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Here are 12 stories from people who completed the Veggie Challenge after Sept/Oct 2009.

I used to laugh at the thought of being vegetarian

I went to the Vegetarian Food Fair with my friend because she is a vegetarian and loves this kinda stuff. I was interested to see what it had to offer.

While walking around the grounds after doing group yoga someone came up to me and challenged me to go meat-free for a week, I love challenges so I accepted.

Changing my diet for the week forced me to learn new things to eat and cook. I also read a lot of information on meat vs. veggie diets. What really struck me was that vegetarian diets (if done properly) can reduce the risk of heart disease and breast cancer, both which run in my family, by up to 50%.

It's been about six months since I've eaten meat. I feel healthier, I look healthier and most importantly with my new found knowledge, I eat healthier.

I used to be one of those people who laughed at the thought of being vegetarian. I can't give up meat, I love it, it's natural for humans to eat it, it's healthy! Now that I've changed my eating habits and realized that you can be just as healthy, if not healthier, I've been sharing my experience with others. (I get the same excuses from everyone) I've been lucky to convince some family and friends to at least cut back on their meat intake and even try meat-alternatives.

– Leah, early 20's, Mount Hope, ON
Nov/Dec 2009 story winner (random draw)

From farm country to vegan

I'd noticed myself wanting to cook less and less before I took the Challenge, because I didn't want to handle raw meat, but coming from farm country, I thought for sure you needed meat and dairy to be healthy. Plus, I didn't want to give up bacon. Then, I stopped in at the Veg Food Fair and took the Challenge on a whim. I was vegetarian for about three days before cutting dairy and egg out of my diet.

Tips for new veggies:

1) There are some amazing food blogs out there. Check out veganyumyum.com and theppk.com for some amazing recipes.

2) Quinoa IS your friend.

3) 1 tsp liquid smoke + 1 tbsp nutritional yeast + 1 tbsp tamari = one mighty fine bacon substitute for coating tofu or tempeh with.*

After learning though the Veggie Challenge of the impact a compassionate diet has on our planet, our animal friends and ourselves, I'm vegan... for life!

– Brandy, late 20's, Toronto

*Note: You can also buy veggie bacon in natural food stores.

Thumper changed my perception of animals

I became interested in becoming vegetarian soon after my first bunny. Before that I never even considered it. The love and affection that I got from Thumper changed my perception of animals. He has made me realize ALL animals are the same, it is for this reason I chose to become vegetarian.

Soni was inspired to go vegetarian because of her bunny. Image from Madeleine 's Fickr stream. Creative Commons.

Slowly, I began to educate myself on vegetarianism and learned about the horrible cruelty and abuse that animals suffer. I told myself "this is it" and never ate meat again. It has now been 3 years. I eat more of a vegan diet now, my goal is to become completely vegan. My love for animals has expanded to getting another bunny and volunteering with animal rescues and advocacy.

I am proud to be vegetarian, I look at life in a different way.

– Soni, late 20's, Toronto

Embracing the nutritional aspects of a vegan diet

This Challenge for me helped me focus on the nutrition aspect of the vegan diet. I have been vegan for approximately two years and I realized that in my least prepared moments I turned my vegan diet into a junk-food diet. This is shocking because I was never a fan of junk food, so these emails allowed me to reintroduce variety as well as the idea of the diet being solely plant-based. It also allowed me to show evidence supporting the diet to family and friends. My family even enjoyed the recipes I made from the emails! I am now progressing towards a more raw diet, I wish there was a step-by-step challenge aiding individuals progressing in that direction!

– Amy, teen, Toronto

I have two young children whose health needs I have to consider

I definitely have the motivation to become fully vegetarian this year (from my current status of eating meat/fish/poultry a couple of times/week). And the Veggie Challenge gave me great health information and recipes to begin this process. However, my life is extremely busy and I have two young children whose health needs I have to consider (and defend as well, to my meat-eating relatives and in-laws). The end result is that I do plan to take the Veggie Challenge again this year, at a point where I can afford the time to make new appealing (to picky-eaters) veggie recipes.*

– Amanda, age 30-44, Toronto

*Note: See http://www.vegfamily.com for all aspects of raising a vegan family. Also RecipeZaar has over 8000 recipes rated as vegetarian and kid pleasers. You can easily filter by category. There are over 1000 main meal recipes. See http://tinyurl.com/yctpcll for the list sorted by rating.

I'm making the transition to a healthier and more sustainable diet

I've been very interested in the environment for over four years now and the abuse from meat farming and unsustainable fisheries has been weighing on my conscience. It was hard to think of alternatives to what to eat since the information I was receiving from friends, relatives or internet sources were not vegetarian – thus my diet was becoming healthier yet I kept meat in my diet. This year I made a friend who has been a vegetarian for 8 years due to her concerns about animals and being original. I don't agree with her reasons, since the environment is my top priority, but by dining with her I realized how easy it is to make the change and thus I sought extra help from internet resources. The Challenge gave me lots of interesting information and recipe ideas and slowly I'm making the transition to a healthier and more sustainable diet. Thank you everyone at the Veggie Challenge.

– Tia, early 20's, Ottawa

I took the Challenge as a nutritionist

Growing up in a household where meat was cooked twice a week and eggs were eaten every other day, I have always been a bit of a carnivore. Despite the abundance of meat made available to me, I was always been taught that beans and lentils were a great source of protein and have been brought up to include them in my diet on a very regular basis. Having said this, friends and family are quite supportive with my conversion to vegetarianism. Plus, its a lot cheaper and I find my cooking to be a lot more diverse. The one challenge I faced however, was not consuming fish on a regular basis. Growing up, I had severe eczema and mild scaly dermatitis and hence was asked to increase my omega-3 intake through fish and fish oil supplements amongst other sources. Hence having been weaned on fish, it sure was a challenge to limit and eventually eliminate its consumption However, I did resort to the consumption of blue-green algae as a supplement to increase my DHA and EPA consumption and increased flaxseed to increase other omega-3 intake such as ALA*. Overall, it was not as hard as most people might make it out to be!

As a nutritionist, I  don’t necessarily stop my clients from eating meat; however, I personally do recommend healthy low fat, non-processed, fresh choices and ask them to avoid having meat on a regular basis. But I would still like to maintain that if one leans towards vegetarianism, it is definitely a great choice - just make sure you are consuming a balanced, healthy diet - one that is not dominated by supplement intake.

– Sheffy, early 20's, Toronto

*Note: See www.veg.ca/omega3 for more information.

Spending more time in the kitchen together

My wife being a born veggie it has always been difficult to go out for a perfect dinner together. Most of the restaurants are non-veg biased and so are many of the cuisines available in Toronto. Hence my wife hates to go out as she gets very mundane or less variety of choices in veggie menu in most places. She prefers to cook at home and I prefer to eat out as I love non-veg food.

The Veggie Challenge hence gave us a lot of time to cook together – making veggie dishes at home and spend more time in the kitchen together. This way we had lovely dinners at home and lots of quality time.

– Ruhail, age 30-44, Toronto

	Amanda at Toronto's Annual Vegetarian Food Fair

A new sense of pride and a deeper commitment

I've been a vegetarian for almost 12 years so taking the Veggie Challenge appealed to the part of me that wants to teach and share the knowledge I've learned over the years. Taking the Veggie Challenge brought on a new sense of pride and a deeper commitment to being veggie. I even recruited a few people to the Challenge, and one has been a veggie ever since.

Thank you Veggie Challenge!

– Amanda, age 30-44, Toronto

Vegetarian since "today"

Deciding to return to the vegetarian diet was something I had always been meaning to do but just kept putting off. When I started my new job, I decided that the first day would be a great time to start eating properly again. I was 4 hours into my new job when I was presented with the lunch options in the neighborhood. Popular among the staff was the award winning BBQ place just 5 minutes from the office. When I explained that I was a vegetarian, everyone was very totally cool but when I was confronted with the obvious next question, "How long have you been a vegetarian?" I kind of fumbled for an answer and when I finally said, "since today", everyone had a good laugh.

I ended up eating BBQ that day, because I thought to myself, one day isn't going to make a big different. I will just start tomorrow...

I went home that night and thought about my decision to put things off until tomorrow and wasn't very happy about it. I never should have let others influence me like that, especially when I knew / know I was making the right decision.

Today I am a vegetarian, and working towards a full vegan diet. I don't care how long I have been veg, I just am. I eat better and I feel better.

– Devin, late 20's, Richmond Hill, ON

I was soo lost!

Whoa! changing into a vegan was some hard work, but with the help of Veggie Challenge, it was a lot easier. Nowadays eating healthy is enjoyable – before I had no ideas how to become a vegan... I didn't like eating meat, eggs, dairy, but I was soo lost! But now i'm ok with the vegan lifestyle. I feel sooooooooooo much healthier. THANKS A LOT!

– Amanjoat, early 20's, Woodbridge, ON

The Challenge inspired me to eat better

I was already a vegan when I did the Challenge, but it inspired me to eat better. When doing the Challenge and after it was complete I encourage people to try and eat veggie for a week and see how it feels, I feel its made me a better vegan.

– Meagan, teen, Toronto