Sparklingmushroom's profile

More About Me

Reasons why I prefer to eat vegetarian or vegan:

I've always loved nature and I was planning on becoming an ecologist some day. In my biology book I read about methane gas and how much polution was made just by making 1kg of cow's meat so I started cutting red meat (cow and pig, later sheep) around 2009, I would only eat it a couple of times per year. One year later I saw "Earthlings" but I still continued my eating habits (shame on me). I guess I was also afraid because I started having IBS and most websites would advise a diet of easily digested protein like poultry and fish and eating too much fiber would trigger my symptoms so I thought going vegetarian would restrict a lot of my choices. I guess I was ignorant and I lived in a small town and was afraid of not having many options left. Studying in Porto broaden my options. I heard about organic olivia and I started eating better (even though I've always eaten well), avoiding alcohol, sleeping enough hours, doing yoga, eating kefir and sauerkraut and started buying vegan shampoo and other good stuff. As I got better it just clicked one day and I bought soy and started doing burguers. Since September of this year (2016) I cut all animal products and I feel so proud of myself. To think that I was the one who thought that vegans were just to extreme and we all needed balance in our lives... I can only feel balance within myself and life if I don't hurt animals and if I do the less harm possible to mother earth! I'm also in vet school and I plan to help endangered species and wild animals to survive and also to live in a better planet :)

I joined HappyCow Members Community because:

It is the easiest way to search for a vegetarian/vegan restaurant or store close to where you live. Having and idea of the prices and also reading reviews helps a lot!

Here are some places I've been that I liked... and places that I would like to visit one day:

The Azores and Madeira (cluster of islands of Portugal), Spain, Galicia, Cambridge, Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul, Safranbolu, Pammukale, Marmaris), Italy, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, NY. I would love to visit Japan, South Korea, Iceland, Greenland, India, Australia, New Zealand... pretty much all the world :D Of course, LA!!

Some of my favorite veg*n foods include:

Sweet potato (it is my breakfast), ginger tea (almost any tea will do for me), granola, eggplant pizza, chestnuts, mushrooms (all kinds!), sushi (vegan of course), pimientos de pradón, italian and turkish food.

Here are some books, movies, magazines, and my favorites that I would recommend to other HappyCow members:

The Physician Adam ruins everything Mango Island Mamma Organic Olivia Daysy (natural, hormonal-free birth control) Taking Charge of Your Fertility Holisthabits Rehana Jomeen FemmeHead