Some of the prelim stuff I did (& am doing) as I transition into veganism. Woohoo! High Five! Let's do a wave, or the robot, or an enthusiastic cheer for my persistence in establishing a new healthy habit! Do it. Now. :)

Hi everyone!

So I haven't been able to blog much lately due to the fact that my computer wasn't completely fixed and I've been unable to go online regularly.  I feel like perhaps I've lost a bit of momentum.  And it seems as though my enthusiasm for this new endeavor of changing my dietary patterns kinda halted whilst my computer halted.  Boo! But the good news is that my computer seems to be fixed again (at least for now), and I'm back to blogging (and eating better :)).  Yay!

So over the past few days, I decided to start a paper "blog" since my computer was taking so long to be fixed.  It's funny because I realized, as I scribbled rapidly in my notebook, how much faster I type than write. lol.  Anyways, I wanted to post my "writings" (aka paper bloggings) over the past couple days and then go from there!  Oh, and I also want to post the various things I've done over the past couple months to progressively change my eating habits and become more plant-based :).   ~Sylvia, June 4th 2012

So this is me... Sylvita la del barrio over the past few days... :)

Me regaining enthusiasm about changing my diet...

My blog paper posting from May 29th...

I'm pumped! Doode! Sweetness!!! (Can you tell I like exclamation marks??!?!?)

Anyways, I have to say that the past couple weeks threw me for a loop: e.g. with getting so flustered because of a negative encounter with someone who didn't understand veganism (see the Haters Rant from May)... And then with my own disappointment in myself for not being "perfect" at veganism, slipping up here and there, making mistakes, and then trying again.... Besides these two items, I also had a general sense of uneasiness, malaise, and confusion as to how to go about this dietary change.  It was a rough patch to say the least.

 Some of the things I did that made me disappointed with myself were that I gave into my impulses.  Grrrr.  I ended up having cheese a variety of different times at work when they were serving it up.  I realize that when I don't plan ahead for my day and I am hungry at work, AND people serve up some "delicious looking" fixings, these are the "perfect storms" for me to cave in.  I've caved in a few times, joining in with the excitement of "sample land" by partaking in the food. Boo!  It makes me especially mad at myself because I've recently found out that cheese contains a lot of pus in it. Ick!  But I also have to remember that cheese contains chemicals that are similar to morphine. Whew, no wonder I'm having a tough time quitting the cheese addiction!... And then, ultimately, I have to remind myself that the main reason I'm making this change is because of the horrific animal cruelty that goes on in our current "meat industry".  I re-watched "Meet Your Meat", and was visually reminded of how my food choices affect life on earth... Until a couple months ago, I didn't think that the animals suffered much.  I figured that they lived pleasant lives and then their demise was swift and painless.  Plus, most of the meat that's on the shelf is packaged in such a way that I didn't even think of animals when I purchased the product!  Now that I've seen quite a few undercover videos & read a variety of literature, I realize that the conditions in which the animals exist are Animal Auschwitzs.  And I don't believe I'm over-dramatizing it.  Watching videos about this, makes it very clear to me.  These are the conditions the factory animals live in.  And I don't want to support it any longer!!!  I have to remind myself of this when I forget about these things and the hunger in my belly makes me want to reach for the "easiest" items which surround me.  I have to remember these things when I'm about to make a choice that won't be for the betterment of myself and others. (Ok, I needed to state that to remind myself and to, once again, tighten my resolve!)  Re-watching Meet Your Meat and Earthlings reminded me the main reason why I'm doing this.  Yes.  It really isn't right what big businesses and factory farms are doing to animals... And what big businesses are doing to us, for that matter!!!

Yes, I'm a poser...& I do great off-key kareoke

So what I'm finding out over the past few weeks (that is, the past few weeks prior to May 29th) is that my desire to eat a lot of non-vegetarian/non-vegan foods (e.g. cheese and junk food and processed foods)is directly related to how powerful my old habits are.  It really makes me realize the POWER of my former food habits, the power I give to certain foods, and how much my body seems to crave cheese.  Weird, huh? Yeah, I thought so too!  It also seems as though cheese is and has been the hardest thing for me to give up over the past two months.  I mean, I haven't eaten any beef, pork, fish, yogurt, milk; however, I have eaten cheese.  Not a lot.  But here and there.  And since it's constantly being served up at work, I find that I have to really exercise my self restraint... I'd say if you were grading me, I'd maybe be getting a B- for execution, but an A for effort and persistence.  I really think that persistence is the key here!

So I keep persisting on this shift/change, whatever you want to call it.

What I'm planning on doing is on June 1st to really tighten my resolve and be full-on vegan for 30 days (with no cheese... Did you hear me??! No cheese!), and see what happens.  I really REALLY want this shift.  It's just a matter of riding out the "change wave" and allowing myself the time to change my palate and to create a new, healthier habit.  I know that beating myself up is not helpful.  So I'm going to attempt to not do that.  Let's see what happens :).

Also, in looking at what I've done the past two months... Here's a quick recap.  I initially watched the documentaries (1) Forks Over Knives, (2) Food, Inc., (3) The Cove, (4)Eating, (5)The World According to Monsanto, (6) Earthlings, (7) The Future of Food, (8) Food Matters, (9) The Gerson Miracle, (10) Fat Sick & Nearly Dead, (11) The Vanishing of the Bees, and (12) Fresh. (I wrote a brief recap of these movies on my 2nd post ever that I wrote in the beginning of May).  Since I'm such a visual person, this is what the cover of some of these documentaries look like... (you can look at the exciting covers as you scroll down and continue reading! Woohoo!)

So to continue on...
In April, after watching the aforementioned documentaries, I read parts of a few different books (The China Study, Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease, The Engine 2 Diet, amongst other books), and I decided to implement the Engine 2 Diet plan.  Over the course of April, I decided each week to take something different out of my diet.  I wasn't perfect, but I did make a bit of a change.   

The first week, I took out all dairy, milk and cheese (to the best of my ability...  It's amazing to me that the first week I actually did manage to stay away from cheese. I know, you're thinking amazing! lol).  I also tried, that first week, to limit my consumption of processed foods.   

The second week, I took out all meat: e.g. all beef, chicken, pork, and fish (I like how they say in Forks Over Knives, "If it has eyes, a mom and a dad, don't eat it!").  I didn't eat much beef, chicken and pork before starting this new diet; however, fish was a whole other story.  I loved my sushi, and this one was tough for me.  But after seeing The Cove (and recently seeing Vegucated), it helped to hear about how the oceans are being outfished; and also, how much mercury poisoning is in all the seafood.  In addition, hearing how fishes experience pain - e.g. their stomachs often explode as they are pulled so rapidly from the depths of the ocean, as well as how they suffocate as they die- made me realize that fish actually DO experience pain.  Learning all this made it a little bit easier to want to stop.  Actually, it made it ALOT-A-BIT easier to stop. (yes, i just created a faux word...hehehe).

Then week three, I was going to take out all extra/excess oils (even olive oils).  I wasn't perfect with this; however, I did REALLY change the amount of oil I was adding to my foods and this made quite a difference.  Then, here and there, I would give into temptation and have cheese or some added oils or some processed foods.  But by just taking out these items (and not working out at all), I managed to lose 10 pounds between April 1st and June 1st.  How cool is that?!  And I never went hungry.  Pretty sweet, if I may say so myself! High fives and pat on the back, Sylvie :).

Anyways, that is what I did for April.  Then at the end of April, I ended up going to a weekend conference through The Healthy You Network (http://healthyyounetwork.org/).  It was pretty cool!  Authors, doctors, and speakers discussed a variety of healthy, plant-based ways to eat.  It was pretty inspiring and informative.  Some of the speakers were...Rip Esselstyn (from the Engine2 Diet and Forks Over Knives), Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD (from Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease and Forks Over Knives), Jane Esselstyn, RN, Ana M. Negron, Jeff Novick, Doug Lisle, and John Robbins (who wrote Diet for a New America).  The topics ranged from the processes that occur within the body when one eats too much fat and cholesterol and too many animal proteins, to some anatomy & physiology, to calorie density, to reading food labels, to recipes, to cooking demonstrations,  to the psychology of what goes into our desires, to the vibrant medicine of food.  There were so many more topics than this; but it would take me a really long time to write about it.  So I stop here.

Then, starting in June (and for 6 months after that), I'm participating in a "Healthy You Mentoring Program" where I will be paired with someone who has eaten effectively in a plant-based manner and this person will help mentor me with my food choices.  Sweeeet!...  I got paired with a kind, compassionate lady who received her degree in holistic nutrition.  I'm so excited to meet up with her and learn!  The program entails meeting once a month for a potluck to discuss food choices, reading a recommended book and discussing it, and touching base with one's individual mentor.  So cool.  So I'm really excited to be participating in this!!!

In addition, mid-June, I will be attending my FIRST EVER vegan/vegetarian meetup via www.meetup.com.  So cool!  June 15th, baby! Watch out!!!! We will be eating some veggies up in here!!!  I'll have to give everyone an update after this event! Should be fun :).

So I'm definitely getting into the groove... I'm learning, learning, learning about this new way of eating and interacting.  There's so much to learn!  But I'm excited.  And I truly believe that it is worth it.  Soooo worth it. :)

P.S.
Additional resource that I've been checking out lately is...

http://vegansaurus.com/  Such a cool site!  Fun and informative.  I especially like the "11 tips for new vegans" and the "how to stay vegan" articles.  The bloggers for this site have great senses of humor, and also make becoming vegan fun and like an adventure.  Nice!

p.s.s.  This is me Day One, June 1st, 2012 (below).  Bring it on!!!