"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
Our journey to a compassionate life
We are Susan and Chuck the Vegan Coach Couple.
Our vegan story started over 10 years ago at Easter 2016. Susan and I got married in 1993 after we both graduated at the Pannon University of Agriculture. Susan specialised in plant protection, I always loved animals and majored in Animal Husbandry. Little we knew at that time about the cruelties involved in industrial agriculture. We were not yet aware of the full truth, but something did not feel right. I remember learning about the brutal treatments of geese, but we were not yet ready to say no!
Fast forward to 2016. Our daughter Esther was 19 years old. She was very sensitive about the treatment of animals and she knew about the vegan lifestyle. Susan struggled with periods of panic attacks and adventured plant based diet for a while before on and off. We had a few raw vegan friends over the past years and Susan read a lot about the health benefits of going vegan. I was most interested in the vegan diet because of the environmental issues in the world.
My father was visiting us in Ireland for Easter and after he flew home Susan, Esther and I embarked on a 28-day Juice Plan.
While juicing, Esther recommended to see a few documentaries. The first one was Forks Over Knives, that was all about health in relation to a plant based diet and it made a lot of sense.
The next one was Cowspiracy - the film about the environmental effects of animal farming.
The last one was Earthlings, narrated by Joachim Phoenix. A film about human greed and mankind's unbelievable cruelty against animals. I can't unsee a few footages - that were burned into my brain. This film changed our lives - we knew that we could never go back eating meat again.
A promise that we all kept up in the last 10 years.
It was Easter 2016 and also Susan's birthday. Every year we celebrate this special birthday as Awakening the Vegan Within.
We want to help others to go vegan effectively with our 10 years of vegan experience.
Our free 28 days Vegan Transition Challenge is doable, effective and builds the foundation for a long and lasting vegan journey.
Why to Go Vegan?
Why to go vegan? How I see it, animals don't care why you go vegan. They are just happy to stay alive.
There may be many reasons.
10 years ago my wife went vegan for health reasons, my daughter embarked on the vegan journey due to her passion for animals and I did it for the environment.
While living and doing a vegan lifestyle the insensitive fog from the meat eating past will start to disappear. People become more susceptible for compassion and the rigid borders of the vegan reasons start to blur.
While I started off for the environment, I also took on health and compassion later and all reasons united in a sort of spiritual path.
It does not really matter which reason you start with.
But if you want to stay vegan for a long period of time - you will need to see and take on the ethical side of veganism.
This will be the guarantee that you will never fall back again.
There will be difficulties, there will be limited vegan options at times, there will be sweat, toil and hard work to stay vegan, but with the right reasons and motivations nothing will be able to stop you. Ever.
"One With Nature truly helped me transition to a vegan lifestyle with ease and confidence. Their support and guidance were invaluable!"
Margaret