Taylor Anderson

Three Strokes

When I was a very young child, my parents brought me to someone's home. We played around on their big property and met some animals. I met a cow that I named Brownie. I spent time with Brownie and just loved him. I had no idea at the time that my parents bought Brownie for meat. They stuffed him into a big freezer in the basement. I was horrified! I don't believe I ate any meat from Brownie, but I was told that I had to eat meat and drink milk to be healthy. I was an athlete and had had many health issues, so I eventually ate meat and forced myself to drink some milk, which I hated.

All of my adult life I struggled with high blood pressure, especially during and after my second pregnancy. I was told that since I was at a good weight and I was very active, my blood pressure wasn't controllable without medicine. I had bad reactions to all the meds and would eventually stop them.

When I was 54 my blood pressure got really bad, and I had eye damage from it, so I started medication again. I was told I would need five medications. They put me on an old med because I had such bad reactions to all the newer medications. Well, that medication would bring my pressure down and then it would go extremely high. I ended up having three major strokes in five months.

After my third stroke I was released from the hospital and assigned a neurologist to see, along with other doctors and therapists. That neurologist asked me how often I ate meat, and when I said about four times a week, she cringed. She later said that probably wasn't that bad. Well, that stuck with me, and I eventually started my vegan lifestyle. My husband eventually became vegetarian and about 98% vegan. My youngest daughter, a pediatrician now, is vegetarian.

I am still on blood pressure medication, but only one, not five.

It makes me extremely sad to see people's health issues caused by their eating habits. My father-in-law, 86, is about to have heart surgery because of major blockages. My dad, 93, has major health issues, and where he lives, he eats terribly.

I am thrilled to be vegan and to not be harming animals. I love animals, and it pains me to see how we humans treat and kill them for food. I know veganism is becoming more popular now but not nearly popular enough.

If you would like to share this page you can click here to copy this page link