- Joined
- Jun 5, 2018
- Reaction score
- 188
- Lifestyle
- Vegan
Just wanted to pop in and say hello and make my little victory speech.
At the beginning of 2018 I decided to take the leap into veganism (was lacto-ovo vegetarian for around 10 years previously).
I cannot tell you what a huge difference this has made in my life, especially where it comes to the dietary aspect of being vegan. I've never felt better in my life. I only got sick two times last year. Once was at the beginning of the year and I'd only been doing the vegan bit for about two weeks - I got a head cold. At the end of this year I got food poisoning - yikes! I feel the lack of illnesses can be contributed primarily to not consuming animal products. (And food poisoning - well you just can't avoid it - if your food is tainted, it's gonna get you.)
Around mid-April, I also took the plunge to go sugar-free. I'll still have a piece of really dark chocolate, and fruits are fine, but no more cookies, cakes, candies, etc. I've made just a couple exceptions through the last several months, but those were definitely special occasions (like a friend's wedding where she had vegan cupcakes.)
I lost about 25 pounds this year, and I definitely attribute it to my dietary changes - and I think this was mostly helped by eliminating sugar. Weight loss wasn't a primary goal of mine when I went vegan, but it was definitely the "cherry on top" to see the weight melt off, as well. I had my vitamin and cholesterol levels checked back in November and everything is stellar there - my B-12 and D3 are in good shape because I'm diligent about supplementing, and naturally all my cholesterol levels have dropped even more from where they were back when I was lacto-ovo vegetarian.
I was just overall pleasantly surprised to see just how easy consuming a vegan diet is. I really did worry that I'd miss cheese and eggs. The only real challenges occurred when eating out at times. It's surprising to still end up at restaurants that don't offer at least a veggie burger. But I've made due with things like baked potatoes without sour cream or butter and sides of veggies (hold the butter there, too, please.)
I still encounter people who are confounded by my food choices. But it's super-fun to eat out with such people and have them look at my colorful plate of healthy food with some jealousy after they just lectured me on not eating right.
Thanks, everyone, for the valuable information you've shared and the support you've provided. Excited to be doing this another year. I hope you all have a wonderful, compassionate, healthy 2019.
At the beginning of 2018 I decided to take the leap into veganism (was lacto-ovo vegetarian for around 10 years previously).
I cannot tell you what a huge difference this has made in my life, especially where it comes to the dietary aspect of being vegan. I've never felt better in my life. I only got sick two times last year. Once was at the beginning of the year and I'd only been doing the vegan bit for about two weeks - I got a head cold. At the end of this year I got food poisoning - yikes! I feel the lack of illnesses can be contributed primarily to not consuming animal products. (And food poisoning - well you just can't avoid it - if your food is tainted, it's gonna get you.)
Around mid-April, I also took the plunge to go sugar-free. I'll still have a piece of really dark chocolate, and fruits are fine, but no more cookies, cakes, candies, etc. I've made just a couple exceptions through the last several months, but those were definitely special occasions (like a friend's wedding where she had vegan cupcakes.)
I lost about 25 pounds this year, and I definitely attribute it to my dietary changes - and I think this was mostly helped by eliminating sugar. Weight loss wasn't a primary goal of mine when I went vegan, but it was definitely the "cherry on top" to see the weight melt off, as well. I had my vitamin and cholesterol levels checked back in November and everything is stellar there - my B-12 and D3 are in good shape because I'm diligent about supplementing, and naturally all my cholesterol levels have dropped even more from where they were back when I was lacto-ovo vegetarian.
I was just overall pleasantly surprised to see just how easy consuming a vegan diet is. I really did worry that I'd miss cheese and eggs. The only real challenges occurred when eating out at times. It's surprising to still end up at restaurants that don't offer at least a veggie burger. But I've made due with things like baked potatoes without sour cream or butter and sides of veggies (hold the butter there, too, please.)
I still encounter people who are confounded by my food choices. But it's super-fun to eat out with such people and have them look at my colorful plate of healthy food with some jealousy after they just lectured me on not eating right.
Thanks, everyone, for the valuable information you've shared and the support you've provided. Excited to be doing this another year. I hope you all have a wonderful, compassionate, healthy 2019.
