21-Day Vegan Kickstart / a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) site

[cross posted from the April Kickstart forum]

If you're not sure about joining the next Kickstart, please allow my story to encourage you.

I've been an imperfect Kickstarter and a vegan for a little less than 5 months now and I just hit the 50 pounds lost mark. I feel healthy and well. I have tons of energy and walk twice a day with my dog. I was on the verge of having to take meds for Type 2 diabetes, but that is no longer an issue. I no longer have to take cholesterol meds. The dosage of my blood pressure med has been cut in half and I'm hoping I'll be able to go off that entirely soon.

My friends and family have been nothing but encouraging. They don't really have much interest in joining me, but they know the path I was on was very unhealthy and they understand that if I didn't start down a healthier road, I wasn't going to be around very long. When we get together for a family dinner, I always bring something I can eat, but they have been incredibly sweet about always trying to provide options for me as well.

Before going vegan, I had a very strong sense that I wasn't going to live very long. I knew that you couldn't weigh what I weighed and eat what I ate and live to a ripe old age. It just doesn't work that way. I would look at my young nieces and nephews and wonder if I would live to see them graduate from college, get married, have children. And I honestly didn't expect to. I truly expected to die from a heart attack at a young age.

I don't feel that way any longer. I feel healthy and hopeful. I expect to be here for a long, long time.

I don't follow the plan perfectly, but I do stay vegan. I don't cook entirely fat-free, but I keep a very close eye on the amount of fat I use (making sure to measure so I don't fool myself into thinking I'm eating less than I am). I keep my fridge and cupboard stocked with healthy foods and I cook most of my meals at home.

I'll be joining the next Kickstart as a way to remind myself of the basic principles I need to follow and to find some new recipes.

Anyhow, I just wanted to say that if you're wavering about joining the next Kickstart, please give it a try. You won't be sorry. And it may just change your life.

Greenish, what an inspiring story and thank you for sharing it today. Have no doubt that this will be an inspiration to more than you know as we move into the week ahead!

Hey, would you mind if I put your story up on my blog on the Kickstart page here to add a personal story? Let me know; here's the page:

21 - Day Kickstart: Join me!