What Inspired My Friend & I To Become Vegan

Starting my first internship at the Dementia Cafe had a very positive impact on my life. I managed to learn plenty of new things about dementia, what it is, the inner workings of care homes, healthy lifestyle choices and why it is so important to become vegan.

Reading a lot of articles everyday relating to dementia about the benefits of yoga, healthy food and lifestyle, the cruelty of the dairy industry… all of all this together made me realize that I have to take care of myself and my health and as an animal lover I cannot be part of the cruelty in the meat and dairy industry. I have always been against animal cruelty and I remember how, at the age of 18 I wanted to become vegetarian but for various reasons didn’t, which is a pity.

The founder of the DC charity, Emily, is vegan herself. She practices yoga and tries her best to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I can definitely say that Emily inspired me a lot! In addition to my healthy vegan diet I have also decided to join the gym near my new flat, and take yoga classes.

I was asked by Emily, to write a blog post about Dairy & Dementia, discuss the links between dairy and dementia and explain why becoming vegetarian is the first step, how cruel and unhealthy the meat and dairy industry are and how we can end this by becoming vegan. This post managed to also influence a friend of mine, Michael.

It was a regular Sunday when my friend Michael and I were out in London looking for somewhere to eat, the only problem was that I was vegan and at the time Michael still ate meat and dairy. After looking for a place that both of us could eat at and walking around for a long time, my friend became rather mad at me and said: “It’s very difficult to go for dinner with vegan friends, I could never become vegetarian not to mention vegan”.  When I got home, I told him to read my blog post about Dairy & Dementia and I sent him the link.

This post changed his life… surprisingly after reading it, he sent me a message to apologise and said that he will no longer eat dairy and meat.

I am really happy that I have finally managed to do what I wanted to do for many years but for some reason never did. The fact that I could manage to convince a friend to live a healthier, more compassionate life makes me even happier. It’s all thanks to the Dementia Café that our eyes were opened.