Hi Steemians!
I typically review games on my page, but I will incorporate blogs of my life into every other day posts to have something different. At least that's what I'm experimenting with right now.
So, you've clicked on this and you probably fall under one of two camps:
1 - You're already vegan and you would like to read on someone else's vegan life / journey
or
2 - You're not vegan and either want to see if this can help you go vegan or want to find something to disagree with
I realize that there are other groups, but I have seen this to be the most common online in my experience.
Why I went vegan
I was never really big on eating meat before (yes, fish is in fact meat to me as well, even if it's definition doesn't say so. It's animal flesh). I ate it if it was there, but really didn't like the smell and didn't care too much for the taste. The only thing I knew I like was eggs. I would sometimes eat 8 to 15 eggs in a single sitting.
I'm not sure why I would do that, looking back. I actually find that very silly (to put it kindly). Those eggs often times included salt - definitely not a healthy decision on both accounts. I was always "concerned" with my health, just like I find most other people, but was too lazy to actively do something about it.
I was a cross country, and track athlete (still run), so I thought any negative effects could be run off during exercise. I was not aware of the fact that is actually a myth. But more on that later... I began experiencing an increasing amount of headaches and chest pain. Some days the pain in my chest would cause me short breath and I pictured myself clunking over dead in a heart attack at some point in the future. Mind you, I was only in my lower 20's and this was a few years ago.
I was never really against being vegan. In fact, it was just never put to the forefront to me, because if it had been (as much as the "balanced diet" or "more meat because of protein" mantra) I would have been vegan in high school. People often complain that vegans can't keep things to themselves, but it is in fact the other way around. If you are working in a system that is default the opposite of your ideas and facts, you will get attacked even if you don't happen to attack anyone else. It is necessary to spread the word.
But let's get back on point... I saw the Forks over Knives documentary (on YouTube for free, I have since paid for it) right after I just spent over $80 at the store on mainly items that were meat and dairy based. About 20 minutes in and I was completely convinced. I threw away that "food" and others in my freezer immediately. I could have gotten a refund, but to me, a powerful thing was to hit me where it hurt, money.
What led me to that point was that I had JUST searched how the causes of heart pain in the Big G and then went to YouTube after returning from the store. Since Big G uses our private information, the Forks Over Knives was suggested. I thank their over intrusive algorithms this one time haha!
What happened After
I'll keep this part short and will expand upon this in a later blog, but: I quickly picked up on Dr. Gregor's nutritionfacts.org and realized that he had an unbiased source of information. I've "studied" biology since I was 5 (I put it in quotes because I'm not sure I was studying properly at that age, but looking at pictures and learning about flowers and animals), and he really spoke to me in a facts first, opinions and feelings last way that science does so often.
Within two days, my headaches were gone, no more heart pain except mild pain from oil-based products I may consume here and there.
Within a week, I was feeling so energetic that I went from struggling with 12 hour days to going to 18+ hours with NO PROBLEM
Within a month or three (wasn't noticing until later), my chronic back pain from having a car accident vanished and I rarely feel anything. I'm telling you.... this pain was SO BAD that I couldn't do crunches sometimes.
There were other effects too, but I'll save that for another post.
Since then, I have gotten 149 people to go vegan this year with earnest (mainly full families and athletes), and have sold custom meal plans to people transitioning or people already vegan. All of my services are sold because of my time and I have found that when people pay for something, they actually put value toward it. Before that, I got 0 people, but now I'm almost at the big 1-5-0. Once I reach 500 or 1000, I'm thinking of launching a vegan radio show to help others.
That's all for now!
I hope you enjoyed this read and will like, resteem and comment below. Plus, I write reviews of gaming and of the industry as a whole. So, if you like that, then maybe you'd like to subscribe ;)