For the love of animals and the environment, Sophomore Faith Lach  has been a vegan for two and a half years. Before going completely vegan, Lach was a vegetarian for one and half years.

“I have always loved animals,” Lach said.

Lach became vegan for the animals with no voice in  the environment. Lach first learned about animal cruelty through a Facebook video about factory farming. This broke her heart and Lach furthered her research by looking at videos on YouTube.

The most popular YouTube video on factory farming is “Extremely Powerful Video:Face the Reality of Factory Farming:Misery for Animals.”  

Being vegan also helps Lach reduce her carbon footprint by emitting  less pollution into water and soil.

“I gained a lot more energy,” Lach said.

Once going completely vegan Lach noticed positive changes in her life. Lach began to have more energy. Her sleep and mood improved, and her acne went away. Lach noticed higher energy while swimming on the swim and dive team at the high school. Then later in the year she found that her increased energy levels helped her running while playing softball because she was less tired.

“At first it was hard because it was a really big change,” Lach said.

Lach is the only vegan in her family, but this is no challenge.

Lach does her own grocery shopping at Whole Foods and Super One. The vegan food Lach purchases is not expensive. For example  the vegan ham Lach buys is only three dollars. Other shopping Lach does is for clothing at her favorite place, Urban Expressions. Lach looks at the tags of her clothing to determine if they are vegan or not.  

Lach also enjoys cooking her own food.

“I like vegan pancakes,” Lach said.

Lach’s favorite foods are vegan pancakes and vegan pizza. In Lach’s vegan pancakes, she includes almond milk, apple sauce, and vanilla with Aunt Jemima pancake mix. For her pizzas Lach uses mini pizza crusts and pizza sauce from Super One Foods and either uses Daiya or Miyoko’s vegan cheese from Whole Foods. Trying vegan food can be fun and simple.