My one year anniversary of dropping dairy, meat, fish and eggs is coming up, so let’s shed a little light on veganism. The one disclaimer and frankly annoying stereotype I would like to dismiss right off the bat is that I am in no way, shape or form trying to shove being vegan down your throat. Being vegan is not for everyone,  I understand, and would never try to push someone to something they don’t want to do.

When I first decided to go vegan, I quit meat and cheese cold-turkey…pun intended. Quite honestly, it was just another night of YouTube browsing which lead me to a video presentation by The Animal’s Foundation of Florida. In an hour and eight minutes,  “101 reasons to go vegan” rocked my animal-product eating world. I sat in my bed and questioned every single thing I had ever been taught about meat.

Aside from being genetically confusing, the process for getting cow’s milk is the most inhumane thing I have ever seen. Cows are injected by their owners to become pregnant. Once their calf is born, the mom and baby are separated so the mom can be milked every day until she is dry.

The baby, if it’s a girl, is raised to repeat the same cycle as her mom. If the calf is a boy, it is killed for human consumption. The most disturbing part of the entire process is the screams of the mother as her newborn is taken away. The cows that are fortunate enough to live past three months are brutally abused and some are injected with so many hormones that they will never walk, all to produce milk for humans.

I don’t graze on grass for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I eat just like anyone else, with a few modifications. Thanks to the 21st century and lactose-intolerance, dairy-free anything has become a reality. I can eat sandwiches made with Tofurkey and Daiya cheese topped off with egg-free mayo.

Being vegan has also introduced me to the wonderful world of vegetables. Kale, zucchini and bell peppers are just a few of the vegetables I would have turned my nose up at before that I now routinely snack on. Giving vegetables a chance has truly paid off.

While you can’t expect to get a beach body off a plant-based diet, it can do wonders for other important health aspects. Eating veggies has done wonders for my skin, health, energy and best of all — mood.

You can find a dairy and egg-free version of almost anything these days; cookie dough, ice cream, pizza, mac and cheese and pad thai are all things I can still enjoy while eating vegan. Any recipe calling for milk can easily have almond milk or coconut milk, just to name a few. Bananas are a good baking substitute for eggs but so is Neat Egg, which is made to have the exact same consistency as eggs.

I’m not going to lie, eating out at restaurants has been a little more difficult.  Some places are limited, but it hasn’t been impossible. But I’m still able to enjoy fried avocados with no cheese from Torchy’s Tacos or a quinoa and chickpea burger from Twisted Root. There’s also all vegan places like Spiral Diner & Bakery in Dallas where everything on the menu is 100 percent animal product free.

Spinach and cashews make up for lost protein and iron. Most people are B12 deficient whether they are vegan or not. B12 is a vitamin typically found in intestines of animals that aids your metabolism and energy. A simple solution is to buy some B12 vitamins and take one every day. So tell your concerned grandmother and aunts that I am definitely eating three round meals a day, complete and packed with all my amazingly natural and cruelty-free nutrients.

If I have bored you with this “vegan nonsense,” I apologize. Trying something so drastically new can be frightening, but being vegan has ultimately been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Both ethically and physically, veganism has given me a new look on life, so here I am crunching your vegan stereotypes like I crunch on my kale chips.