Challenge and I love it

• Posted by Stubby on August 20, 2014 at 11:33am
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updated by @stubby: 02/14/15 03:32:10AM

I have a very serious question. How did you make the transition from junk foods to healthy fruits and vegetables? I made the mistake of basically trying to quit junk food cold turkey and changing all to quickly to healthy foods and I tried to start yoga as well out of the blue and now I'm stuck in this awful dehydrated sore state for 5-6 days now and I've been lay flat on my back or stomach to help my muscles relax and drinking plenty of Gatorade (for electrolytes) and water to keep hydrated.. I currently do not have much food in the house so all I've been able to eat is a pb&j on white and a small plate of fruit that my mother gave me earlier.

It's extremely difficult. I used to have so much ice cream in my bowl that my family would just tell me to get a trash can to put it in. LOL. I'm trying to educate myself as I go along. I love pizza, chips,soda you name it I love to eat it. I am a compulsive over eater. I'm sure that I'm much older than you. I wanted whats left in my life to be more productive health wise. I knew I had to change. I started out by excluding one thing at a time. Like mayonnaise, then sodas, ice cream, cheese, bread etc. I started the weaning process. My daughter bought me a nutribullet and I started making smoothies. A blender works fine. I'm just a "newbie vegan" starting out. Go to your natural health food store. check out the internet. find a friend that's a vegetarian, Somebody you know that can help you without you feeling intimidated. I happen to live in a family that were all over weight but wanted to change their health. They have been a wealth of knowledge for me. If you can afford to purchase the book Raw Food For Dummies, that might be of some value for you. Thank you for your response to my post. Just start out easy. Don't go cold turkey. baby steps.

I am/ was the same way. I want to make positive changes in my life! So I'm doing what's best for the body soul and mind if and when I'm forced to choose. My biggest accomplishment thus far is I quit smoking 4 days ago. I feel so much better about myself now. I guess I over did myself on the yoga. But as soon as my muscles aren't whining any more I'm going to pace myself..Thanks for the tips though!

that's awesome that you stopped smoking. I forgot to mention that I have a garden also. If I can do it, anybody on this site can do it. I think the main thing is to go slow. I know you will do it. By the way, how long have you been dreading? Stubs

I would love to see your timeline! It's so awesome that you took your situation and turned it into an opportunity to invite positivity into your life.

Thank you, for your encouraging words. I decided not to take pictures for a time line because I thought all the pictures on here are of pretty young girls or handsome bucks. I'm not feeling sorry for myself just trying to be realistic. Besides, everybody's dreads are different. I tried to take pictures of my dreads today, but it was of no use because my hair is doing this thing where all the knots are being hidden beneath a thick wispy bunch of hair. My hair is so thin that my "cheapie" camera won't pick up the dreads.

Hmm.. I thought I commented earlier.. I guess not lol.. Diane, if you can afford it, coconut water would be much better than gatorade for your electrolytes.. Not only does coconut water have a certain amount of all your electrolytes, it is high in Lauric acid which is very beneficial for the immune system. I generally drink it everyday. :D It took me awhile to transition from being a vegetarian to being a vegan (I still eat honey on occasion, so technically I am not fully vegan)... The last things I gave up were cheese and cookies!(not mixed together of course lol.. Bleh!) I have been eating this way for a little over 13 months. I used to think my diet was wide and varied, and that vegans were a little crazy, but that was pure ignorance. Once I became vegan, I started trying things I previously never heard of, and I am so happy I did because I was able to find and enjoy fruits I would have never thought twice about back when I was eating meat. Now I eat a mostly raw diet, with the occasional bowl of brown rice or roasted nuts/seeds. (neither things being the best things you could eat, but hey, we all gotta have our treats on occasion lol).. Stubby, I too have a garden. This year we have been growing some delicious heirloom tomatoes! If you are not yet aware of what heirloom plants are, they are pure-bred, open-pollinated fruits/vegetables, often with distinct features that most hybridized fruits/vegetables these days do not have. My favorite heirloom tomatoes this year have been Cherokee Purple tomatoes and Virginia Sweets tomatoes :D. Once I finally put pics up, I may also be putting up some pictures of some of the fruits we have grown this year :D. Nature is beautiful! which is one thing I didn't truly come to realize until I became vegan. It seems you really begin to gain a perspective of how important every life on this planet is when you get closer to nature. These days, I go out of my way to make sure I don't even kill bugs lol. I think nature has a way of showing you just how interconnected everything is. Believe me, just about 2 years ago, I was eating pounds of steak or chicken daily... Barely ever ate anything that wasn't from an animal.. And I would also (not exaggerating at all) drink about half a gallon of whole milk daily.. Always was eating all kinds of cheese and whatnot.. foods full with gluten, and all kinds of refined foods.. Taking all kinds of synthetically created body-building supplements..(I was really into bodybuilding at the time) It was bad lol.. I really began to feel it.. That is when I started really looking at what I was putting into my body. Believe me, I have seen both sides of extremes.. I was vegetarian for about 6-7 months before finally giving up dairy.. Cookies and cheese (especially pizza) were my biggest downfall/weakness.. The month after I gave up animal products was amazing.. The energy I ended up having then was outstanding.. I could do things I could not previously do before. When I officially started my transition from eating meat to slowly becoming vegan, one of the easiest things to do, was I just added more fruit/vegetables, continued to eat some of the things I would otherwise, and just slowly stop eating the meat/animal products. Try different fruits/vegetables.. Find something you really like! Personally, some of my favorites are fresh black figs, pineapples, mangoes, homegrown tomatoes and pretty much every type of melon lol. Another big thing is, is a lot of people have a hard time truly enjoying natural foods because their taste buds have been somewhat dulled due to synthetic/artificial flavoring. Try to cut out the stuff with that in it, and your joy for nature's food will more than likely increase at least a little.. One good vegan "energy/breakfast" bar I have found are Larabars! They are delicious! I love the banana bread ones and the coconut cream ones.. oh, and the cherry pie ones! They are all relatively good, and they are composed of pretty good ingredients :D I believe They are a great snack for the transitioning vegan/vegetarian.. If you are worried about vitamins, looking into herbs may not be a bad idea... I personally take Moringa, Chlorella and Oatstraw because of the calcium/silica content in the moringa/oatstraw and the iron content in chlorella. Dhealthstore.com sells herbs at a very reasonable price.

Another thing you may want to do research on is phytic acid.. It is mainly found in nuts and seeds.. and to put it simple, it has an anti-enzymatic effect in your intestines that kind of strip you of calcium and iron.. Which I believe is one of the mistakes some vegans make.. is they eat too many nuts/seeds (believe me, I can't really talk lol.) and therefore do not properly absorb enough calcium/iron.. the reason the phytic acid exists in nuts/seeds is to help insure that they do not get broken down, so they are able to germinate. Some nuts/seeds here and there aren't bad, but eating them all the time is not such a good idea... As I mentioned, I will admit that I do have a problem with this, and it is something I am currently working on lol. It is also in soy.. But I don't eat soy anyways, mainly because of the fact that about 90% of it is gmo.. Grains will also typically have a little in them too.. But, if you want to eat something like wheat bread, if you get sprouted wheat bread this will help big time.. Because when they are allowed to sprout, it really cuts down on the phytic acid because it was able to germinate.

Thanks so much ND!Stubby, I just started my dreads Monday. I started my garden almost a month ago. They have just gotten to the point where they need a bigger pot! I've got tomatoes, sweet peppers, oregano, and thyme! I have seeds for carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce.