amazing & very friendly people, I was already deep into the advocacy world and I was in love with it, even though I loved animals all my life, my love for them increased a lot at that time and I realized that they are also alive, that they can also feel.

I was able to contact Brandy one day on Facebook, we became friends (By the way, she is now the Director of Advocacy for the San Francisco SPCA) and we used to talk about animals, and she encouraged me to become a vegetarian, so I decided that I would try to be a vegetarian, but at that point I didn't had any vegetarian/vegan on my friends circle so I was starting alone & clueless about the nutritional facts, I thought "Just don't eat meat! Simple!". A week later I had an appointment at the doctor (nothing to do with my new vegetarian lifestyle), I was having some blood test because I had the cholesterol of a 50-year-old man (I was eating just meat and no fruits nor vegetables at all),  my father mentioned the doctor that I stopped eating meat a week ago, the doctor turned to me immediately and said "I understand that you want to become a vegetarian, but at that age you need meat because of the protein, if you want to be a vegetarian, do it when you're 21 years old" (I was 15 at that time). So, when you're 15 years old, you are clueless about vegetarianism and a doctor tells you that you need meat, you end up believing him! Of course, now that I'm vegan I know that doctor knows nothing about nutrition, ironically that doctor also told me "Eat more fruits and vegetables" so I said to myself  "Ok, I can't be a vegetarian now, so I'll continue eating meat and when I'm 21 I'll try again". A year went by, I kept involved into animal advocacy and I met a new friend that recently became a vegetarian, I told her my story and she suggested me that I should give it another try, so I decided to do it again ,this time I had more knowledge about the vegetarian lifestyle and even discovered veganism, so I did it with more knowledge, I asked about nutritional facts, I asked about what I could eat, I was proud of myself, but I was interested in veganism.

I read more about veganism and liked it, but I found it so tough, so I said "I will be a vegetarian for at least 5 years and then I'll go vegan). 2 weeks later after I became a vegetarian, a new vegan friend that I made from the UK (Rennie) suggested me to watch Gary Youroufsky's speech, I watched it and as soon as it ended I said to myself (From now on, I'm vegan, I have no excuses to not do it), and since that day, I'm vegan! :) My life has changed drastically, at 17 years old most people don't care about animals or health, they just care on having fun, so of course when I have lunch with my friends at university and they find out that I'm vegan it sparks conversation, and that's exactly what I want because I can tell them facts and they become more interested and actually they end up saying "You're right, but I just can't go vegan, very tough", I tell them that they absolutely can, but they keep saying "I can't" , c'est la vie.

I am a really food lover, I love to eat and I really LOVE vegan food, it's delicious! Now my cholesterol is normal, I'm thinner and with way more energy and positivism than ever before. I highly recommend you to go vegan, it goes to the animals, to the environment, to the world, it's good for your health, you can still eat delicious food and it's cool to say "I'm vegan" because you are making a difference! :) I try to be a very classy, professional and respectful vegan and don't think all meat-eaters are bad people, because they just don't know the truth yet and we can't blame somebody for not knowing something, so I always try to be very respectful and professional, people respect that, and actually it's easier to make them think that way.

My biggest dream now is to create in some years the first luxury collection of vegan hotels, I want to create something spectacular where vegans can say "This is paradise" and non-vegans can learn about veganism on a very positive way, I hope to welcome you all on my vegan hotels someday! ;)

PS. If every one of us inspired ONE person to go meatless imagine the difference we could make in ten years time. I am going to collect inspirational vegetarian/vegan stories to share with everyone. If you think your story will inspire others, please share with me by sending it to info@veglov.com. I will post your stories on this www.veglov.com blog. I believe everyone has his/her own story, I think it must be great when we can share our stories and inspire others. Let’s make the world a better place. ~ Xiao Kang.