Thriving on plant based food

Akeen is a Malaysian living in Germany and has a great love for animals and nature. Akeen is not only a passionate vegan, but she also promotes ethical veganism as a lifestyle choice. In fact, she has been living a vegan lifestyle for the past eight years now. Her transition to veganism started at a young age when she began avoiding meat.

This led her to experiment with vegetarianism and eventually gave up eggs, milk, and other animal products entirely. Today, Akeen is still proudly and happily vegan. In this interview article, we’ll learn more about Akeen’s inspiring journey towards ethical veganism and her efforts to raise awareness of this lifestyle choice.

Akeen told Meatless Movement that until today, she is still learning all the ways to live life by abstaining as much as possible from contributing to animal, human and environment exploitation.

When it comes to health, its not all about getting the body moving. Our food plays a key role for our body and mind health! A healthy relationship with food is important. She is glad she managed to build that relationship within herself and hopefully help others build that for themselves too.

Please tell us more about yourself

I’ve been vegan for 5 years and that decision has helped me learn who I am, who I’m not and what I’ll always stand for
keeno

Hi! My name is Akeen but my family calls me keeno. I’m Malaysian & living in Germany. I love animals & nature. I am vegan for ethical reasons. This year would be 8 years living a vegan lifestyle for me. My transition started out from me avoiding eating meat at a young age to trying out vegetarian to eventually slowly avoiding eggs, milk and animal products entirely. 8 years forward, still proudly and happily vegan!

What personal experience led you to change your diet?

It all started when my grandfather bought a lamb and a baby goat for our house since we had a lot of land. I was 6 or 7 years old I think? I took care of them, they had names and personalities – I spent all day with them after school. They were my friends and it didn’t felt right consuming animals anymore. So at a young age, i avoided lamb and cow meat as a start and everything else after slowly fell into place to where I am today ✨

Your body is capable of many things.
YOU are capable.
The question is always, will you endeavour?
keeno

I’m a Physiotherapist & Personal Fitness Trainer by profession and am consistently training 3–4x a week. Most of my strength and athletic performance is derived entirely from a plant based diet. I don’t bother about the protein questions anymore, Google is available if those asking are genuinely curious 😅 I used to be fairly active in animal liberation activism but now I’m trying to find other ways to keep spreading the message and maintain my peace 😊

A reminder to fuel yourself well with food. food is not only a fuel to the soul but also for your body, feed it well
keeno

Being vegan in Malaysia now is easier and more accessible compared to when I started out. It’s more widely recognised which is exciting to see. Now living in Germany, there’s almost more options than expected anywhere you go!

All in all, being vegan is not just about food per say, it’s what we wear, what we buy, who we support etc. None of us can live this lifestyle perfectly, however we can continue doing our best to avoid supporting unethical practices that are unjust to non humans, humans and Mother Earth 🌸

To anyone starting out – remember your WHY. Why are you starting out? What is your reason? When you really dig deep into that then stick to it and always remember to be kind and remain humble no matter whats thrown at you.