People ask me, why did you do it?
The main reason is because my health was going down the tubes and I saw no way to fix my problems. I have had one heart attack, almost a second one, I have 6 stents in my heart, I was considered a borderline diabetic, and was not eligible for a colonoscopy.
Other people change to vegan because of the animals. That never crossed my mind.
Besides that, I had aches and pains which I considered were the result of getting old (I am 72).
How hard was it to make the transition?
For me, it was no hard because I had the backup of the wife who will eat anything I cook, and she readily took on the diet. Before this she was doing the South Beach diet for a few years and did not get her anywhere. The original plan was to easy into the diet slowly. Well, I could not do that, I went into it head on and it was not difficult.
When did I become a vegan? In March 1, 2010
What is involved? As opposed to most diets, the VEGAN diet has very few rules and are vey easy to follow. First of all, you eat no animal products. This includes ALL animal products such as milk, cheese, eggs, yougurt, etc. Next, no processed foods such as white flour, white sugar (brown sugar is better or Stevia is best), white rice.
Next, no oils, remember oil (no matter what kind) is 100% fat.
So what is left?
All the vegetables and all the fruits and all the nuts. You can also have honey, maple syrup and molasses. If you want milk, you can buy a replacement made out of rice or soy beans. In fact you can make your own milk from soy for as little as 50 cents per gallon. and it is thick, unlike the see thru 2% cows milk I was drinking.
When did I start feeling the effects of the change? Within a week. You will notice the difference, you can walk faster, straighter, you feel alive again. As a side effect I lost 20 pounds, I was not counting on this at all, it just happened. What other changes did I experience?
I have had Rosacea for the last 40 years and have had to apply to my face whatever the specialists gave me, and I did that twice a day to keep the disease under control. If I let it go a few days, it took me 3 weeks to clear my face...well... 2 weeks after I started eating well I realized that my face was clearer than ever. I stopped using the cream (metroGel) and... the Rosacea went away completely.
Last year my daughter gave me a contraption to aid me in putting my socks on because I had trouble reaching my feet. I started using it and it made my dressing in the morning much easier.
I don't know when, I quit using that aid, I can reach my feet with ease.
How do you get started? First of all you need some recipe books. I got my first book from Dr. McDougall's web site in California. His cook book has over 300 recipes. Some recipes are very spicy but you can modify them to your own taste. His web site is at http://www.drmcdougall.com/index.html. I also got a couple of books and DVD's from the Rave Diet, I have a link on the front page of my web site. There are many many web sites that have vegan recipes but, be aware, some of them include cheese, oil, and processed flours.
Now, I feel better, I have been told I look better and have an eye on the future.
Side Effects: January 3, 2011 - 9 months after starting - This body of mine is full of surprises. For many years I had about half a dozen lumps in my arms, they were about 1 inch by about half an inch, or at least that is the way they felt but they never hurt, they were just there.
This morning I started looking for them and to my surprise, I could not find them. I finally located two of them but they are only about 1/4" long, very hard to find. What happened? Where did they go? They just vanished and believe me, I am not going to miss them.