I'm Coming Out: Spilling the (Soya) Beans on Being Vegan

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Meet Emma Sinclair – entrepreneur and the youngest person to float a company on the London Stock Exchange, having done so at 29. Recently described as a tech head who will “be running the universe one day”, Emma is emerging as one of Europe’s leading business women. All this – and she’s vegan!

Read her story here:

I never really liked meat or fish unless it was sneakily disguised as something else. Like most children l ate hot dogs, chicken nuggets and McDonalds but I always insisted that the head and tail be removed when my dad ate fish. And preferably the skin too. It used to make me feel really queasy.

I went vegetarian-ish in my early teens which, when trying to annoy my mother, I say is because her cooking was questionable. I’m not sure that’s fair but then again don’t ask her for a chicken soup recipe or you’ll get my grandma’s phone number.

I remember arriving in Paris in the late 90s. As I got in a taxi to my new home I’ll never forget the driver’s response when I asked if he knew of any local vegetarian restaurants. “Did your parents bring you up badly?” The French hate vegetarians.

Whilst I never much liked milk or strong cheese, I loved melted mozzarella, Walnut Whips and 99s with flakes. My mother’s weakness for soft whipped vanilla was a real perk in my teens and the younger version of me would never believe these things would be off my adult menu.

Then things changed. Since my late 20s, I have been unable to eat eggs and milk: They make me really ill (as in REALLY ill). But every cloud has a silver lining and I treat this challenging development my digestive system threw at me as a blessing as opposed to a curse.

I am convinced that if able, I would spend most evenings on the sofa eating pizza and ice cream. I like to excel at everything I do so I’m pretty confident that within no time, I would balloon and be confined to wearing only clothes with elasticated waists.

So in becoming vegan, it’s actually a positive because it saved me from a lifetime of shapeless clothes. I also think its made me better able to build my businesses as I only fuel my body with ‘the good stuff’. I don’t need that early morning caffeine high or 4pm sugar hit to keep me going. I can’t remember the last time I ate anything processed, I can’t eat desserts and yes, I love green juice. We are what we eat.

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