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| Forums: January 2011 Kickstart Forum: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN | |||
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Friday, February 18, 2011 at 3:35 PM kiwi wrote: Interesting discussion between veganor and gryphonpro. You could be describing me. I turn 50 this year. I turned 50 late last year
Have the usual money concerns,(paying mortgage, trying to save for retirement but thats alomst impossible, cost of everything is rising, aging parent to care for, etc). Aging parents are taking care of themselves but I've got a 12 yr old growing boy to feed!
I have been an unhealthy vegetarian and known I needed to get healthy for some time. We were vegetarian, not too unhealthy with it but still...
I tried several "diets" but nothing stuck until I found the 21 day kickstart. Now I can't go back. The reasons I think this worked for me 1. Timing - there is an old saying that when the pupil is ready the teacher will appear. Very true - I was just surfing TV channels and came across Dr. Barnard discussing diabetes control with a vegan lifestyle and that got me online looking to see if it was really what he was presenting or if there was some odd 'catch' to it.
3. Recipes that I dont have to drive to another continent to find ingredients for. I have been surprised at how many vegan food/ingredients are available locally now that I have opened my eyes to look. It's great finding ways to use new stuff and new uses for familiar stuff.
4. This forum and support from my fellow 21-dayers. I may not reply to every discussion but I do read it. Definitely! There have been times where I think "If I go ahead and eat X, I'm going to have to put that into the what did you eat today thread and I don't want to do that" so I chose something else.
5. An internet on-line programme which means I can read and absorb at a time that fits in my day. No having to attend 'class' at a certain time each week, which may be an added stress. (It is morning here and I am currently sitting in my pyjamas checking in before the day really starts). Not to mention no one can 'see' what we're doing or require some sort of conformity - if we choose to have the braised kale with chickpea quinoa pilaf and have the veggie chili tomorrow, instead of how the menu plan is laid out, no big deal; we don't have to follow to the letter to get a big benefit from the kickstart.
6. It's an international program that is relevant anywhere. I am currently participating from New Zealand, the documentary will be in Canada, we have people from other countires also attending. Need occasional translations and such, some folks have access to different types of foods at different times (summer veggies in NZ, winter veggies in New England) but, again, the principles apply even if some of the details have to adjust. --Deb R |
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| marge
Joined: 09/08/10 Location: Seattle Posts: 211 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Monday, February 21, 2011 at 1:04 PM Kiwi, I agree with everything you had to say. I'm 53 and realized that you can be healthy as you age or sickly as you age, but YOU and only you have control over that. I started riding my bicycle but didn't change my diet, it was only when I participated in the Kickstart in March of 2010, that I actually was able to feel the effects of a plant based diet. After that there was no going back. |
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gryphonpro
 Location: Cape Breton, NS, Canada Posts: 239 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:27 PM Yeah! we heard from Jessica Frost, communications coordinator at PCRM, and we are good to go with our documentary! madeline yakimchuk
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| kiwi
Joined: 01/03/11 Location: New Zealand Posts: 405 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:52 PM Hi Marge, thanks for sharng your similar decision to be more healthy as we age. I know there are others of us out there that choose health in whatever way we can. However I meet and work with many more who choose to eat SAD (standard American diet) and wonder why in their 50's everything is starting to go wrong. That age group seems to be a turning point for many. I work with one person who stated she would rather take pills than change her diet as its easier (she is on pills for high colesterol, high blood pressure and depression). Another has put on so much weight that it makes my weight gain of 30-40 pounds seem small. I have to say seeing her does motivate me to loose weight. If I had not chosen to join kickstart and make a change in my life, that could/would be me in the near future.
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food - Hippocrates. |
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 1:02 PM [quote="kiwi"} I work with one person who stated she would rather take pills than change her diet as its easier (she is on pills for high colesterol, high blood pressure and depression). [/quote] That was basically my father in law - sedentary, eating lots of high fat foods, etc and just taking meds to deal with it all - until other things started going wrong and he lost about half his weight (and not in the good way either), had digestive problems, couldn't get out of a chair safely on his own, and eventually developed congestive heart failure which sent him to the hospital and then kidney failure which was the last straw. Hubby, however, would rather get rid of as much medication as possible so he's eating (mostly) vegan and exercising (plus using a CPAP to control his sleep apnea). He's lost a bunch of weight over the last few years and is in much better shape. I keep telling him that he's very likely to be the first male in his paternal line in several generations to live past 65 (unless he gets hit by a bus or something). --Deb R |
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| marge
Joined: 09/08/10 Location: Seattle Posts: 211 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 1:54 PM wow Deb that's good & and sad at the same time. Glad that your husband is being proactive. It's sad that no other men in his family lived pass 65. |
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 2:03 PM marge wrote: wow Deb that's good & and sad at the same time. Glad that your husband is being proactive. It's sad that no other men in his family lived pass 65. I suppose statistically the fact that there's only be one male per generation for several generations could skew things (DH has no brothers, 3 sisters; his dad was an only child; etc) but still... And, even better, our 12 yr old son is learning NOW about healthy lifestyle - he is familiar with and enjoys a wide range of plant foods (heck, I had never eaten kale or chard until this year, at age 50, and he's already decided he likes them and knows how to select them in the market). All sorts of stuff - kale and quinoa and whole wheat and agave. It's interesting, to me, because he will turn down the 'typical' pre-teen type foods (commercial pizza, fast food burgers, etc) if he has any other choice (he's eaten just salad on occasion if there wasn't anything but pizza). He still loves cheese but won't touch the flavorless white flour pizza dough - but he LOVES pizza when it's our homemade whole wheat crust and lots of toppings (peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc). So, odds are good that he'll have an even better chance than Hubby. And, hopefully, he'll pass it along to his offspring and so on - we're trying to break the cycle. --Deb R |
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| theodore
Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 643 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 2:24 PM Yeah, I often wish I'd started younger. I had a couple of years of IBS and asthma that could've been avoided if I went vegan earlier. Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air |
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 2:29 PM theodore wrote: Yeah, I often wish I'd started younger. I had a couple of years of IBS and asthma that could've been avoided if I went vegan earlier. Yeah, I could probably have skipped a lot of pounds and a type 2 diagnosis...but the past is the past gotta move ahead. --Deb R |
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| theodore
Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 643 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 2:48 PM Too true Deb. Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air |
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 2:49 PM theodore wrote: Too true Deb. Didja like how I translated the chips/crisps and such? --Deb R |
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| theodore
Joined: 09/16/10 Posts: 643 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 3:12 PM Bugsmom wrote: Didja like how I translated the chips/crisps and such? Yes I did. Never make assumptions. You'll end up being an A**, and the UMP will TION you. -- Coach Smiley -- Fresh Prince of Bel Air |
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| marge
Joined: 09/08/10 Location: Seattle Posts: 211 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 3:26 PM yes I wish I had been a vegan since I was a teen, wonder if I would have not gotten osteo-arthritis. |
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 9:35 PM marge wrote: yes I wish I had been a vegan since I was a teen, wonder if I would have not gotten osteo-arthritis. hubby's was caused by the screws that they used to put his hip back in place when he was 11 and had a nasty dislocation (the head of the femur went out of the socket and lodged under the pelvic bone - they had to pull it back out and up and pin it in place - took a year to get around without crutches, caused bone/joint damage, killed the growth plate of that leg so that it's about 2-3 inches shorter than the other leg). --Deb R |
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| marge
Joined: 09/08/10 Location: Seattle Posts: 211 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Friday, February 25, 2011 at 11:36 AM might have gotten it anyway as it runs in our family, but not at 36 |
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| Bugsmom
Joined: 09/13/10 Posts: 2072 |
RE: AN UNLIKELY VEGAN Posted Friday, February 25, 2011 at 11:40 AM marge wrote: might have gotten it anyway as it runs in our family, but not at 36 Hubby is 42 and has been dealing with chronic hip pain since his teens (since the injury and surgery was at age 11). --Deb R |
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