Why I Stopped Being Vegan, And Why I Came Back
Living your values isn’t always a straight line. But the return can be even more meaningful than the start.
I didn’t go vegan because of a documentary.
Not at first.
It actually started as a personal challenge - something I felt curious about. I’d been thinking more about sustainability, and my ex (who was vegan) helped me explore what that might look like in my own life. What began as an experiment gradually turned into a new way of eating. And for about four years, I was fully vegan.
I cared about the planet. I cared about animals. I cared about aligning my choices with my values.
And then… I stopped.
When I started working for an animal welfare charity, everything changed again…but not in the way you might expect.
Around that time, I found myself craving meat.
It caught me off guard, some random taste memory, a pullback to something I’d sworn off. And I gave in. I told myself that my work helping animals would have more impact than what was on my plate. If I could campaign for systemic change, surely that outweighed my lunch choices, right?
So for about five months, I ate meat again.
And then, I shifted to vegetarianism for another eight months.
It felt like a compromise; still caring, but not “too much.” Still in the movement, but not holding myself to the same personal standard.
And yet, something didn’t sit right.
The more I worked in animal advocacy, the more I knew, deeply, what was really happening in the food system.
The things we don’t see on labels.
The realities we push out of sight and out of mind.
I learned about the routine mutilations in dairy farming.
The systemic suffering that even so-called “humane” operations inflict.
The billions of male chicks killed in egg production.
The ways language and marketing make it easy for all of us to turn away.
And slowly, I realised that being vegetarian wasn’t the ethical middle ground I thought it was.
I was still supporting systems I wanted to dismantle.
I was still causing harm, while working every day to reduce it.
And that gap, that cognitive dissonance, started to wear on me.
Eventually, I knew I had to come back.
Not because someone guilted me into it. Not because I wanted a label.
But because my values hadn’t changed, and my behaviour needed to catch up.
So I returned to veganism. Quietly. Intentionally. And this time, with a deeper sense of clarity.
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being in alignment.
And for me, that means reducing harm where I can. Living in a way that feels congruent with what I know and believe.
If you’ve moved in and out of plant-based eating, I see you.
It doesn’t make you a hypocrite. It makes you human.
But I also know that living in integrity, even imperfectly, brings a kind of peace that’s hard to describe.
And that’s why I created One Less Bite.
To support people on this journey.
To meet you where you are.
And to gently offer a path forward, one that’s better for animals, the planet, and maybe even you.
🌱 If this story resonates with you, please share it.
Someone else might need to hear that coming back is possible…and powerful.
Follow me to understand why people are going plant-based, in a non-judgmental and supportive way.