When I first tell someone that I am vegan, they are are often confused by the term or make the assumption that I am a militant animal rights activitist. So to clear up any misunderstandings about my lifestyle choice, here is why I made the switch.
CHIP
ANIMAL PRODUCTS
TODAY
BEING VEGAN
THIS BLOG
MY STORY
Almost five years ago, my friend Brian, who was just 30 years old, suffered a heart attack. On my way to visit him in the hospital, I started to feel sympathy pains.
Although I had recognized that this was indeed what they were -- and that Brian's heart attack was mainly the result of his cigarette smoking -- I also realized that I probably needed to change my lifestyle so I didn't wind up in the same place.
CHIP
After Brian recovered, both of us enrolled in a program at a local hospital called CHIP, the Coronary Health Improvement Program, taught by California epidemiologist named Dr. Hans Diehl, who had worked with the famed Nathan Pritikin. Over the next month, we met four nights a week to learn about how our body works and the role nutrition plays.
Dr. Diehl didn't just tell us what to do; he showed us why. Through medical studies, we learned to avoid animal products and processed foods, and eat "foods as grown."
Eliminating animal products (meat, fish, eggs, dairy) would bring the most benefit, he told us. Not everyone in the program went that far, but I did.
At the start of the study, the medical staff drew blood samples and weighed us in. By the end of CHIP, I had lost over 20 pounds and improved my levels in all important areas.
Some people with medical conditions improved so much that they no longer needed the medication upon which they had once depended. I looked and felt great.
ANIMAL PRODUCTS
Because I stopped eating animal products for health reasons, I am not as militant as other vegans, who go so far as not not own any leather products and won't eat sugar unless they know that it is not ground with bone.
The fact that being vegan is more humane to animals is surely an added benefit, although that is not why I do it. When I switched, I had recently bought brand new leather couches, so I was not going to just throw them away.
TODAY
After about six months of being on a vegan diet, I had lost 75 pounds and was in my best shape since college. However, due to a medical condition that required me to take heavy medication for over six months, I fell back into some bad habits.
Because of the appetite suppressants in the medication that artificially kept my weight down, I started eating more processed food, salt and sugars, and -- once the medication ran out -- gained much of the weight back. However, I still feel good and the thought of eating animal products again turns my stomach.
BEING VEGAN
Being vegan is a choice that I made. My parents and one of my sisters also went vegetarian shortly after I made the switch, but they could not give up the dairy.
Although I love eating vegan, I have many carnivorous friends. I like talking about what I eat, but I don't push it on others -- and I hate when they try to tell me that eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes is wrong (Steve Siff!)
THIS BLOG
If you're a vegetarian or vegan, I hope this blog provides a useful forum for information. If you're not, perhaps this blog will give you a glimpse into another lifestyle that you never knew much about.
If you need more information, check out this video:
2 comments:
I think your blog is great! Before reading this, I must admit I perceived vegans to be the "militant animal rights activist" you described. Thanks for being honest about your lifestyle and I'm now considering adopting parts of the vegan lifestyle into my own eating habits.
Dave! Contact me! I need to talk to you. You fell off the planet. jyelen@comcast.net
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