Turning vegan hasn't been a decision. There has never been a point I could mark as the moment that changed everything. It has been a course made out of baby steps.

One day I just didn't have the heart to walk in my old shoes anymore - metaphorically and literally. I will never forget my thumping heart as I stood in this vegan shoe store, afraid that they might notice how little I really knew about this lifestyle. I will never forget the sheer joy as I left the very same store with my first pair of vegan shoes.

Cheese has been my downfall for a long time, and I will forever miss the taste of goat cheese with honey... Venturing into the world of dairy-free cheese was... disgusting. But then there was this moment when I ordered an onion soup in a local vegan restaurant, and, oh boy, I've never treasured a cheese crust that much ever before. And I realized that I can still have it, everything. Another baby step.

Baking has been surprisingly easy. It's basically applied chemistry, and there are so many vegan recipes for delicious cakes, cookies, muffins. The past weekend, I made another baby step: I tried one of my old cake recipes and replaced milk with soy milk, butter with margarine and... tata... eggs with "no egg". It's a strange white powder, but, apparently, it can do everything the real stuff does - except that it doesn't make for colorful Easter eggs.

And the result: Yumm! Two pounds later, I can say that it really worked. We even had a great vegan chocolate frosting on our cake. I'm happy.

Going vegan might have limited my choices, closed some doors... but on the wings of compassion, there is a whole new world to discover. It looks good, tastes good, feels good, and... I've never been healthier my whole life.

Here I am, looking forward to my next baby steps.