Why I Quit Being Vegan After 8.5 Years

Veganism. Something I was extremely passionate about for almost a decade. This isn't a story about how I turned against veganism. It's a story about listening to my body, and being willing to change everything from one vision. Yes, this story begins with a vision I had while meditating.

It was almost a year ago. November 2024. After just over 8.5 years vegan, plus 6 months vegetarian before that. I was sitting down for a meditation, and a vision began. I don't have visions like this very often. I was eating meat, and it was deeply nourishing my body. When I opened my eyes, something had changed. Like any good millennial, I went to the internet for answers and found the side of the internet that I had vehemently pushed away for years: the ex-vegan, pro-meat internet.

A lovely gal I followed on Instagram, @arc.woman, was one of the first. I had enjoyed her content for a while, but ignored her pro-meat "propaganda". She was an ex-vegan, as well. How could I trust and respect her opinion on so many women's issues, but ignore this? So, I leaned in with the intention of learning. And I found that meat really does have some essential nutrients that are really tough to get through non-meat diets.

I identified as a high protein vegan back then, and was trying really hard every meal to get an appropriate amount of protein. Lots of beans, tofu, meat substitutes, quinoa and more filled my diet. And every meal, especially when we went out to eat, was racked with trying to get more protein. I was tiring of this constant struggle. And that vision kept replaying in my mind: meat that was nourishing my body, mind, and soul.

Initially, there was no desire for me to actually eat meat. After so long without it, it kind of grossed me out. I think some vegans quit because they miss eating meat, but that wasn't me at all. It took me until Christmas that year to make the decision to start eating some meat. And the thought of it made me cringe.

I travelled to Buffalo, New York that holiday season with my partner to meet his whole extended family for the first time. And I decided that while I was there, why not eat the notorious Buffalo Wings the area is known for. So, we went to one of the local favorite spots for wings, and that day I ate meat for the first time in over 9 years. I was timid at first, but I could handle 3 wings that day. Then 6 the next day. Then at Christmas I ate the roast turkey.

I stuck to mostly chicken, steak, eggs, and cheese for my proteins for the first while. It took me about 6 months to finally eat pork again. And now I'll try anything. But one of the coolest things that happened came when I started seeing a @arc.woman online in February 2025. I was struggling to get rid of recurring BV infections, and my periods were so bad that I was laid out on the couch in pain for 2 days a month. Plus, even though I was eating great and exercising frequently, I kept gaining weight. I knew something was up, I just didn't know that it was going to have anything to do with being vegan.

After some testing, she discovered I had estrogen dominance and low progesterone. And because my diet was so high in copper from the veganism, it was definitely making it worse. I don't know what caused the hormone imbalance to begin, but we do know that it was being made worse from the vegan diet that is so high in copper.

You see, estrogen has a couple ways it gets processed through the body. One of the main ways is through the liver. The body produces estrogen all the time, and it should live as a wave in the body over the cycle. In the liver, however, if there is a build up of copper in the body, the copper binds to the exit route of estrogen and then estrogen builds up even more. Foods that are high in copper are beans, nuts, spinach, kale, cacao, all soy, beer, hemp, chia, flax seeds, and more! And from this list I was eating almost all of them daily.

And because of this block in the liver and having 3 times the estrogen in my body than is optimal, my thyroid was getting the wrong messages. And with the thyroid firing improperly, I was also having insulin resistance. All of this combined explained why my BV wasn't clearing up, why my periods were so unbearable, and why I kept gaining weight no matter what I did!

I even started seeing a Naturopath doctor near me, and I got on a bio-identical progesterone pill that's helping even more. Plus, she discovered that I have Ureaplasma, which was also contributing to the BV recurrence. Now, after almost a year searching for answers and adding 12 supplements daily, I am seeing results! And it all started with a vision.

I will forever marvel at this vision that started me down this path. If I had started to see @arc.woman before I had that vision, then I would've scoffed at her suggestion that I start eating meat again. It would've been very difficult for me to have begun to treat this in my body, and I would probably still be struggling. Plus, now I can feel empowered by this vision, and my choice to become an ex-vegan on my own.

And let me be clear: I still support those living a vegan lifestyle. Especially those doing it for environmental and animal welfare reasons. I have questions about the health aspect now. And if you're currently vegan, I applaud your efforts and encourage you to watch your hormones and get tested if you ever feel off. You can also just as easily ignore my words, as I know I would have ignored these words if I were still vegan.

In many ways, I can't believe I was vegan for so long. After a while, it does just feel second nature. And now that I'm ex-vegan, I definitely take care of where my meat comes from when I can. I buy the fancy pasture-raised eggs and meat when it's available. I know this doesn't fully diminish the impacts of it on the earth or on the animal's welfare in the slaughterhouse. Though, I create ritual around eating meat now. I picture the animal and thank it before I eat it, and I offer up the meal to the Divine Mother with gratitude for her creation.

Sometimes a vision is so profound that it's impossible to ignore. I encourage you to have discernment in visions like this. Learn what is from the Divine Mother herself, and what is just trickster energy designed to distract and entertain you. This is done through learning under a master. If it's just pretty, it's probably just entertainment. But in that vision, I felt myself eating the meat and I felt the nutrients filling my body. It was beyond just a pretty vision. It was more.

And now when I tell people I had a vision and stopped being vegan they look at me with wide eyes. That's ok if you don't understand me and my choices. I'm making them for my life, not yours. Do what you will with this story. I for sure would've ignored it if I wasn't ready to hear it. But I'm so happy that I was ready to see it when I did, and that I was open to changing.

INSPIRED ACTION: Are your choices in life concrete and unchanging? Or do you allow your mind to change when presented with evidence/truth against the contrary. I think this is a major point in our society today. We get so drilled down into our own beliefs, that we won't allow anything to change them, even against mountains of evidence. Yet, this creates static in the system. And the age-old cognitive dissonance rears its ugly head. I personally, don't want any belief of mine to hold me back from truth. I am willing to change any opinion I have when presented with evidence. It may take a lot of evidence, but I am open to all possibilities. Are you?