going vegan

 Ten Reasons Why I Went Vegan

 

Dear Awesome Readers, 

Cheers to my second list (post) of anything. October was a very interesting month.  I had to take a pause on writing this month because I was doing too much and spreading myself thin. In the process, I  learned a lot about myself and the direction I’m attempting to go with this writing process. I appreciate that life always affords us MANY opportunities to create and alter our journey.

I hope you enjoy.

 

1. Going Vegan Was The Best Decision For Me

The choice to go vegan was something that I’ve been toying with for a long time.  Over the years, I purchased books and joined quite a few social networks dedicated to eating plant-based and being healthy. I was always collecting recipes and reading success stories but never took the plunge.

If I haven’t learned anything else about being healthy, I learned overall is that you have to find out and do what works for you. There are many different ways to do that. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of attempting many diet/health plans based on the recommendation of someone or I read something that peeked my interest. Yes, I’m a sucker for weight loss success stories.

There’s is nothing like reading an encouraging article with a dope before and after picture with people making huge transformations. What happens is that you often start to feel bad.  You start thinking what are you doing wrong.  It makes you want to do exactly what that person you read about is doing because it appears to be working.

Now apply this same notion to people we actually know- our family and friends.  It becomes more real when that family member or friend attempt to share with you what works for them. According to them, It’s the best program out there. So now what?

Desperation afforded me countless chances on every great promise that I could entertain. Guess what? It never worked because it wasn’t something that I believed in.  I didn’t have the right mindset and wasn’t prepared to do the hard work.

You’re probably going to read this a lot because it’s very important to me: You have to learn what works for you. How do you find what works for you?  It’s all about trial and error and being honest with yourself.

Don’t do anything extreme. When you try to do something extreme it often doesn’t work and comes with some negative consequences. Meaning, don’t try to do a detox if you know you don’t have the discipline or medical knowledge. You’ll crash and end up eating everything in sight or worse mess up your metabolism.

Don’t take this the wrong way but I also dislike when others like to tell you that “all you need to do is this or that”. There is no one solution to what works to being healthy. Just because John works out every day and drops 20 pounds in two months doesn’t mean Bill will too!

Consider that we are different and some may have some health issues that can make losing and maintaining a healthy weight size hard. I know someone who works out every day, however, due to her health issues, she is struggling to lose weight. So, be careful when sharing advice that may not be a one size fits all.

Anyway, I like to use the analogy of treating your health like it’s a potential love interest.  I wanted to get serious about my health. In the past, I tried every crazy diet.  Just like relationships- we keep looking for the perfect mate at our emotional expense. It’s often never satisfying.

So, anyway I decided to treat veganism like a special love interest that’s worth my time. Guess what? It’s been working. Just like when you’re in a good relationship; when it’s good, you’re good. You’ll do good. Life is good. Nothing else matters. You’re in la-la land.

Don’t get me wrong, being vegan is not all pink roses. I have my days when I’m tempted but we work it out like any good relationship. I have to keep working at it and realizing that going vegan doesn’t mean no hard work is ahead of me.

I was able to make a positive decision based upon what I can manage. Making that decision was the best thing for me.

 anxiety about my health

 

2. I Went Vegan after I Watched “What The Health” Documentary

I’ve watched quite a few documentaries on going vegan and how to care more about the foods we eat, however, the “What The Health” documentary finalized my decision. I admit to watching the movie during a clarity moment, so that may be the reason too.

So, my experience with the documentary was like a relationship:

You can’t explain it and you don’t have to.  It’s your new boo (the documentary), you’re invested and everyone hates you because you’re about to be that person that goes around kicking how going vegan is life and you will die if you don’t stop eating meat.

Of course, that wasn’t me but it was fun to write.

Anyway, I watched that documentary on July 17, 2017, and that was the last day I had meat.  Since July, I kept telling friends that I needed to rewatch the movie to pinpoint the turning point.   It definitely was well documented and offered a deeper perspective on health issues. No spoiler alerts here. Watch the show if it’s something you want to do.

To be fair, I watched a lot of documentaries over the years that were very good. I think it was all about the timing of everything that was going on in my life. I recently watched one called “Feel Rich: Wealth is the New Health”. It’s different and no it’s not about going vegan.  Both aforementioned documentaries are on Netflix.

3. I Went Vegan Due To Anxiety About My Health

No, I was not formally diagnosed with anxiety by a medical doctor or a psychiatrist. The term was appropriate at the time of this writing. I was just anxious about my health. All of the sudden, I wanted to get healthy. I think it has a lot to do with me turning a year older.

True Story: So, I’ve been to the emergency room twice since September 2016.  During that time, I was thinking due to my health issues that I easily avoided ( like that person from your past you avoid at the grocery store) my time has caught up with me.  Yes, I’m dramatic.

I went to the Emergency room in September 2016, around 5:00 am in the morning. My significant other receives a call from a friend (this call wakes me up too) complaining about how he needed to go to the ER because he was having some challenges of his own.

Like, seriously! Who plans for that to happen? So, once their conversation was over. I said Joey, I need to go to the ER too.

Joey was too calm in this situation. I mean too calm. I was having a heart attack, so I thought.  My heart was racing like crazy. I literally thought I was going to die. So, I started to think about all of the years I took my health for granted. I knew it was the end of the road for me.

So, Joey was driving slow as hell and I thought, for the first time in my life we can run red lights, please run these lights! When I arrived, the triage nurse was even talking to me like the guy in the dry eye commercials. His speech was very slow and he seemed uninterested in my emergency.

Of course, by this time, my heart rate decreased.  The nurse stated that my blood and urine work came back fine and they gave me a banana because my potassium was low. What?! I needed something to be wrong.

My second trip was the early morning of July 10, 2017. I snuck out of the house around 4 am. My almost sister-in-law stayed over because she and my partner were out late the evening prior.   I was NOT about to be seen going crazy. So, what did I do? I snuck out the house like a true boss and drove my self to the emergency room.

I actually had the same triage male nurse from before but he was nice this time around. I also had a lovely nurse. She was so nice and understanding and of course as she was talking to me, I started to calm down. I felt the need to explain that I’m a licensed social worker (like that mattered)  because I was embarrassed. Like anxiety doesn’t happen to professional folk.

Guess what? Nothing was wrong. I was told I may have a stomach virus. Come on really?  Maybe it’s the old age but 38 is still like 18 right? Seriously, it was easier for me change my eating habits because I thought something was wrong me.

Sidebar: Any discomfort with your body is serious.  I don’t care what anyone tells you, don’t ignore what your body is telling you. Go to the doctor or the emergency if you need to.

 

 

4. I went Vegan Gain Control Of My Health

As mentioned in my first article, I wanted to gain control of my health. I won’t lie and say I worked really hard at every program I tried.  Honestly, we all should know by now that anything worth accomplishing requires commitment and consistency.

I had moments when I attempted to work out and eat right for two weeks prior to giving up. You can’t keep up any healthy relationship with anything if you don’t have the right intentions.

Trust me there will be a follow up to the article discussing some wins and fails.

The older I get the healthier I want to become. I was tired of having my health lingering over my head. Those that understand know the feeling of going to the doctor and hearing bad news.

Then your quarterly check-up arrives (like it was only 3 weeks ago) and you didn’t lose those 10 pounds you promised the doctor three months ago.  So, what do you do? Cancel the upcoming doctor appointment and schedule it a month later, hoping for a miracle.

Meanwhile, I had a friend who started working out and was doing a good job.  She wasn’t dropping an excessive amount of weight immediately but she was consistent. It was not about the scale for her and I learned to respect that.  Her health condition improved due to her taking control of her health.

So, I grew tired of doing the same thing. I wanted to do something different. I also got tired of the same doctor appointments. My health and time on this earth started to get real important to me. I was becoming tired of being a slave to health regimes that didn’t matter to me.

Even if going vegan didn’t work, at least I knew it wasn’t going to kill me. Whoever died eating less meat and more veggies?

 

5. I Went Vegan For A More Holistic Approach

I never enjoyed taking medication unless it was related to pain.  Why? I don’t like the side effects of taking medication. When I first was prescribed medication (over 10 years ago) it messed up my stomach.

The doctor told me that the side effects would subside in a few weeks. Those few weeks never came. During another time, I developed these migraines I never experienced before. Of course, it could have been related to something else but I couldn’t help but remember all the side effects I researched from taking medication.

Often times, when you are taking a medication, it’s only a matter of time before you’re in need of another pill to help manage the side effects developed from taking the prescribed medication. It’s so discouraging. Perhaps, I was in disbelief and assumed that I had plenty of time to get my health in order. So, I stopped taking the meds.

Please don’t do that. Perhaps get a second opinion or do the hard work necessary (if even possible) and get the ok to stop taking any medication.

I understand that going vegan doesn’t mean that it’s going to solve all health conditions but it was the best choice for me. I no longer wanted to do anything that was going to make me potentially do something unhealthy. So, the goal here is to eat more plant-based foods to assist with healing my body.

This is not to say that I’m going to be the healthiest person on earth but there’s definitely more space on the menu for vegetables.

 

6. I Went Vegan To Incorporate Less Meat

We all have heard by now that eating too much meat is not good for us. There’s a ton of articles on google- see the list of articles offering compelling arguments. I won’t go into all of my reasons here. It’s not my place.  I don’t want to be that preachy vegan. I’ll simply say that for me, eating less meat just seems appropriate.

For starters, everything I ate was NOT coming out if you know what I mean. So, where is it going? Do your research. Furthermore,  I can’t help to care about how and where my meat is coming from. Also, there’s VALID concern about the natural links between meat and chronic diseases. So, that’s the best way I can explain my reasons without offending anyone.

Don’t get me wrong. Last month, I literally was about to steal my friend’s chicken wing. I had a moment. So, don’t think I’m trying to preach.   I lived 30 plus years on meat. I can’t say that I will never eat meat again but what I can honestly tell you is that I won’t ever eat meat again on a daily basis.

Now if I only can leave the potato chips and french fries alone.

 

7. I Went Vegan To Heal My Stomach Issues

Look, you can skip over this if you want.   I developed something in my 30’s where I can’t eat a lot of processed foods. If I’m at a restaurant and I ate, within the next hour my stomach was turning.

Then I had to leave because if it’s not a single person restroom and I’m not urinating, I’m out.  I’m funny about public restrooms. It’s not fun and it’s actually embarrassing. I tried paying attention to what I was eating but I was never good at that.

Some people thought I was lactose intolerant. I can’t say I ever went to the doctor for clarification. I’ve been drinking almond milk for over 10 years but knew there was no way I was giving up cheese. So, I guess I didn’t want to know if I was lactose intolerant. Plus, every time I would go to the doctor, they always wanted to address other issues.

Since going vegan, I haven’t had those issues.  I can literally eat what I want and be fine for hours. The only concern is gas. Your body goes through an adjustment phase when you’re eating a lot of beans and vegetables.

 

8. I Wanted A Better Relationship With Food:

It took a long time for me to realize that my eating habits were off. I never subscribed to the idea of people eating for different reasons. I didn’t want to admit that I was an emotional eater. It’s like someone asking if you’re lonely. You’re going to say “no, not me”.

So, I realized that I ate most of the foods I shouldn’t when I was feeling some type of way. If I had a long day, I wanted to go out for dinner. I developed a love for buffalo wings and that was my order at least 2 nights a week- never considering that this wasn’t the healthiest option.

Also, I was eating when I wasn’t hungry. That’s the worst thing you can do. Two slices of pizza were never enough. I had to have 3 and then go back for another slice a half hour later. I always succumbed to unhealthy food choices.

I’m also learning more about where our food is from. Once I started looking at veganism as a health, wealth, and environmental necessity, it became a priority. That’s the best way to describe it.

I now focus on what is going to optimize my health.  Going vegan has helped me to get a better understanding of food. I’ll write another article discussing my 60 days of vegan soon. It wasn’t easy. I had a lot of french fries and chips to compensate for everything else I couldn’t have.

 

9. I Went Vegan To Test the Theory of Saving Money

In the last 60 plus days, I’ve saved a significant amount of money by not buying meat. Consider that the price of ground turkey meat (our preferred choice) was about $5.00 per pack.  I can remember a few years back I was able to get a pack of ground turkey for about $3.61.

Replacing meat with beans saves us a lot of money.  Consider the price of a can of beans on sale at Wegmans was .69 cents, the last time I was there. I can purchase 10 cans without breaking the bank. It’s a good way to stock up on staple foods that have a long shelf life. We don’t use a lot of rice but a large $17.00 bag from Costco will last a long time.

The only expensive part of going vegan is probably the vegetables, and that’s a stretch.  However, I believe that you’re still saving money because fruits and veggies keep you fuller longer. You can eat an extra portion of vegetables and not feel like you’re overeating.  It has the potential to cut out all that unnecessary spending on eating out.

If I lived in NY, Philly or California, I would probably be in trouble. However, in New Jersey, there are not many Vegan restaurants. So, going out to a chain restaurant for french fries or a bean burger becomes less appealing.

I read a cool article here about how to pack a vegan lunch for a week for $15.00. We all know how eating out for lunch prices can add up. Trust me, charging $5.00-$7.00 a day doesn’t seem like a lot but check your balance by the end of the month. Plus, you’ll at least know what you’re eating.

 

10. I Went Vegan To Try Something Cool and Positive

There are two co-workers at my job that make vegan appear flawless.  Every time we had food gatherings, I went for the pizza and pasta. My two co-workers always had discipline and ate their salads and chickpeas.

Even when our office forgot to include their dietary needs they never wavered.  Watching them made me feel guilty. I was guilty because I already knew better because I had already informed myself however, I did not have the discipline.

Since starting my own vegan journey I now feel more positive. I’m proud of myself for sticking to a commitment that has already provided some great benefits. I’m learning to appreciate food more and the energy it provides instead of looking for ways to get full. I’m happier about this aspect of my life.

Of course, I’m not saying going vegan will make you more positive or cool. However, I wanted to do something positive for myself. So, it was a positive thing to do for me and when you’re doing something positive it makes you cool.

Any other vegans out there? Even if you’re not vegan please share your reasons for committing to a healthy lifestyle. If you are stuck (I understand) and still need that push explain what’s holding you back.

 

Disclaimer: It’s so important to know that I am NOT a medical doctor, nutritionist, or fitness coach.  Remember, I’m only sharing my experience to offer you an insightful perspective.