dreamingana Posted August 3, 2007 Share Posted August 3, 2007 Just kidding. Well, actually I'd prefer not to talk about myself so here is just a little something about me ... I had a dream one morning about being on a murder mystery case with two detectives. In the end we find a metal warehouse (factory farm) where an entire herd of cattle are being corralled into. I could hear a baby cow (calf) moo to it's mom, saying "Mommy, Mommy" in cow language (Yes, somehow in the dream I could understand cow language). Anyways, I decide to walk around the building to the other end where I saw two big stone rollers rolling out a wide ribbon of what looked like lunch meat. Ah! murder mystery solved... the cows were being turned into lunch meat like bologna. I woke up from that dream and stopped eating meat from that day on. This was a paradigm shift for me, who grew up singing... "My bologna has a first name, it's...". So that's how I became vegetarian and now an "almost" vegan. It was great meeting other forum members yesterday on the Portland Vegan Hot Spots tour! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Hi Welcome to the formsorry I missed you ! I'll be visiting Portland a lot so you can meet with then... Also this is the best group of friends ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkleinman Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Great meeting you on the Portland Veg tour. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Welcome Ana! Great to see you at the Vegan Vacation again this year! Thanks for all your support and for hanging out with our group. We look forward to seeing you at more events and at general Portland gatherings throughout the year. This year's event is a lot of fun so far and I'm sure we'll all see you very soon. Thanks for joining our forum. We have a great community here. All the best and welcome aboard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odidnetne Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Hola, I met you yesterday too, glad to have you here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc7 Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Welcome aboard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DV Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Welcome! I like the dream intro to vegetarianism. It took an entire book to convince me. Perhaps I should pay more attention to dreams....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted August 4, 2007 Share Posted August 4, 2007 Was great to meet you in Portland. Welcome to the forums! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offense74 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 It was great meeting you today!Welcome to the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanders77 Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Welcoem Ana!Thank you and your nice husband for joining our vegan tour to the hot springs! The trip and the hot springs were awesome!It was fun talking to you and having you with us.GO VEGAN! I am sure you can do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odidnetne Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Thanks for buying our starving Potter doughnuts tonight too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 5, 2007 Share Posted August 5, 2007 Welcome to the forum and thanks for the donuts If it weren't for you I think I may have starved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebecca Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 hi ana! you say you're an "almost" vegan. what is keeping you from going vegan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessifly Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Hi Ana! It was great to meet you! I am glad you have been able to attend some VV07 events! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingana Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 Thanks everyone for the great welcome! It's been great meeting you all. In reply to the question about being almost vegan: At home I eat like a vegan and in Portland it is very easy to go to a vegan friendly restaurant, unfortunately the rest of the world is not always like that. The reason I say "almost' vegan is because on occasion, when I travel with my boyfriend David we eat out at restaurants. We try to make it easier on the wait staff and go with whatever vegetarian (or hopefully vegan) items they have. Generally if they don't have a vegan dish, I'll just ask for their vegetarian dish without cheese. We are also the only vegetarians in either of our families, so if a relative cooks a dish they thought was vegan and made a slight mistake making the dish vegetarian not vegan, we still eat it anyways and show our appreciation for their efforts. Hope that answers the question. Looking forward to tonight's VV'07's dinner at Bay Leaf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanders77 Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 I did it just like you descriped for quite a long time. The question is: Why does a person want to go vegan. If it is for ethical reasons it should be no problem to ask for vegan options in restaraunts or just eat a salad if there is no other option.But don't get me wrong: I don't want to talk you into something you maybe not ready for yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingana Posted August 8, 2007 Author Share Posted August 8, 2007 Please do talk me into it. The reason I'm involved with a great group like this is to eventually become 100% vegan. The raw food lifestyle is also appealing. For now my goal is to be completely vegan. Oh, and also to lose 10 lbs.. Last night while driving to the closing dinner, David reminded me that Robert said, in his Thrive diet presentation, we must have a plan to reach our goals. So I've decided on reading numerous cookbooks (vegan and raw food), trying out new recipes and doing yoga twice a day (if I don't do any other significant exercise). Since I walked up and down lots of stairs and through numerous gigantic homes today at the Street of Dreams home tour, I excused myself from the 2 yoga sessions. I'll do just one yoga session before bed tonight. Salads can be creative and tasty I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotus Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 Welcome Ana! Great to see you here. I am also glad that we got to talk at some of the VV events. It is important to do what you can to sustain whatever animal free diet you can achieve. Better to be vegetarian for a lifetime than vegan for a month. On the other hand if you think about the suffering the dairy industry imposes on animals and what it does to the enviroment and your health then it is a no brainer. Also I get the thing about not wanting to impose on family members or folks working at a restaurant but when I weigh out that against suffering and death of animals I feel awful if I don't ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanders77 Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 @Ana: Ok, we will try to talk you into it, then I am sure by eating lots of fruits and veggies you will loose 10 pounds in no time! Doing yoga everyday is a really good idea. As I told you this really made me improve my yoga-abilities and myself very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted August 8, 2007 Share Posted August 8, 2007 Hello & Welcome to the forum Ana! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebecca Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 hi ana. thanks for explaining what you meant. i think that making the transition to vegan or to raw is something that clicks in your mind. it can happen because of one moment or because of many moments that add up. when i first became vegetarian my parents made me research the lifestyle so that i would do my best to be healthy. when i learned about the cruelty that the animals experience i realized that i was being a hypocrite. i didn't accept the death of the animals and i couldn't accept the repression and cruelty that any animal is subjected to. i became vegan right then. also, i believe that it is vital to be proud of your decisions regarding your life. to embrace your choices and know that you are doing your best. it raises your energy level so much higher to truly feel good about what you are doing. to add another personal story, i was at vegfest in portland last may and had been eating about 90% raw foods. when people asked me if i ate raw foods, i gave a weak answer about how i was eating mossstly raw foods, with a little tempeh and a little manna bread, etc. when i realized that i wasn't proud of my lifestyle and i wasn't fully embracing it, i made the switch right then and haven't looked back! i hope it's ok i wrote so much. maybe next time i'll send a private message! namaste Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravi Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Hey Ana! It was great to hang out with you on the hot springs adventure last week! If you or Dave are ever in Seattle, pls do give me a buzz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingana Posted August 10, 2007 Author Share Posted August 10, 2007 Since my last post, I've been 100% vegan. Thanks Rebecca for the personal stories. I appreciate you sharing those, because it is very inspiring to know there are great vegans around. As Flanders says, lots of veggies and fruit will help for weight loss. However, most of the recipes in my new veg cookbook have tofu in them. I even tried a few of the dessert recipes today. We had two dessert after dinner tonight (chocolate mouse and blackberry ice). At least they were healthy and no sugar was added. Ravi, ditto to you if you are in Beaverton. The hot springs trip made for great summer time memories which will be needed come winter time. Also, thanks for leading us to the great Ethiopian restaurant on Saturday night. I love eating in different ways like using hands and sharing plates family & friends style. So far no weight loss, however the yoga is helping with toning what little muscle I have. Of course I will be more careful about desserts. Again, thanks to everyone for all the welcomes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xveganjoshx Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Welcome to the forum Ana! I can't believe I missed this thread for so long! With so many new members it can be hard to keep up. It was so nice meeting you and your boyfriend at Vegan Vacation. I look forward to chatting with you on the forums. Take care! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotus Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I love to cook and if you ever want to cook together and learn some good vegan recipies, let me know. It is so fun to explore the world of veganism... I have a super easy great vegan choc pie recipe etc. Once you cook with recipes etc, you can just start to make stuff up and experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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