I found some absolutely HORRID pictures of what happens in factory farms, and it made me so sick that I was practically in hysterics. I grew up in farm country and had been into the processing department of a slaughterhouse. It grossed me out, but I just thought it was "the norm", and I never saw or heard what the animals go through in the "farms." On the day that I saw those pictures and info about what happens to animals in slaughterhouses, I went vegetarian.

The first couple of weeks, I messed up and ate some tacos, then felt horrible afterwards. Your body is so attuned to craving meat, your body is saying yes, but your heart and mind are saying no. It was kind of like a tug-of-war for me. The smell of meat made me crave it so badly that my mouth would water and I would do everything I could not to indulge. Now the smell of meat makes me physically ill. When I felt like I was getting weakened when it came to eating meat, I would go back to the websites with the pictures and facts and it always made me want to perservere.

In June of 2001, something that a (meat-eating) person told me echoed through my mind - "How can you be against the killing of animals, yet give in to products that abuse them? It's like you're saying it's wrong to kill them, but it's ok to let them suffer years of torment." I'm a big person, and I LOVED my cheese. I could eat 1-2 pounds a night if anyone would let me. Everytime I would eat cheese, or any dairy product for that matter, what that person said to me was always in the back of my mind. I saw the pictures of things that happened in the dairy and egg industry, but I loved my cheese and chocolate SO much that I tried to ignore it as best I could.

On April 5, 2004, I'd had enough of the "hiding" and I found the milksucks.com website. I learned more about what happens to the animals in the dairy and egg industries. From that day forward, I have been a vegan and am proud to say that I have not ONCE willingly slipped or messed up. I can still remember the night that I went vegan. My mom was baking toasted cheese raviolis, something that I had not had in AGES and was one of my favorite foods. My mom always teased me about being a vegetarian and even once tried shoving turkey in my mouth, so I was afraid of what her reaction would be when I told her I was going vegan. She just sat there in front of me, eating the raviolis, saying how good they tasted and kept asking me if I wanted any. I said no and I meant it. I did not eat any of them at all and I will always remember that night as my first step to saying "no" to animal products.

A few months later, I found a video and showed it to my mom, it was about what happens to pigs in slaughterhouses and now she won't eat pork anymore. I'm hoping that she will come around sooner or later and value the lives of ALL "farm animals." I also hear the "What about all of the poor potatoes and heads of lettuce that suffered and died because you ate them?" and "What if you were on an island alone, stuck and there was only a cow on the island, and you were starving, would you eat it?" (I have to admit, I'd said that to a couple of people before). You know, stupid stuff like that people pose to you to try and pacify their minds.

To tell you the truth, before I was even vegetarian, I believed the common cliche of vegans being radical animal rights activists; the raging violent lunatics who always shoved their views down everyone else's throats. Now that I am a vegan, I have caught more flack from meat/dairy consumers when I haven't even done anything to provoke it. I used to get mad if someone just said they were vegan because deep down inside it made ME feel guilty and so I'd lash out. I realize that that's probably what most people are doing when they don't have any justified reason for attacking a vegan.

So that's my story. I will continue to be an activist. It's hard not being pushy sometimes, but I'm working on it.

--Liz lives in Florida.