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| Forums: September 2011 Kickstart Forum: Introductions... | |||
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JamieR
 Location: Mendocino Coast, Northern California Posts: 116 |
Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 3:33 AM I know some of us have introduced ourselves on other threads, but now that the Kickstart has officially started, I thought it might be nice just to have a dedicated introduction thread! So, if you like, please share anything you want about yourself with your fellow Kickstarters! Are you new to veganism or the Kickstart? What impelled you to join? What are you hoping to accomplish during the Kickstart? Just some questions to get you thinking...feel free to share anything you like! September Kickstart Goals: Walk/bike daily, keep up with forum, 100% low-fat vegan experimenting with maximizing FLAVOR!
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| JamieR
Location: Mendocino Coast, Northern California Posts: 116 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 3:57 AM I'll start with my introduction! This is my 4th Kickstart, and I am so happy to be a part of it again. My 1st Kickstart was back in January 2010...and I can honestly say that it changed my life! For the better! I have regained my health--and thus my life--and I will be forever grateful to PCRM, Dr. Barnard, and Jill and Susan (forum moderators) and others (like Dr. McDougall). I came to my 1st Kickstart with my health in great decline because of long-term diabetes. It had gotten to the point where I was in agony daily from the neuropathy; nightly, too, as it would often wake me up in the middle of the night! I needed 3 medications to control the diabetes to my doctor's satisfaction, including nearly 100 units of insulin nightly. That much insulin caused a profound weight gain; I gained 40 pounds in 4 months and was absolutely miserable and in pain. Reading Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet brought me to the Kickstart. I started reading more about the health aspects of veganism and decided I had nothing to lose trying it for a couple of weeks. I wasn't expecting the amazing health change that I got! Immediately, I had more energy, no "tummy troubles," and generally felt SO much more calm and centered. After the 1st Kickstart, I decided to go a little more extreme and in February I started following the MWL McDougall Plan. The results were nothing short of miracle. By Day 2, the pain in my feet decreased significantly...and by Week 1, I was actually feeling the difference between the carpet and the linoleum floor...something I hadn't felt in years. I knew, right then, that I had found the lifestyle that would return me to health...and I had to keep doing it no matter what. Fast forward... I've been a vegan since January 2010, and I will never go back! I want to continue to feel good; I know what my life was like before and I want no part of that! The neuropathy is a dull roar; my left foot has nearly none and my right foot is at a livable level. I truly feel like I have gotten my life back, and the world is full of possibilities again, not the shrinking world I was dealing with before Kickstart because it is hard to live when you are in so much pain! I've had a variety of labs done in the past year and a half...and they are all stellar! Even the ones that measure nutrition, like vitamins, minerals, and protein. I've been able to drop all my medications but 2 (at one point, I had 7 medications!). While I am still taking insulin, I need only take 22 units--still a lot but quite a drop from 100! I hope that in a couple of years my body will have healed enough that I won't need any insulin at all. I honestly feel that that will happen one day! Most of all I appreciate just being able to go about my day without pain and suffering; feeling "light" and energized every day is a bonus! Thank you, PCRM! September Kickstart Goals: Walk/bike daily, keep up with forum, 100% low-fat vegan experimenting with maximizing FLAVOR!
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| djunamod
Joined: 01/02/11 Posts: 55 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 7:21 AM Jamie, your story is inspiring and I'm so glad to hear that your health has improved so much with this kind of diet As for me, this is my 4th kickstart as well, although I didn't quite succeed the first 3 times. I lost 35 pounds several years ago on a low carb diet and then went vegetarian and then vegan. I had no good maintenance plan in place and life changes and stress brought me back to binge eating episodes and I gained back the 35 that I lost and 30 more So on May 30, I started McDougall (not MWL but the regular plan - just can't do without bread!) and I have been pretty much sticking to it. I've lost 12 pounds so far and I'm feeling much more energetic (especially in the afternoons) and much better. I haven't had any major health issues except for migraines, which have decreased considerably since being on McDougall. About a month or so after I started, I went for blood tests for the first time in 20 years and everything came out great (which impressed my doctor, since I'm 5'1" and, at that time was 185 pounds which puts me in the obese category). Djuna |
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cch22
 Location: New York State Posts: 1001 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 7:43 AM HI The very thought of the factory farming and the way animals are not cared for, treated and killed is so revolting it makes me physically ill if i think about it too long. I see a steak and i think, poor cow it's just not worth it. Those thoughts pretty much solidify the journey. On a more personal level.. once we found foods we liked it is the best thing we have ever done for ourselves. My husband had some prostate problems. He was at the point where they were talking rotor-roter soon. And his kidneys were not doing well at all. Something about failure. Anyway.. he has not taken a pee pill for 2 months and it is still like he is 13. He is amazed. That right there is enough to have him stay plant strong. BUT his kidney numbers are back up to normal. he no longer can be said to have any kind of failure. I have to say here my honey is also very dedicated to exercise. He exercises, hard, every single day, at least one hour. He runs some days and lifts on alternate days. At 50+ he is a hottie. He runs 10+ miles when he runs, just to give you an idea. For me, wow.. i have had choresterol close to 400. Now it is about 150. I have tried to stop choresterol meds to see where it lands.. Will have tests soon. I expect to have to go back on a low dose. Actually I was able to 1/2 the dose due to vegan diet. Also lost about 25 lbs.. have lots of energy and feel great. |
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Wild4Stars
 Location: Florida Posts: 832 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 9:36 AM This is my 5th Kickstart. My first one was September 2009, but I didn’t quite stay vegan at that point. I’ve been vegetarian since 2000, and vegan since the January 2010 Kickstart. I went from 135 to 120 and this morning I’m at 125.5. My main downfall is red wine and too much pasta. I have switched to whole wheat pasta, but too much is still too much! Maybe this Kickstart I can work on those two things. I don’t have any dramatic health turn-around stories. Despite the abuse I have put my body through I’ve always been very healthy and 135 is the most I have ever weighed. I have low cholesterol, normal to low blood pressure, all my lab results fall dead center in the normal range. My doctor has said if all her patients were like me she would be out of business. That is until last October when I was diagnosed with Osteopenia, early stage of Osteoporosis. As a result I have added some supplements and increased my exercise. At almost 60 years old my main focus is healthy aging. Yes, I’d like to lose some more weight, would love to get back into the 110 range, get rid of a little belly flab. But my main focus is to feel and BE healthy. I mainly follow a combination of Dr. Fuhrman’s “Eat To Live” and the McDougall plan. They are very similar. Dr. Fuhrman preaches more fruit, less grain, McDougall promotes more grain, less fruit. They’re both vegan. Some of the books I’ve read to support and motivate me to stay on this path are Skinny Bitch, The China Study, Eat To Live, The Food Revolution, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, among others. I’m also active on SparkPeople.com where I’m Team Leader of the “Eat To Live” team and active on several other vegan related teams. It’s a great place to share ideas, recipes, give and receive support. There are TONS of recipes, workout videos, articles and anything else you could want. And it’s FREE – 100% totally FREE. I am Wild4Stars there also if anyone joins and wants to become “friends.” The site is not a vegan site, but there are a lot of vegans and vegan teams. And it’s fun. Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com |
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| maggie
Joined: 01/01/10 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 15 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 12:00 PM This is my fifth kickstart. I am 54 years old, have been vegetarian since I was 17. The change to vegan was difficult for me, and I was not successful the first three times. Life is a song worth singing. |
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| petittarte
Joined: 09/03/11 Posts: 4 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 12:14 PM This is my first kickstart. I have been a pescetarian for about 2 years. I have tried to go vegan before but failed. None of my friends or family or vegetarians or vegan and I got so tired of having to bring all of my own food with me everytime that we would go to someones house or not being able to go to a restaurant. I also have IBD and a veg diet is the total opposite of what is recommended for us to eat. I decided to give up meat and poultry 2 years ago because red meat would make me ill and I never liked poultry very much. I hope that I have the strength to follow through and stick with it this time. |
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| Dobby
Joined: 09/04/10 Posts: 113 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 12:19 PM Wow, such inspiring stories! This is my 4th Kickstart. I have dabbled with being vegetarian since about 2003 when I first met Lani Muelrath at a T-Tapp workshop but it was very off and on and consisted of eating way too much sugar. I did very well in the Jan 2011 Kickstart, lost about 10#, felt great and had a huge reversal when I was making a birthday cake for my brother and just *tasted* the cream cheese frosting to see if it needed more vanilla. It was downhill from there! That really demonstrated what an addiction to sugar is like. I was like a drooling drug addict licking the bowl of frosting. Yuck. I allowed stress levels from my job and being caregiver to elderly parents to control me and just stopped doing everything...eating right, exercising and generally taking care of me! I retired August 1 so was able to put aside the job stress and focus on parent care and caring for myself. I've lolled around for a month and am ready to *get to work* and get this vegan thing going. I've also got an exercise plan in place and some other things to care for myself! I love the recipes I have gotten from the previous Kickstart participants and am looking forward to more good ideas. Pam |
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| maggie
Joined: 01/01/10 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 15 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 12:24 PM Jamie, Djuna, Deb, Life is a song worth singing. |
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vegankitty
 Location: Denver, Colorado Posts: 109 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 3:24 PM Hi there! Goodluck to everyone who is joining this kickstart! Cheers It is easy to be mankind, |
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| hjkeefer
Joined: 09/05/11 Location: Northern California Posts: 2 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 3:54 PM This is my first Kickstart. I tried going vegan about six months ago after reading The Kind Diet, but wasn't very successful. I tried all the substitute products--Morning Star and vegan cheeses. I didn't really like most of it and found the cheeses all made me sick. I realized most of them are really high in fat. So, I'm going to skip those products and focus on homemade foods and lots of veggies. I love whole grains and beans and eat them all the time. I've been mostly vegetarian for months now, so I won't miss eating meat. But I'm worried about cheese. I just love cheese--especially artisanal cheeses. And shrimp. Not sure how long I can go without cheese or seafood. I am hoping that this will help me loose weight. I gained a lot of weight when I got into my mid 40s and it seems almost impossible to take it off. |
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| LyleW
Joined: 09/05/11 Posts: 1 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 4:48 PM I was up to 341# and had already had a doctor inside my heart 4 times along with two heart attacks. Still I have escaped bypass surgery. Last fall I had been on some medication that accelerated the weight gain and also caused low pulse and irregular heart beats. I was having a pacemaker with a defibrilator recommended but decided to wait. I found out the medication causing the problems, discontinued it and then tried to take the extra 25# I had gained off. I was only successful in getting off 10 and then thought about cutting out meat. That was on April 26, 2011. I then stumbled upon the Kickstart program and have been pretty much totally vegan since. I am now down around 50# and my irregular heart beats are gone and my blood pressure hasn't been this low in years. I hope to continue this for the rest of my life and hopefully shed many more pounds. I will be seeing my doctor and cardiologist this next month so am anxious to see their reaction to my success. |
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| idealady
Joined: 01/04/11 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 27 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 9:36 PM Thanks very much for starting this thread! This is my third Vegan Kickstart Challenge. I'm 64, and now trying to lose the last 10 pounds (my goal weight is about 147), having lost close to 20 pounds since retiring from first career as a librarian in July 2009. My additional motivation this time comes from an AC1 level of 6.2 (too close to type 2 diabetes to take lightly) and a second full colonoscopy that retrieved a small amt of adenomatous tissue. Family history for type 2 diabetes and for colon cancer are present, and I want to forestall or prevent as much of these two diseases as I can. I am fortunate to live near a Whole Foods Market,in Greater Boston, and this time am doing a combination of cooking and buying appropriate foods. In previous challenges, I found it overwhelming to try to make everything myself. I still have a hard time giving up eggs, chicken, and fish. I've glanced through the recipes in Dr Fuhrman's EAT FOR HEALTH, but found it frustrating to see so much reliance on tree nuts, because it is a life-threatening allergy for me. Yet I can see how it provides a great deal of variety for vegans in general. (I can eat peanuts and coconut, but consume them in moderation because of the higher fat content. Always interested to hear of evidence-based medical studies on the value of coconut. My internist is not a fan of coconut milk or oil, but is otherwise supportive of my efforts to exercise more, eat better, and lose the last chunk of weight to get closer to a healthy BMI.) The very good news is that each time I participate, I acquire terrific new recipes and incorporate more veggies and fruits into my diet, and this lasts more than three or four weeks. As a result of the last kickstart, I found that I enjoy sauted kale, and discovered glutein transitional foods and am now a fan of their frozen chipotle lime cutlets (among others). idealady |
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| wickedwitch
Joined: 09/05/11 Posts: 2 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 9:45 PM well, this is technically my second kickstart. I didn't do all that great on the April one. I have been veggie for a little over a year and I gave up dairy five days ago. Then what do I see in my inbox, a new kickstart. This time I think it will be exciting for me to have an excuse to try new recipes that I wouldn't ordinarily try. Yeah! |
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| prinsas
Joined: 09/05/11 Posts: 4 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 11:31 PM Hi everyone, This is my first kickstart. I started reading and learning more about the vegan/plant based diet in March of this year. It seems everytime I turned around I saw a show about this topic, then documentaries and several books. I have read the Veganist, watched Food Inc, Food Matters, Forks Over Knives and am reading the China Study. I've done ok since April. It wasn't hard to cut out meat - it was the cheese and eggs, but I'm really excited to see how I do in the next 21 days. My interest in this lifestyle was simply about being healthier and taking preventative measures to ward off illnesses; however, it is disgusting how animal are treated. I'm looking forward to learning a lot about this lifestyle and myself. Thanks! |
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mollyhorn
 Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 582 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Monday, September 5, 2011 at 11:51 PM Wow, so many great stories!! I joined the Kickstart in March of 2010 because I wanted to become a vegan, and this seemed like it would help - and it did! I was about 90% vegan by the end of the Kickstart, and 100% within a couple of weeks after that. My motivation originally was because of ecological concerns about the effect of factory farming and fish farming on our planet. [hjkeefer, to kick shrimp, you might check out the pollution stats on shrimp farming. frightening!] Over the coming months, I learned about the health aspects of veganism and the cruelty to animals, and those became just as important. I'm a tri-fold vegan, haha! Unlike some folks, I've used veganism to gain weight, in a way. I have an eating disorder and am a former anorexic. As a vegan, I regained a healthy 30 pounds that I'd starved off of myself. I'm also a binge eater and struggle with bulimia. (Just being up-front with y'all. We're all friends here. Currently, I'm 32 years old (almost 33), I was never very unhealthy, but I was overweight once upon a time, and I know my cholesterol, BP and triglycerides would have worked their way up over the years. I have several chronic health conditions, primarily auto-immune disease, and should try to take care of my body as much as possible. I don't always do so, though. I just had my annual physical two weeks ago, so here are my stats: Guess that's about it for me! Molly Horn |
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| mollyhorn
Location: Fort Worth, TX Posts: 582 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 12:01 AM Links... Re. tree nuts, etc. – because of a bum gall bladder, I hardly eat any nuts at all... some low-fat peanut butter on occasion. It's not hard at all to be vegan w/o nuts. FatFreeVegan.com is a favorite site! Shrimp, caught wild, via bottom trawling: Fish Farming: For those who really want their eyes opened about the animal food industry: Molly Horn |
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| JamieR
Location: Mendocino Coast, Northern California Posts: 116 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 6:57 AM maggie wrote: Jamie, Djuna, Deb, This is my first time hearing mention of a McDougall plan. Please tell more. Thanks. Here's the link to Dr. McDougall's Website: http://www.drmcdougall.com/index.html If you choose Free Program from the Quick Links drop down menu at the top, you can read all the basic details of the McDougall Plan. He does have books that go in to more detail. Also, below the drop down menu is a link to his newsletter archive, which is AMAZING. Lots of great recipes and the good doctor's take on all things medical and nutritional. I followed the Maximum Weight Loss (MWL) book for the 1st 4 months of going low-fat vegan. September Kickstart Goals: Walk/bike daily, keep up with forum, 100% low-fat vegan experimenting with maximizing FLAVOR!
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| jilliejay
Joined: 09/06/11 Posts: 5 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 9:46 AM This is my first kickstart. I have been vegan for 17 years and I am doing the kickstart to support my formerly meat eating husband get his waist line in order. The house has gone vegan (with the exception of local farm eggs for my vegetarian daughter). My husband went vegan about a month ago and the results are already showing!! Good luck everyone. |
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WhisperCat1
 Posts: 32 |
RE: Introductions... Posted Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 11:32 AM Hi, I'm glad to be back. I first became vegan in December 2008 after reading The Kind Life. Then found out about the first 2010 Kick Start and really learned a lot. This is my first time in the forum though. I'm hoping to add a little more support to keep strong. The first time I started slipping was after an unkind remark from my husband. THen I got my head back together, and started again. I have read The China Study, and was reading The Veganist by Kathy Freston, when I was laid off from a job that I loved. I really went to a dark place for a few months and didn't care about much of anything. Thank goodness grief tends to have a time line. I started coming back to the real world and caring about my body again. I have been vegan for a couple of months again now. This time my 15 year old daughter wants to do "the vegetarian part" with me (she fears living without cheese). So my husband is going to eat what we make or make his own this time. I have had very high cholesterol (309) and some high blood pressure in the past. My blood pressure is back to normal, but I haven't had a cholesterol test in several years. I do plan to exercise a bit more since I tend to be a slug. My favorite thing is reading with one or two cats on my lap (I'm a Cat Lady in Training but we can't use the acronymn :wink |
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My cholesterol and triglycerides have improved so much: cholesterol from over 250 to below 150 (with good cholesterol at 56 and bad cholesterol at 67) and my triglycerides went from over 500 to 110.
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. I've been "dabbling" in a very low fat vegan diet (Started with Eat To Live and then moved to McDougall) for a year but could never stick with it. Then in October, I moved back to Israel (where I was born but I also have an American citizenship and spent most of my life in the States) to be with my parents (my dad's health is not good) and am starting to make a new life here. With that, I decided it was time to take my health seriously. 
) I try daily to exorcise these demons, so to speak.| New Topic Reply Subscription Options |
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