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Hello! Beginner Vegan Here!


TigreBella
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Hi. I'm no bodybuilder, but I am definitely here for fitness! And for encouragement!

 

I'm a Louisiana-born Cajun girl (so yes, I'm guilty of eating far more than my fair share of meat in the past). I was living a miserable life with my parents, becoming more and more overweight due to an abusive father, and would get depressed over it. Just over 1 1/2 years ago, I met a real great guy (who I soon moved in with), and he's taught me how to live a "Kosher" life. Well, just recently, after much research, we found that there's more to this Vegan lifestyle than we thought.

 

I used to always hate the slaughter of innocent animals. I used to raise rabbits, chickens, and ducks for 4-H Club, take great care of them and be proud of winning ribbons, and they were my friends and companions. I never realized my father would slaughter them, though, and right in front of me no less! I was devistated. Though I was the type of person that would still eat meat, figuring "well, it just tastes so good, and I didn't watch the animal die, and it's already dead, so what's the harm in eating it?" I didn't give it much thought. I especially loved my fried chicken. Though my husband of 1 1/2 years had enlightened me to the fact that just because sugar tastes so good, doesn't mean it's ok, definitely not in large quantities (I used to eat it by the spoonful, literally). When I look at it now, after all our research, sugar and meat are both truely toxic to our bodies, or at least in big quantities. Though where's the harm in a Vegan diet, as long as you make sure to get all your needed vitamins and minerals, right? lol. In fact, from our research, we believe that further back in history people used to be Vegans, and that we were created in such a way that as long as we ate healthy our bodies could take care of themselves.

 

So, yeah, we're just starting to get into a Vegan lifestyle. Lately, our meals have gotten healthier, consisting mostly of raw fruits and veggies, fried veggie burgers (made from the pulp left over from juicing veggies), fresh tilapia fish (because it's cheap at a local market), homemade wheat bread, eggs, butter, water, lemonade, and herbal teas. We've decided that once we are done eating what fish and eggs we have (as we're already on a very small budget and need to make our food last), that we will ban any and all animal products from our home and go totally Vegan! (It'll probably take about a month to get through the rest of the fish and eggs, though.) I hope no one here thinks badly of us due to this, but we don't really have much choice. My husband has epilepsy, so only gets so much a month on foodstamps, and I have yet to be able to find a job in our area (which wouldn't help, since we're moving soon)!

 

Anyway, I don't know what else to say about myself. lol. I'm 22 years old, about 6 foot tall, and currently 240 pounds (I was as low as 230 in the past year, but gained soon after losing). I am so worried about going back to my old weight (at my largest, I was 260 pounds!). I have been hoping to get down to 170 or 180 pounds, as I was told that is a good weight for my height. I am usually lazy and unmotivated, so I'm sure I need to work on eating the right kind of morning breakfast to get me through each day. I have weights that I never use, and need to start getting in shape. I've always been shy, so sometimes it's hard for me to express myself. I'm very smart, though, and have learned to research as much as I can. I don't have many friends, though, because many old friends and family members shun my new way of life. So when I need support, I either turn to my husband or my online friends.

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Love tall girls. Don't worry, nobody here is going to think badly of you for easing in to veganism over a few weeks. Most, if not all, of us here came from meat eating families and made our transition somewhere along the way. Some of us are now raising little vegans, who will not have that baggage.

 

We were in St. Louis last summer, had some great falafel in a little shop with a crazy proprietor who yells at customers when they walk in. If you try to look at the menu for more than 8 seconds, he orders for you. The food was great though and business was bumping. Where are you moving next?

 

Welcome aboard!

Michael

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Yeah, we're hoping to get really into this. We've been trying to live as naturally as possible so far. It's amazing all what we've researched so far (from natural home births, to mercury-laden vaccines, to GMO foods). We're wanting to have children, though I'm hoping nothing happens until I lose some weight first (especially since it's summer time and we're in an apartment with a sluggish air conditioner window unit). When we do have children, though, we're prepared to give them better lives than we've had.

 

Really? lol. I guess I've never been to that shop. Though since moving to St. Louis, my husband and I have only usually been to pizza places when eating out, and only about once a month.

 

And we're moving to Washington state next. My husband has a friend up there that works on computers and has a computer business, and he's gonna help us out. Hopefully my husband will learn enough coding to make websites and I'll do better at artwork to make the graphics for the websites. Also, we'd be living in a trailer up there, in his friend's yard, so we'd be saving more money, rather than paying rent each month. It'll be exciting to go further up north, though I wish we could move now, because it's so freaking hot here! lol.

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Hi!

I've posted here a while ago but it seems it didn't work or it disapeared somehow...

So I welcome you again,

and basically what I was saying is that it's alright to eat what you have left of eggs and fish because a slow and progressive transition to veganism is what works best for most people. If you throw away all your animal products stuff, you may end up going to the grocery store the next day to buy again eggs and fish because you would notice you were not ready yet. It's normal that it takes some time to stop lifelong habits, for me it took many months.

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welcome! i hope you will find this forum to be supportive and helpful!

i think it's really cool that you and your guy will do this together! if you have any question don't hesitate to ask, we have a lot of knowledgeable members here that can help you a lot i bet! again, welcome!

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Hello and welcome!

 

Quite a wonderful and touching story. I enjoyed learning a bit about yourself. Of course no one is out here to judge or criticize. Like I'm Your Man said, a slow transition is usually the most helpful way to go about it.

 

I love you idea with the leftover pulp from your juices. I have been making alot of juices too and I hate to throw out the pulp. I don't have a compost pile made up, which is what i'd really love to do but it isn't exactly the most sensible place to do it in nyc the concrete jungle. I had a friend who told me someone put them onto raw breads made directly out of veggie pulp but i can't remember who it was that told me. I wouldn't fry myself because i'm a raw foodist but your idea sounds delicious.

 

Anything whatsoever you need, ask away, we're all here for you as I am sure you are for us in times or need or what have you.

 

see ya.

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Wow! So many warm welcomes! lol. I'm starting to like this group already.

 

Hello and welcome!

 

Quite a wonderful and touching story. I enjoyed learning a bit about yourself. Of course no one is out here to judge or criticize. Like I'm Your Man said, a slow transition is usually the most helpful way to go about it.

 

I love you idea with the leftover pulp from your juices. I have been making alot of juices too and I hate to throw out the pulp. I don't have a compost pile made up, which is what i'd really love to do but it isn't exactly the most sensible place to do it in nyc the concrete jungle. I had a friend who told me someone put them onto raw breads made directly out of veggie pulp but i can't remember who it was that told me. I wouldn't fry myself because i'm a raw foodist but your idea sounds delicious.

 

Anything whatsoever you need, ask away, we're all here for you as I am sure you are for us in times or need or what have you.

 

see ya.

 

Yeah, we had researched online about what to do with the pulp, because we just wanted to put it to good use (we hate wasting food), and we had found a recipe for it. We've also been sprinkling it over salads (which we will most likely end up going back to, because we're trying to stick to as raw as possible). We're hoping the only things we'll mainly cook will be soups, rice, and pasta (maybe also steam veggies or such, though I think I'm getting more used to eating raw). In fact, just to get used to raw potatoes and some other raw veggies, I've been sprinkling sea salt on them (which has been helping nicely).

 

Anyway, I've recently returned (about a few hours ago) from my LONG walk with my husband. We had walked about 3 miles to go visit The Natural Way. They had some pretty nice things there...we may end up getting some nutritional yeast and tofu from them later when we can afford to. So, we ended up walking nearly 6 miles total, to go there and back, and I just threw myself into bed when we got back, in horrible aching pain. That was the roughest walk I've had yet! (Though I've barely ever walked over 5 miles at a time in the past, and mostly only since I married. I've also been very lazy lately, too, and am slowly trying to get back in the habit of walking.) I find that I'm becoming more confident in believing that I can definitely go longer distances without giving up (even though my feet and back may hate me for it, lol). So yeah, I think it's getting really late, so I'm off for now. I guess I'll talk to you all again later. It's nice meeting all of you! Bye for now.

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Congratulations on completing such a challenging walk!

Yesterday I started running.. I haven't really run since high school and I live in an area with lots of hills and trails. We did sidewalks, off-road, trails in the park.. It was crazy. It took us about an hour to complete. All the uphill stuff has my glutes aching today. My back muscles are sore from an intense workout at the gym the other day. I'm gonna take it easy today I think lol.

It's always tough starting out, but as your body adjusts to it, it will become easier and easier. The next time you go for a long walk it won't hurt as much.

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Congratulations on completing such a challenging walk!

Yesterday I started running.. I haven't really run since high school and I live in an area with lots of hills and trails. We did sidewalks, off-road, trails in the park.. It was crazy. It took us about an hour to complete. All the uphill stuff has my glutes aching today. My back muscles are sore from an intense workout at the gym the other day. I'm gonna take it easy today I think lol.

It's always tough starting out, but as your body adjusts to it, it will become easier and easier. The next time you go for a long walk it won't hurt as much.

 

Yeah, I haven't had much reason to be active since high school either. After high school, my depression got worse for a year or two, and it was harder to get out of it than into it. But now, I think I'm slowly making the changes to adjust to a better lifestyle. It'll definitely take a while for me, though. But I'm ready for a better life. And the more I research about all-natural ways, the more I'm excited and in a hurry to change my life around. It's funny, because many people see me as a crazy person because I don't just "stick with one thing", but the reason is because I keep researching more ways to improve.

 

Our world is just becoming more and more technology-efficient that we seem to keep fighting to stay on top with new technology, and at the same time living busy full-time working lives. We don't spend as much time with family, we don't consider our consequences on the environment, we don't live a simple life of doing everything by hand and working hard at what we do. Instead, we rely on machines to do things for us, to make our lives more complicated, to get us places quicker, to think for us. It's just insane.

 

My husband and I, though, are trying to save up to move to a "less-civilized" country or area where people do everything the simple way, no technology, and to start a completely organic farm. We have a long way to go, but we're wanting to go somewhere more livable for us, somewhere where we are welcomed in a nice eco-friendly environment without all this technology that causes more harm than good.

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Welcome!

 

You have a lot of changes going on over the next year! Very exciting times for you.

 

It's great to have a spouse along for your journey into fitness and veganism. My husband has always been very supportive (he's fit and also vegan), more so than my friends. I moved to the NW a year or so after going vegan and found many new friends (all supportive of my lifestyle) once I got here.

 

Good luck with your goals!

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WELCOME!! I, too, am a Louisiana girl born and raised so I know how easy it is to succumb to the lifestyle where people have boudin for breakfast. Gross! Anyway, congratulations on your newfound lifestyle. I think easing into into is the best way to go about it. I first gave up meat and eggs and then gradually gave up dairy. Hope this forum provides as much help and support to you as it has to me. Good luck on your journey!

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Welcome!

 

You have a lot of changes going on over the next year! Very exciting times for you.

 

It's great to have a spouse along for your journey into fitness and veganism. My husband has always been very supportive (he's fit and also vegan), more so than my friends. I moved to the NW a year or so after going vegan and found many new friends (all supportive of my lifestyle) once I got here.

 

Good luck with your goals!

 

Yeah, it'll definitely be interesting to see how this goes! Only thing we are not fully decided on yet as a couple, though, is how he still believes we must have lamb for Passover each year. Though we've done some reading up, and he's starting to consider having beets instead. lol. I know it'll be a tough journey for him, though, because he's used to sticking to doing as much as he can that the Old Testament mentions. But I am studying up more on the Old Testament with him, and pointing out as much as I can about how I believe we weren't meant to eat meat, and he's fully understanding my side of it. So, things will surely work out.

 

WELCOME!! I, too, am a Louisiana girl born and raised so I know how easy it is to succumb to the lifestyle where people have boudin for breakfast. Gross! Anyway, congratulations on your newfound lifestyle. I think easing into into is the best way to go about it. I first gave up meat and eggs and then gradually gave up dairy. Hope this forum provides as much help and support to you as it has to me. Good luck on your journey!

 

Thanks! Yeah, I still have a hard time explaining to my mom about how toxic pigs are and how shrimp are dirty bottom-feeders, and that they're unclean foods for us to eat. For a while, she thought my husband was telling me how to live my life, because I used to always pig out on pork and shrimp! Well, I learned my lesson...you are what you eat!

 

Well, when my husband and I met, I quickly gave up pork (I liked eating it, but he grossed me out in telling me about how toxic they are) and shrimp. He didn't let any of those, or any other unclean unKosher foods into his life, so I was quickly shut off from them, though at the same time was being shown WHY he learned they were unhealthy, and even got into researching it myself. From there on, I became quite the researcher, using my computer mostly to research rather than play games. I learned how great researching can be. Afterwards, I slowly eased out of sugar (I still use sugar, but only to sweeten things and for recipes, whereas before I was so used to literally eating spoonful after spoonful of sugar). As of a few months ago, we stopped eating beef and chicken, and only had lamb for Passover. We also stopped drinking milk, as we found how horribly unhealthy it is, and only have soymilk sparingly. The only non-Vegan things left in our diet are fish, eggs, and butter. I think it'll be pretty easy to make the switch-over. I'm pushing my husband to let us finish eating as much fish and eggs as we can now, and save our beans and veggies for afterwards (I really can't wait much longer to go Vegan, as I'm feeling miserable from eating fish and eggs, and the gas is unbearable ).

 

Ooh, and we bought some different herbs to make teas (even a little bit for laxative teas), and some bentonite clay and a few other things. Once we finish off the last of our fish and eggs, and we make the switch-over to start living Vegan, we will start off with a cleanse. I've been researching about different homemade cleanses, so have a pretty good idea of how we'll go about it. We'll most likely do the cleanse while going on a 1 week fast, too.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Thanks! It's great to be here!

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