Hello from Bulgaria

Hello all,

My name is Damian and I'm an alcocholic…

I’m kidding – of course . I just decided to join this wonderful community and to get the valuable information that it offers on nutrition, workouts, and training methods and also to get to know other people who are enjoying vegan/vegetarian lifestyle.

I’ve been a vegetarian for 6 months now and so far I love it. Before, I used to eat meat on every dish, keeping the low calorie/high protein standard and also taking protein powders and creatine every day (I go to the gym about 3-4 times a week). There were several things that made me give up meat eating: I suffered light intoxication, watched the movie “Earthlings’ (pretty impressive one), and also read some books about the harm from the meat eating. So, I sit down, went through all the information I had and decided to stop eating meat. I was very skeptical about my gains in the gym; I thought I would lose plenty of muscle mass and so on. In the first few meatless weeks, I felt pretty exhausted, I believed that there is no use from the workouts I was doing while I wasn’t eating meat. My results in gym declined, I wasn’t able to lift the same weight any more.

I think that happened, because the body needs some time to adapt to this acute switch between the main protein and energy sources. So, after 3-4 weeks, I was able to lift the same weights and my overall health and condition improved.

I’ll be aiming to learn more about the right nutrition, being on a vegan/vegetarian diet, because I’m completely new to this field. I’ll try to take a little weight off and to get into shape (I think I will have to give up the beer too!?!).

I’m looking forward to meeting new friends and interesting people in this community.

See you.

PS: this is me, on 6 months veg diet

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7172/smilejl.jpg

Welcome!

Awesome muscle size!

Great to have you here. Someday I'd love to travel to Bulgaria. I have some friends from there but have never been.

All the best!

Robert

Zdravey Damiane, dobre doshal!

Robert, just jump on the plane!

Hello, neighbor!

You have made good decision! I didn't understand though, are you still using milk (whey protein)? And yes, give up bear - at least before summer

PS: Robert, on your way to Bulgaria, you can drop by in Serbia, too Maybe we can organize a lecture from you here

Hello guys,

Thank you for the nice welcoming

Robert, I agree with Duncan_Idaho and vege - you should consider coming to the Balkans for some rest and lectures . Most of the people here are still too sceptical about the vegetarian and vegan's way of life. There is insufficient information about this lifestyle around here and most of the people believe that we are sick people, and that is pity.

Thanks about the muscle size note, but I need to get some definition too - I hardly see a single vein hahah.

@vege - when I switched to a diet without meat, I stopped using protein powders, but I still eat yoghurt from time to time. I'm aiming to cut the milk products and the eggs, but this will take some time. Are you using these products and some kind of supplements?

@Duncan_Idaho - zdravey, radvam se da vidq che tuk ima synarodnici

Damian

I think milk is the worse thing for health and I recommend avoiding (not consuming, even better) milk and milk products. I think (organic, free range, fertilized) eggs are not that bad for health, if taken very rarely (one or two a month), but then again - it is not vegan. Try to cut all these products step by step - during the time you will notice you don't crave them anymore. I was yoghurt addict really, and then i switched to soy yoghurt, and now I don't even need that. It is all matter of habit.

PS: watch out, I can understand Bulgarian, even written in Latin letters

Yep, I will definitely cut these products, but it will take some time. I'm not completely sure about the soy products as well - I have seen some not very good things about it, like rising the estrogen levels, but I have to try it first, before I speak

So, do you consume any animal products now? (for how long have you been a vegan)?

Is the honey considered an animal food too?

Heheh, yeah - I know Serbian and Bulgarian language are pretty close "Po-zdravi"

Damian

About soy - just use organic soy products. GMO soy should be your biggest worry about soy, not estrogen. It is not worth thinking about that phytoestrogen in soy. You will not eat tons of soy anyway, and there is no need at all to do so. You have normal beans, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, lentils, almonds, etc - as protein source. Don't worry about protein at all, muscles need carbohydrates to grow, and normal amount of protein, that is my opinion.

I personally don't count "how long have I been vegan" - it is not a competition to me. I eat 99,99% vegan food. I still, as said in my introduction, eat eggs occasionally, but eggs are not my food, more like accident that happens couple of times in year, during Easter, or here and there... I eat maybe 20 eggs in a year, from country-side, from free range chicken, organic. Those chickens run around my garden sometimes and look very happy, too (I know, they are going to be killed one day for meat, and it is sad )

One day I will stop eating that little amount of eggs, too. But as I said, it is not a competition, more a personal development. I was meat-eater, then 6 years ago I became macrobiotic (eating only fish from animal products), then vegetarian (started eating eggs again), and now coming close to vegan. The goal is to be better every day, step by step.

Honey - same as eggs. I eat it sometimes, but it is not my food. My food are FRUITS, grains, beans (mostly chickpeas and lentils), seeds (mostly pumpkin), nuts (mostly almonds) and vegetables (mostly green ones - collards, broccoli, spinach, swiss chard...).

Поздрав!

Well, I'll remove the phytoestrogen issue from my list. I'll try to find fine quality soy to have a try

Yes, I completely agree that switching to a cleaner and healthier food is a personal development too. I'll have to eat more fruits I think - all I have per day is 1-2 apples and a banana. Pretty poor fruit meals, but I'll improve this

Welcome!

Thanks

Welcome! Congrats on giving up meat and having a great body to start from!

hot guys in this thread

Welcome aboard!

Thank you all