Thinking about changing your diet?
Denise Pfeiffer tells her story about why and how she became vegetarian...

I guess it was inevitable that I would become a vegetarian. I had always adored animals as a child, and even now as an adult I still gain so much pleasure from watching their behaviour and admiring a pet’s capacity to love its owners unconditionally.

As long as I could remember, I had always been aware that killing animals for food in modern day society was not just cruel, but totally unnecessary. Early bereavement made me realise how short and precious life is – and even shorter for animals. It's terrible that humans can so willingly take a mother from her babies, and go on to slaughter it, just for the sake of food, and of course, money.

My Christian faith also plays a part in why I continue to remain a vegetarian. Before the Fall, when things were perfect, man was a vegetarian, and God intended that humans eat plants, not flesh. Likewise, we are told that in the afterlife, animals will live side by side with each other and there will be no slaughter. Of course, we are not in Heaven whilst here on earth, but each one of us can create something similar to Heaven on earth, if only we wanted to. The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has never been more relevevant than today, when we do not need to kill God's creatures in order to enjoy a huge variety of food. In today's overpopulated world, in which animal grazing for subsequent slaughter takes up acres of land that could otherwise be used for crops and grain, vegetarianism is a compassionate way of living. We are all far from perfect, but we can all strive to be the best we can be under the circumstances. What an exciting challenge!

I am now both a model and a writer. One requires me to look my best, and the other requires much concentration and mental stamina. I believe that my vegetarian diet has helped immensely in terms of my overall fitness and health, and is yet another reason why I would not give up on such a healthy and beneficial lifestyle choice.