Colleen Wilson

Three years ago, I rescued a runt piglet from certain death. The experience changed me in many ways, but the most visible of them has been my conversion to vegetarianism. At the time, my mom wrote it off as a phase, sure that I’d return to my Iowan roots and my meat and potatoes lifestyle, but I held fast. I struggled at first. I was suddenly on my own for all my meals, with nearly no knowledge of a healthy vegetarian diet. To cope, I ate the meat free foods I could scavenge around the house. Unfortunately, my diet became filled with processed snacks, empty calories, and junk.

Everything changed last summer when I started getting into cooking. The more I learned about how foods interact and their nutritional benefits, the more concerned I became about what I was putting in my boy. Processed foods, full of additives and chemicals, are far from natural. When I stumble upon videos like the one below, I know that I’ve made the right decision about the way I perceive and consume food.