When I was 17, I saw a program on television about African Elephants and how they were endangered at that time. It really struck a chord with me. It awoken something inside of me, a sensitivity, that had been suppressed by my schooling, family and upbringing. … Since then, that sensitivity has always been a part of me, admittedly, it was a part of me that I lost and buried away and suppressed myself in many years of self-denial and self-loathing, but that I am very happy to have regained. … I first went Vegan in 1991 or so. I had been leaning towards that type of lifestyle before I’d ever even heard the word. My own sensitivity and understanding of myself was what initially lead me in that direction. I was a vegetarian between 1987 and 1999 but then I lost my way. In 2013, I found myself outside the walls of a pig slaughterhouse in Louisville, Kentucky. The screams that I heard will haunt me forever. They were distinct, individual voices screaming out in sheer terror and pain. It woke me up.

Animals deserve to be treated with kindness. I love animals, and I don't believe humans can treat them as commodities and cause them harm. … I officially became a vegan on June 1, 2009. Even though it's quite a change in terms of nutrition, I have never felt better or so healthy in my life. Considering that I'm a professional athlete, that's quite important … I understand the impact I have in joining many groups like PETA. I don't do it to force people to be vegetarian or vegan. I just want to educate people on the subject to make this world a better place. … Many people … refuse to get educated on the matter because just like me, they're sensitive and afraid to make a change. But my friends, that change is not bad at all. … Millions of people around the globe are going vegetarian for the sake of animals, their health and the environment. I encourage you to give it a try too!

My journey to veganism began when I was a sophomore in high school. … For a long time before that, I felt a connection to animals and believed it was wrong to eat creatures with personalities, thoughts, and the ability to show love and affection. I grew up on an animal farm … It was in this environment, with direct contact to farm animals, that I decided that eating meat was not in accordance with my values. … There is nothing more effective than tangible results to show people that athletic achievement and substantial muscle growth can be achieved healthfully on a plant-based diet.

I have been a vegetarian since I was born and I just became vegan about 2 years ago. … I hope to make a difference in the world by sharing my diet and lifestyle. I just want to travel the world, surf incredible places, smile a lot, make others smile, be inspired, and inspire.

The main reason I became vegan was the book "." It basically changed my life. After the 2007 season I had read so much I decided to become a vegan and get rid of all the animal products -- meat and dairy. At first, it was basically just for the health benefits -- I was intrigued by the 2005 season when I cut a lot of that stuff out and got a lot better. It really changed my career, and I thought, "This might be something that helps me take my career to the next level." And it wasn't the main reason, but I like knowing everything I eat was served in a humane way.

Well, it started with my yoga practice and you know, the practice of non-harming, ‘ahimsa’. So I became a vegan because [of] compassion [for] the animals. The vegan diet was being discussed around me all the time, so finally, I just made the choice. […] The first thing I did was lose 20 pounds and I haven't put that back on. Do I feel better than I felt 15, 17 years ago? Yeah I think so. I think I'm in pretty good shape.

When I turned 15 or 16 I realized that I did not have to eat meat, so I stopped. I went Vegan the same year I got in to bike racing: 1999. I was living in San Francisco and started racing on the track and lived with a bunch of vegans. To be honest, I never really liked eating animal products. It was just always in stuff I would eat. Y'know: burritos have cheese, pizza has cheese. But once I was surrounded by people who showed me that there were options, I stopped eating animal products right away. I was really motivated to start taking responsibility for what I put in my body.

[What inspired you to go vegetarian at age 19?] A taste aversion stopped my eating meat, then my deep love and respect for animals started informing more and more of my decisions. I had an innate sense of wanting to be vegan, but I needed more information. The change was gradual, which let me think through every step. I was still eating dairy when my first son was born; he couldn't tolerate my breast milk, and I realized I had a dairy allergy. So, it kept evolving. I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and that did it.

I became a vegetarian in 1969. … About eight and a half years ago, my husband and I decided to stop eating meat and then about six months later we stopped eating fish. … Partly because of my attitude towards health, and partly because of my husband's attitude toward animals. He's such an avid animal lover that, slaughtering them for food, he felt, was a worthless endeavor. I came to it from the point of view of someone who likes to be healthy, energetic, and vital. Together we both came to the same conclusions, but from different viewpoints, and eventually our reasons began to mingle. I began to share his attitude about animals and he began to appreciate the physical rewards of being a vegetarian. … I had two beautiful births as a vegetarian; they were great labors—no bleeding, no complications, no problems. The diet worked perfectly for me.

I went vegetarian at about 5 years old when I visited a Dude Ranch with my family and saw a rodeo. It was traumatizing and I made a conscious decision at that age to never eat animals again. When I started middle school, I read a book that exposed a lot of the truth about the food industry and encouraged a healthful lifestyle through a guide to living vegan. It was a mostly simple transition that made me feel so much better about myself, inside and out. … For as long I can remember, acting and animal activism have made me feel alive and purposeful … I would love to see more organizations coming together. Sometimes it’s tricky to understand everyone’s opinions. We all have so many of the same intentions, it’d be awesome to see more support for one another amongst the community.

My veganism stems from Mike Vallely. He was the person, he and Christian Kline … would take me out to dinner and say, “We’ll buy dinner for you if you don’t order meat.” I remember being totally bummed out about that and thinking, “I can’t get the Kung Pow chicken, this sucks.” Then I read some pamphlets and discovered how it was made. I think it takes a weird person to know that and then keep eating it. As I read that stuff, it hit me and I instantly went vegetarian. Then a year later went vegan. I read more information because I was interested, the floodgates opened and there was no turning back. … A lot of kids come up to me at demos and say, “Oh, you’ve skated so long. Is that because you’re vegan?” I’m always the first person on the course and the last person off. I’ve always had good energy. Maybe it’s from eating healthy. … I was just one person who said, “I’m not putting my dollars into this stuff, I’m only putting my dollars in this vegan stuff.” When millions of others do the same, the markets respond. Now there’s great ice cream and great soy milk. Everything you can dream about is made vegan now. That’s something that has transformed over the years. I did my little part, my little sacrifice made a point.

I have been a vegetarian since I was fourteen for ethical reasons. I continued to eat eggs and dairy until I did some research on the dairy industry and discovered the horrific treatment of farm animals. … I went vegan about 3 ½ years ago [in late 2014]. It was a process that took time and patience. I wasn't perfect, in fact I struggled a lot during the first year. That said, once I educated myself on how and what to eat, it became much easier.

I was vegetarian for about 10 years, decided within that 10 years to just go full vegan … It's been 15 years of no flesh. What inspired me was as I learned more about the abuses to animals and the way meat was brought to the table and everything that these creatures were going through. It was just another motivation and reason for me to live the lifestyle that felt true to my soul and my spirit. … You don't realize what food tastes like until you stop eating meat. It's like something happens to your palate, it just gets cleansed and the simplest thing—a tomato—tastes like the most vibrant, amazing thing on the planet. My energy is fantastic.

I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn't disconnect myself from it any longer.