Ours is a modern friendship, born out of making fun of our mutual friend on Facebook (all in good fun, of course) which led to our own friendship. Tescha, a vegan for 2.5 years, has made me look at the world and everything that lives in it a little differently. She is sweet, compassionate, and intelligent and genuinely someone who wants to make the world a better place. What's not to love about that? So here's Tescha's take on what it took for her to love her body. Enjoy.
Alright, enough obsessing. Body image is a tough thing to write about. What can I possibly write that has not already been written, blogged, and discussed to death?? How can I even write about body image when I have problems with it myself? Well, I can talk about my journey with my body image, as a vegan (yes I said the naughty V-word!) and as a mother. Since there has been nothing that has had a bigger effect on my views about body image than my veganism, you'd better believe I'm going to talk about it!
Let me start off by saying I am slender. I haven't always been. I had my daughter when I was 21, and my weight had fluctuated ever since. At my largest non-pregnant weight I believe I was about 160, I remember buying size 11 pants. I did manage to get thin a few times after that, mainly by way of calorie restriction. At one point I was working out, but I watched my portions like a hawk. I managed to get down to a size 3--yes,I was big on the numbers because my self-worth was measured by pants sizes and portion control--but I always gained the weight back. I never got back up to a size 11, but I was close. My body seemed happy at about 145 pounds and size 9 pants. I was that size for a long time--when I was drinking, working sedentary jobs that allowed for ample munchie time, and living off a lot of Ramen noodles and other processed foods. Although I was vegetarian at the time (not yet vegan), health was not a huge concern of mine, nor was taking care of my body. Although no one ever told me I was fat or anything of the sort, (blessed was I to have wonderful, nice people in my life) I was not happy with the way I looked. Or with myself. I was just moving through the days, doing whatever and eating whatever, (the exception being meat and eggs)..I didn't feel that I had any real purpose. I was just your average girl with a crappy job and a body I sort of hated!
In February of 2011, I gave birth to my son. Once again, I was left with the problem of what to do about the post-pregnancy weight. I had already decided, while I was pregnant, that after I had the baby I was "going to eat healthy", and I made a list for myself of acceptable foods, most of which were vegan, although at the time I was still drinking yogurt smoothies and eating cheese. It was about this time though, shortly after my son was born that I read about a mother and baby cow being separated on a dairy farm, and how the mother cow cries for days for her baby (people can't have milk if the baby cows are drinking it!!) that I went full-fledged vegan, and I haven't looked back since. Having just given birth myself, that story had a tremendous impact on me. I was inconsolable for at least an hour. It was the start of my being vegan, but it was also the start of my finding peace with my body, my mind and my weight.
Fast forward 2 and a half years--today, I am the same weight I was well over a year ago, and it is a weight I am happy with. People who haven't seen me in a long time will say "Wow, you look good! What did you do? How did you lose the weight?" And I tell them, "I'm vegan." Responses vary of course, but the most common response is "OH, I could NEVER do that!" And they laugh and say something about not being able to live without their meat or their cheese. I usually won't say anything more, and they are left to their weight struggle despite my having told them how I was able to lose the weight. Now I will say this--I did not go vegan to lose weight. It is a glorious side effect (although it is still quite possible to eat like crap being a vegan--believe me), but I am a hardcore, animal rights activist vegan. However, the ethics behind being vegan, combined with the weight loss and feeling better than I did when I was 21, have given me
more of a holistic view of body image than I have ever had. When I had my second child, I made the decision to stop eating animals. When I stopped eating animals, my weight fell, and I became happier with the way I looked. But I also knew that I was doing the right thing by the animals, who suffer immensely in a world where they are bred to be killed for human consumption and use. As I began to feel better both mentally and physically, it started to show on the outside. I am no model--I am a mother of 2 with a body that shows it. But I've reached a comfortable weight, I feel fantastic, and I have come to realize that what you put inside you shows on the outside. When I started actively doing a good thing for the animals, I was paid back too. These days I don't count calories, I don't control my portions--I just eat healthy, plant based foods. Good for me, good for the animals, and good for the world! It's good for you too--I promise!
Something else happened when I went vegan too. I was liberated. It's very freeing to know that you don't have to eat animals to be healthy. That you don't have to be part of a system that oppresses, and kills not only animals, but people too. In fact, people are much better off eating plant based foods. But when you free yourself from that standard of society, you also free yourself from the standards society places on your body. You learn to love and respect the animals, and love and respect yourself.
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