A very long time ago, I had a major upheaval in my life. My marriage collapsed. At the same time, my business was going through a significant financial impact.

So there I was, very much out of my comfort and protection zone. Now I had to start my life again in my late 40s. At this point, I’m very grateful to have had the government’s support, but I still had to save money where I could.

I’m not so good on dates, but this all began in the late 90s.

The first thing to go was buying meat and cheese. Luckily I had a vegan son, and while he was growing up, I learned about beans as protein and the substitution of animal products with plants (although very basic).

By buying beans and legumes in bulk, I saved significant amounts. Back then, there were no replacement foods.
Now, I wasn’t vegan. I had a friend who would periodically give me a fish her husband had caught, and other friends would give me eggs from their backyard chickens. Plus, I still had dairy milk in my coffee.

However, whenever my son came home, he would show me how to cook with different plant foods such as tofu and before long, my meals would shape up to be not only nutritious but delicious as well.

I don’t know when I realised that I was vegan. I believe it was around 2002, but after visiting my son and having soy milk in coffee, I discovered how delicious it was and consequently made the switch.

The last to go were the eggs.

And the only reason I ditched them was because of what I was learning about animal farming and how horrific it was to the animals. So, as a sign of solidarity with chickens, I ditched the backyard ones.

Everything got better. My ex and I rekindled our great friendship and happily lived apart, much to the children’s appreciation. I finally retired from the business and moved off in a different direction, writing books and teaching others how to go vegan.

But what hasn’t changed, in fact, became more cemented, my vegan lifestyle.

Now that I’m in my senior years, I’m very grateful I learned to eat whole food back when I began my journey because it gave me an excellent foundation for good health and well-being.