Ellie

Thanks so much. She didn't actually tell me any symptoms except getting a metallic taste when eating sugar and chocolate - not really a reason to start eating meat and fish again. Is candida real then? I heard today it was just a fad diet and had been debunked.

Hey guys, I'm trying to find some nutritional advice for a friend of mine who is convinced she has candida. She wanted to be vegan for a while but now she thinks she has candida so is going to reduce her fruit, veg, nuts and pulse intake and start eating more meat and fish! She's asked me for advice but as I'd never even heard of candida until she told me the other day I am no help at all :/ Thank you!

Sweet

Just been comparing the first two photos from each posting - I think my biceps are a little bigger and my neck muscles seem to be too although my arms are slightly lower in the Jan photo so not sure.

Ok sorry I hadn't got round to posting these earlier, they were taken in Jan 2011: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/Nogri/S1054344a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/Nogri/S1054351a.jpg

Okay that's it, I am going to stop faffing about now and really start working. I have decided that I am going to eat more healthily and work out more! I am also going to only go up to 10 reps and then go up a weight instead of 15 reps so last time I was at the gym I did 10 reps on everything so tomorrow I'll be going up weight ans really getting somewhere (I hope). Yeah Buddy!

Heye, a quick update... Thankyou so so much to everyone who has helped, it really does make a difference and thankfully things are now starting to look a bit brighter Hi MartinVegartin, unfortunately round here there just isn't much grass at all, also, being only just spring, councils aren't cutting it yet. There's also the risk of toxic plants being in the verge cutting too Thankfully, now spring is here there is a bit more grass in the animal's fields so that'll help. Another good idea in theory Again unfortunately it wouldn't be possible as it is illegal to give waste food like that to the animals. Also the risk of plant-based food being contaminated with meat is too high, the recent outbreaks of mad cow disease a few years back were reported to have been caused by feeding meat to herbivores (which is why it is now illegal). And although I'm sure kids would be very enthusiastic, it'd be a messy, smelly job so parents might not be! We used to feed the cafe waste food to pigs at an animal attraction I used to work at and every time I'd have to go through the food really carefully by hand and pick out the unsuitable foods and the bits of plastic, napkins, bottle tops, drinking straws etc It took ages and that was just one small bucket load - the quantity of food needed for Hillside would be enormous and it just wouldn't be possible to check it all. Another point is that because the vast majority of the animals at Hillside are rescues, many are elderly, ill or on special diets for some reason, they need a correctly balanced and tailored feed. They may become really ill if given human food waste. Hillside are a farm animal rescue, they can't take in cats so most of the animals are primarily grazers or browsers so human food waste wouldn't be suitable anyway Aaaagh it really is such a shame as the amount of food our society throws away is staggeringly wasteful Bet they would love it too but again, sadly this wouldn't be possibly either Hillside don't grow their own hay as all the land is used for the animal enclosures and grazing, plus hay making round here is done by combine harvester by the farms themselves. Thankyou so much for your suggestions though It's not that there is a shortage of feed, hay, medicine etc, it's that Hillside have been so hard hit by the recession, the rise in feed prices and the large number of animals that have recently come in their care, that they are running low on funds to buy the supplies. So the best way for anyone who wants to help is to donate a little money, that way Hillside can buy the correct feeds, hay, medicines etc that the animals need They have lots of lovely gifts, animal sponsorships etc too http://www.hillside.org.uk/acatalog/index.html so I've been buying stuff from Hillside for birthdays, Christmas etc, it's a great way to help. But.....on the plus side things are looking a bit brighter, now the tourist season is starting the sanctuaries are opening up to visitors again so that's a little bit of income Also some very cute news - a rescued muntjack deer that was brought to the sanctuary after being hit by a car has not only made a full recovery, but gave birth to a very healthy and bouncy fawn the other night! It is so cute! I saw it bouncing about like a rabbit, it's not much bigger than a rabbit actually either! And we have the first piglets born at the sanctuary since it was founded 16 years ago. Most pigs that come in are farm rescues of pets, not breeding sows but lucky Annabel was saved along with her partner Tom from slaughter. She has had nine of the cutest little piglets ever! This is Hillside's Youtube channel where they have lots of videos of the animals around the sanctuary, recent rescued and undercover investigations into the cruelties of farming etc if anyone is interested in fining out more about them http://www.youtube.com/user/HillsideAdoptAnimals Thank you all so much again! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Hillside-Animal-Sanctuary/135561519840094

http://www.hillside.org.uk/images/Hillside-Crisis_000.jpg Hillside in Crisis http://www.hillside.org.uk/HillsideinCrisis.htm Hi, for those of you who don't know - this is where Richard and I work. Rich works with the animals at their main sanctuary in Frettenham. And I work seasonally in their vegan cafe at their more visitor-orientated site in West Runton. Hillside is amazing, they not only offer a safe, caring home for hundreds of rescued critters, but they also actively campaign against animal cruelty, especially factory farming and puppy mills, and they promote a cruelty-free lifestyle. The founder, Wendy Valentine is vegan too. I've known so many of the animals that they care for, both at the Frettenham and West Runton site, for many years, since they were born or even just bumps in their mother's tummy's - I'm scared to think what will happen to them if Hillside doesn't make it. There are so many lives at stake here so please, please give them a little support so they can get through this hard time. http://www.hillside.org.uk/help.htm Thank you so so much, ~ Ellie x

Sort of along the same lines...Kellogg's have reveled that they are going to be supplementing their cereals with vitamin D3 soon, making them unsuitable for vegans I did write to them to ask a bit more about it and they said they are using vitamin D3 sourced from lanolin. I also asked if they had considered using D2 instead but they didn't answer :/

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been going to the gym...honest! I was a little bit of a lazy bum over Christmas and New Year, didn't go to the gym once but we were looking after a friend's very boisterous and energetic nine month old Labrador cross Golden Retriever - he made sure I got some exercise! Three walks a day, man I was knackered! Anyhoo, now it's the new year and I'm back at the gym so here are my latest workouts... Saturday 8th December: Was very tired today, had a busy day at work but forced myself to go to the gym and felt much better afterwards - very knackered though! Didn't do too well, had to go down on some exercises but at least I did something. Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 9kg - 8 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 25kg - 12 reps Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 8kg - 8 reps Upright Cable Row: 12.5kg - 15 reps Cable Crossover Press: 5kg - 12 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 10 reps Chest Press Machine: n/a Leg Press: 50kg - 12 reps Press Ups: n/a Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: n/a Bicep Cable Curl: 6.75kg - 12 reps Lateral Shoulder Raise: 4kg - 10 reps Ab Crunches: n/a Saturday 14th December: Feeling much more energetic today so I'm building up my weights again... Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 9kg - 12 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 25kg - 15 reps Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 8kg - 10 reps Upright Cable Row: 15kg - 8 reps Cable Crossover Press: 5kg - 12 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 12 reps Chest Press Machine: n/a Leg Press: 50kg - 12 reps Press Ups: n/a Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: 7.5kg - 10 Bicep Cable Curl: 6.75kg - 15 reps Lateral Shoulder Raise: n/a Ab Crunches: n/a Saturday 8th December: Hah pretty good day today, I went up a weight on a few things Yeah! Bring on the noise! Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 9kg - 9 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 30kg - 5 reps - ok this one stumped me, should have gone back and tried again but it got busy and I forgot Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 8kg - 10 reps Upright Cable Row: 15kg - 12 reps Cable Crossover Press: 5kg - 15 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 15 reps Chest Press Machine: n/a Leg Press: 50kg - 15 reps Press Ups: n/a Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: 7.5kg - 12 reps Bicep Cable Curl: n/a Lateral Shoulder Raise: 4kg - 9 reps - my arms were sooooo tired by this point! Ab Crunches: n/a

Yup, my mum too, she is overweight even though she does eat pretty healthily - she grows her own veg on her allotment. But she doesn't exercise properly or try to lose the excess weight she has. What bothers me the most is that she seems to think that I'm not healthy - she said I was scrawny! Which is another reason why I want to bulk up some more. As hsorlando and ICanDoThis both said I'm trying to lead by example, to not force her as she is very stubborn but to show her that getting fit is fun and definitely worth taking the time to do. I wish she would see this, I get stressed easily and I find that a good workout really does help. My mum has a hell of a lot to get stressed about so not only would some exercise help with her weight-loss but it should de-stress her a bit too, help her chill out and be able to think more calmly - she should then be able to actually sort more things out if she's not so worked up about them. This is what I'm worried about if I try to suggest anything to her though, she gets very defensive but I have a free seven day pass for the gym - not sure what will persuade her to come and try it out but I'm working on it...

That's fantastic I'm not sure how you donate overseas but you could ask he sanctuary if they accept Paypal.

Hey, just found out about this place http://www.towerhillstables.com/, it was set up in 1993 by a lady called Fiona Oaks who is a vegan athlete and a retained fire-fighter! She runs the sanctuary pretty much single-handedly and has around 400 rescued animals! Many of them are ex-farm animals rescued from slaughter but there are also lots of equines, dogs, cats etc - all with a story to tell. The cost of running Tower Hill Stables (not including vets bills or maintenance) is over £5200 per month - that is scary! But to help with the astronomical costs there are various ways of supporting it - you can take out a direct debit, buy feed directly from the supplier, sponsor a rescued animal (there are lots to choose from), buy mechadise and clothing, give a one-off donation, donate tools or supplies, or buy the Fit Vegans Calendar that she was featured in! http://www.towerhillstables.com/donations.html I'm hoping to sponsor Big Bird the turkey as turkey's get such a raw deal. I love turkeys, they make the sweetest little chirrups http://www.towerhillstables.com/files/tabetha_bigbirdsmall.jpg I also bought the CD 'Journey of the Yak' that is sold to raise funds for the sanctuary. YAK are a progressive rock band and their music is really beautiful and inspiring. This is their YouTube channel where they also have lots of videos of the sanctuary: http://www.youtube.com/user/yaksongs#p/u/0/PxXJ5ngQfzY From working from dawn till the evening everyday, huge bills, hundreds of hungry mouths to feed, the never-ending mucking-out, and training for marathons she doesn't have much time for anything else and people may ask why does she do it? Well this is why: Man this lady is awesome! Not only does she help animals in the UK but, when in Moscow for a marathon, she was so upset at seeing the poor pensioners trying to care for the street cats and dogs that she now sends them funds to help with the cost of feeding the animals and themselves! And this in on top of all the costs she has to pay for the sanctuary! Fiona and her partner are amazing! So if you have a moment, please check out the site, and give a donation - they really could do with the support! Tower Hill Stable Animal Sanctuary - January 2010:

When I get back from the gym I make pancakes and add a scoop of protein powder to the flour. I can't taste it in there, maybe coz I add mixed spice to the recipe and smother the pancakes in agave syrup and lemon juice, but it gets me my protein The recipe I use is: 1 cup flour 1 cup soya milk 1 table spoon sugar 2 table spoons veg oil 2 table spoons baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt Plus 1 teaspoon mixed spice 1 scoop protein powder (I put this in the cup, then top the cup up with the flour) Yum

Wow that sounds good! For Christmas Day I made a 'not-sausage-sausage-plait' with roasted veggies and steamed broccoli and asparagus, and gravy of course, and we had Swedish Glace Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream and mince pies for dessert Then for Boxing Day I went over to my parents for Crimbo 2 and mum made me a good ol' Tofukey with all the trimmings - cranberry and bread sauces, roasties, veg, gravy, stuffing...and a mini Christmas pud for after. Yummmmmmy, I'm getting hungry again!

Thank you! Will be taking some more progress photos soon...

Firstly, like chewybaws says, insects are animals. They are in the Invertebrate class of animals; those that don't have a vertebra like arachnids and worms etc. But getting back to the original question I feel that as honey is produced by bees for bees, like cow milk is for calves etc, then is is ethically wrong to take it from them. There are also the humane concerns of large-scale bee keeping such as killing off the bees in winter to keep costs done, removing the Queen Bee's wings so she can't fly away.... Small-scale bee keepers and hobbyists don't tend to do that though and they usually do care about their bees very much. The honey bee is in real danger, they are being poisoned by pesticides and insecticides, their habitats are being destroyed, the Varroa mite is killing them and basically they are dying out. This is not just terrible for them but it threatens the whole of planet Earth. The planet needs bees because they pollinate the plants that other species eat, without bees (and other pollinating creatures) the plants would die out and then there would be nothing to eat. I think that if someone is going to eat honey, they should choose to get it from small-scale bee keepers, organic if possible, and check-out the bee keepers to make sure they do treat their bees humanely. That way they are helping the bees but aren't profiting the uncaring large-scale producers. As Richard says though, we do not need honey, so if someone just wants to help the bees then there are a number of things you can do and organisations you can support. You can even get bug nest boxes to give the little critters somewhere warm and safe to sleep. But probably the best thing you an do for bees is to plant shrubs and flowers that they like such as borage, buddleia (the butterfly bush), sunflowers, Asters, Lavenders - there's loads of info about which plants the bees love best on this site: http://www.themelissagarden.com/plants.html If you really want to help the bees (and other pollinating creatures, and the world in general) then spend your money on plants, nest boxes and donating to the bee saving projects - you'll do a lot more good that way then buying one jar of honey every few months

I know about it too, it can seem daunting and controversial but dogs are no problem as they are pretty much scavenging optimists and will eat whatever they find, so if you buy/make a balanced nutritional food then they will be fine. At Hillside Animal Sanctuary (where Richard and I work) they rescue dogs and most of them are on a vegan diet now - there have been some amazing cases of dogs that have come in with bad skin conditions but being on on a vegan diet has helped clear it up Cats are somewhat more carnivorous, although they do and will eat plant matter, but they need taurine which isn't found in plants. I put my cat Sammy on a vegan diet of dry kibble without researching the particular needs vegan cats properly, he got Urinary Tract Crystals a few months later which is very painful and potentially life-threatening if not treated in time. But I noticed he wasn't right immediately and my vet was amazing and Sam has made a full recovery. The vet said that he got crystals because he was on dry food only and that it was vegan may not have made any difference. Male cats especially can be prone to urinary tract problems if on dry food only so we now mix his food with water and a bit of tinned food - and he's absolutely fine. I feel that as long as the food you give your animals is nutritionally balanced and they like it, then that is all that matters. Most varieties of shop-bought cat and dog food nowadays are so far removed from being 'natural' anyway - ever seem a domestic kitty take down a beef bullock? Or catch a salmon? Or what about those really weird ones like lobster and carrots!? Needless to say I have now done my research and found that this site http://www.vegancats.com/veganfaq.php answered a lot of my questions, even ones I hadn't thought of! We now have Sam and my other male cat C.C. on a 25% vegan diet as recommended for male cats by Vegan Cats. It's not as much as I would want but, as Cellar Yeti says, I don't want to endanger their health so I'm being cautious. Female cats can be on a 50% - 100% vegan diet as long as they are not prone to urinary tract problems, best to get them checked out by the vet to make sure. Another very informative site I looked at is http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/cats-and-dogs/ - did you know that cats are allergic to all citrus fruits and that lemon juice in particular can be fatal!? Also onions are deadly too. Thank you also to Ryan from Vegan Essentials who reassured us and gave us lots of help and advice, and he also sells some fantastic products! Anyhoo, best to let your vet know if you are switching pets to a totally new diet so they can monitor them - especially with cats. In the UK we get our vegan pet foods from http://www.veggiepets.com/. They are very helpful and stock a pretty good range - they even do vegetarian rat food And they do taster packs. This is the tinned food we get: http://www.veggiepets.com/shop/benevo_duo_vegan_dog_cat_food_260.jpg Our cats have a meat-based kibble mixed with warm water and a spoonful of Benevo, we also mix in a little Cranimals Gold (available from Vegan Essentials) and sprinkle on some Nutritional Yeast Flakes and they love it! Both cats are really healthy, shiny coats, bright eyes etc. C.C actually has hyperthyroidism and one of the symptoms is a dull and scraggly coat but the vet thought that maybe his vegan diet is what makes his coat so shiny and sleek! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/Nogri/Other%20pets/S1054845-1.jpg Sammy Cat http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v126/Nogri/Other%20pets/S1052176a-1-1.jpg C.C. So it can be done and like with humans, it can be a very healthy lifestyle, but you do need to do your research and make sure they are getting all the nutrients they need. Good luck

I'm from the UK too

Hee I was trying to look serious but I felt silly - I hate having my photo taken but I'll have to do some more soon to show you guys my big(ish) muscles!

Saturday 27th November: Was feeling quite tired today after the cat sanctuary's Christmas fair but I'm really please I went to the gym, it lifted my mood and I was really pumped afterwards. It was pretty quite in there too so we got to use all the machines we wanted and Rich was able to go in the dance studio and do some cool kicks and martial arts stuff. My left knee has been aching a bit these last few days so I gave the leg press a miss tonight - instead I went on the weird balance machine for 10 mins which was fun. Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 9kg - 12 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 30kg - 6 reps - man this is a tough one! Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 8kg - 12 reps Upright Cable Row: 12.5kg - 15 reps Cable Crossover Press: 5kg - 12 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 13 reps Chest Press Machine: n/a Leg Press: n/a Press Ups: 12 Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: 7.5kg - 8 reps Bicep Cable Curl: 7kg - 8 reps Lateral Shoulder Raise: 4kg - 10 reps Ab Crunches: 15 - was knackered at this point but then did the balance machine to wind down

Thursday 25th November: The gym was surprisingly really busy today and there were a couple of chavvy louts hogging some of the machines so we barely got to do anything grrrrrr! Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 9kg - 10 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 30kg - 6 reps Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 8kg - 11 reps Upright Cable Row: n/a Cable Crossover Press: n/a Seated Cable Row: n/a Chest Press Machine: n/a Leg Press: 60kg - 15 reps Press Ups: n/a Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: n/a Bicep Cable Curl: 6kg - 15 reps Lateral Shoulder Raise: n/a Ab Crunches: 25 Pretty rubbish workout, I spent more time on the cardio machines waiting to get on the multi-gym but in the end we gave up. Was pretty pleased with what I did do though, got to go up a weight on some things

Friday 19th November: Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 8kg - 15 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 25kg - 15 reps Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 8kg - 8 reps Upright Cable Row: 12.5kg - 14 reps Cable Crossover Press: 5kg - 11 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 12 reps Chest Press Machine: 15kg - 12 reps Leg Press: 60kg - 12 reps Press Ups: 10 Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: 7.5kg - 7 reps Bicep Cable Curl: n/a Lateral Shoulder Raise: 4kg - 10 reps Ab Crunches: 23

Wednesday 17th November: Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 8kg - 13 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 25kg - 12 reps Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 7kg - 15 reps Upright Cable Row: 12.5kg - 10 reps Cable Crossover Press: 5kg - 10 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 12 reps Chest Press Machine: n/a Leg Press: 60kg - 11 reps Press Ups: 9 Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: 6.25kg - 15 reps Bicep Cable Curl: 5kg - 15 reps Lateral Shoulder Raise: n/a Ab Crunches: 20

Sunday 14th November: Compound Exercises: Dumbbell Bench Press: 8kg - 12 reps Lat Pulldown Machine: 25kg - 9 reps Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 7kg - 13 reps Upright Cable Row: 10kg - 15 reps Cable Crossover Press: 3.75kg - 15 reps Seated Cable Row: 27.5kg - 12 reps Chest Press Machine: 20kg - 4 reps - was getting pretty tired at this point! Leg Press: 60kg - 10 reps Press Ups: n/a Isolation Exercises: Tricep Cable Machine: 6.25kg - 10 reps Bicep Cable Curl: n/a Lateral Shoulder Raise: n/a Ab Crunches: n/a