A Journey to the Center of the Apple Core
Greetings Mortals!
I started my journey to veganism about 2 years ago and wanted to share the experience to encourage and give an account of the ups and downs of the journey.
I was first introduced to veganism or whole plant based diets by my uncle who had been a silent vegan after a heart attack scare. (yes, a silent vegan).
Facebook evils
Up to that point all I had been exposed to about veganism was on Facebook from female acquaintances about the evils of enjoying a steak.
You know the memes with animals on it saying you wouldn't eat this face, would you? All this did was make me want to eat more animals just to piss them off.
How dare they proselytize on a podium about the evils of eating animals when their profile pic included a massive 2m tall k9, surly they fed it a healthy vegan diet or was I missing something?
A New Hope
After a conversation with my uncle I watched a documentary called forks over knives and was sold on the health benefits of a whole plant based diet.
Please note that my decision to go plant based was not one of morality or selflessness it was pure selfishness with a healthy (pun intend) dose of fear about the lies i had been told about what a healthy diet was. I had also been suffering from constant gout attacks, so not a hard sell for me to convert.
Moving on I spent all last year as a strict vegan and lost 24kg, had no gout attacks, not bad i thought as I marvelled at the new me in the mirror, but something was missing.
Let’s get physical
I decided to contact a friend from my previous work who was into body building and he sent me down a path of building strength and gains.
Once again, the question of protein intakes for muscle mass increases came up, you know how that conversation goes, but I knew better and stuck to my guns, hah! guns.
Any way after ignoring all the negative and some research, I got cut and had good gains with incredible strength increase. So much for where do you get your protein from.
Pride Doth Commeth Before a Fall
Needless to say, I got cocky and a big head and at the end of January had put back on 15kg started eating anything that came my way, stopped going to the gym and ended up with a massive long lasting (3 weeks) gout attack.
After a sobering lesson, I decided to get back on the horse and reinvent myself with a more aggressive edge to weight loss diet and gym work.
Mother of All Diets
I religiously hit the gym five days a week increased my water intake to about five to eight litres a day and at last implemented my nuke all diet of mixed beans and broccoli with protein shakes three times a day.
This gassy diet made me unpopular with the family but I could not care as I stripped eight kg in one week and had so much energy to burn I broke all my lifting records.
Push it Real Good
However, I pushed myself too hard one day and injured my left foot (were my gout attacks occur), I was unaware that gout has a corrosive effect on bone and muscle and my foot had weakened over time of constant attacks. This left me unable to walk for about two weeks and in that time, I once again fell into bad habits.
The Present
This brings me to the present were I now sit regaling all of you with my trials and tribulations of my journey, but don't disrepair as I write this I have fully recovered and am now just about to plunge back into the fray once again but with a wiser approach and a less but still aggressive edge.
Someone once told me it's how many times you get back on the horse that counts and the only time you really lose is when you give up.
For those of you who want to make the switch to vegan or whole foods just do it, you will learn along the way, have relapses and get stronger for it. Remember you have to fail your way to success.
Crabs in a Bucket
Be aware of the other crabs in the bucket, people get jealous and threatened when they are exposed to success or anything that attacks the status quo. Learn how to protect yourself from them.
The finish line
In finishing just go for it, learn on the fly and enjoy the health benefits that come from taking charge of your life.
End Transmission!