*********************** going VEGAN health etc
disclaimer: you are choosing to read
this. I am not forcing you to read it. I have based the following information on first
hand experience, trial and error and on my personal opinion. If you don't like it, leave.
If you want to prove that I am wrong, send me the evidence. I am doing this because I
don't like seeing people unhappy or hurting themselves. I am doing this because I wish
someone would have saved me years of issues by telling me the truth in a way I could have
understood. Below, I will try to explain things to you in a simple way and give you the
resources so you can see things for yourself and, if you're interested, to try it for
yourself. This is my personal point of view. I don't care if I convert you, because guess
what? I can't. In fact, the only one who can change you is you. Therefore, if you read
this, it is for the same reason you chose to or chose not to. Below is a door if you
choose it. If not, it is nothing more than another bunch of words you read.
disclaimer part 2: I am part of the fashion/entertainment/art industry. Most
people keep things like this behind closed doors, which I understand. But that isn't me.
It never has been me and never will be me. I can't do that. I have tried a few times to
stop trying to do more than be a clothing hanger or a pretty face, but I always end up
right back where I started, which is right here. Below, I share some of my personal
stories relating to how and why I became a vegan and how it helped me. Now, the last time
I checked, no one is perfect, so just try to keep that in mind. But, when we know we are
hurting ourselves or doing the wrong thing and just stay there, it is far worse than the
pain or effects of being open and trying to change and get help. Below is all you need,
along with an open mind and heart to turn at least a small part of your life around.
Back to "why." I love to see people shine, and, as I said before, your mind, soul and body are one. If you hurt one, it affects all of it.
I have been a vegan for more than a year and a half. Okay, so mostly vegan. Every now and then, I cant find rice milk and have to drink regular milk, but, for the most part, I stick to a diet that consist mostly of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains. Now, I have heard all the excuses, all the but "blah blah," and eating like this is hard and it costs money. We will start with my personal experience since it is tested and tried.
This is close to the diet I tend to follow. I do eat
some cooked foods, but mostly I eat raw food which, I found, gives me the most energy.
When I was 13, I, like most kids, gained weight. I wasn't fat, but I
went from the rail I had been all my life to all of a sudden having meat on my bones. Kids
were mean back then and, needless to say, it didn't take long for me to become depressed
and feel like people didn't like me because I wasn't thin. My family picked on me as well.
So, I became obsessed with becoming thin. I read everything I could get my hands on from
any source I could find. I cut my calories to as little as possible and went from 130
pounds at 5'7 to 98 to 100 pounds within 6 weeks. I basically stopped eating. All of a
sudden, people started telling me how good I looked. No one called me fat anymore. All was
good and fine till I started blacking out. Then my parents did what any parents would do.
They tried to get me to eat again. This turned into a disaster because now food had turned
into a control issue for me and it became really ugly. At this same time, a bunch of
people I cared about died and I didn't feel like I belonged, so my depression got worse
and worse. I wouldn't eat for two days and then I would eat a whole gallon of ice cream
and go and run for 6 hours. During this time I stayed around 120 pounds or so.
I moved out of home at 17 and lived on junk food. I ate nothing but candy, alcohol and ice
cream. My moods, my skin, my emotions were always severe. Up and down. Up and down. I
would use sugar and coffee to keep my energy levels high. When I discovered other drugs,
then it was all over.
It was the fall or winter of my 17th year and I called my mother because my body was
covered in bruises. I was falling asleep and not waking up for 20 hours at a time
sometimes. I knew something was very, very wrong. I went to meet my mother at the doctor.
They ran all kinds of tests and took out a ton of blood. I was a little raver at this time
so I knew I was going to get a scolding from the doctor. My liver was broken. It still
worked, but not the way it should have been working. Nevertheless, I spent a few more
months abusing myself until I realized that I wasn't dying and I was stuck in my body like
it or not. Now I was extreme, but I had a lot of reasons then why I didn't want to live.
Now things are much, much different.
( eating disorders education / bulimia / bulimia cause by abuse / resources )
I decided that I was stuck with my body, so I started
trying to learn how to fix it. I learned how to see it as a temple, as the carrying case.
Also, my friends had had enough of my self abuse and wouldn't leave me alone. I tried
every diet I could, including the high protein atkins diet. Let me put it to you this way:
meat is the hardest thing to digest. Meat is a dead animal. Meat doesn't have many, if it
has any, vitamins and minerals. I ate a lot of it and then, when I started getting sick
and feeling bad and not having energy, I started digging again.
Then, I tried diet based on carobs, pasta, some veggies and bread, but I still didn't feel
good. I started cutting my coffee back and started eating more fruits and vegetables. I
started feeling better. During my 18th year, I was often staying with people who would
feed me so I would often just nibble at what was in front of me. I was still having
problems though so I continued to read books and did research, but I was still living
pretty unhealthily. I was still not eating regularly and/or balanced meals. I would eat
very little and then eat a lot. My eating disorder wouldn't go away. I hid it really well,
I suppose, because no one, except those who were lovers or other people who lived with me
knew. I would eat dinner with photographers and then disappear to the bathroom. Part of it
now I understand was because I was doing some things that weren't good for me and I was
around some people who I felt out of control around. I would use my eating disorder to
numb myself. It got out of hand. I would spend more time in the bathroom than out of it.
Then, my friends put their foot down. They basically said they couldn't watch me hurt
myself. Now, I cared about them more than I cared about myself, so I started working on
kicking the habit. I suppose the first thing I had to do was accept that I had a problem
and then face it. I told all the people around me about my problems. They helped me.
Often, because I would want to hide, they wouldn't let me. Once I came out of the closet,
I really was determined to find a way to live a healthy life and have energy and not have
to use sugar and caffeine to keep my energy levels up. Food was an addiction, a crush. It
was something I used to make me feel good or to make me feel numb. I will never forget one
day talking about it to another model who had the same issues in her past as I had in
mine. The more I talked to other models, the more I saw that I wasn't alone. I had years
of bad habits to break, so I started my journey.
It was hard because every time someone did something that hurt me, or every time I was in
a situation where I felt out of control, every time some guy tried to get me to do things
or someone pushed me, I would hurt myself through not eating or feeding my bulimia. So, I
did the same thing I did when I had to kick a drug habit when I was in my teens. I moved
to new york, but I moved into a loft away from the city and away from people like me. i
took a step back and started trying to heal, trying to kick it. While I was in miami
working right before september 11, 2001, someone saw my struggle with food and with my
habits and said, "you should read this book". At that point, I would try
anything that could help me. i had gone to miami because the beach and the sun and the
environment helped me face and deal with my bad habits. I was there doing fashion and I
was forcing myself to see and deal with people everyday. The book was called "fit for
life" and it was written by harvey and marilyn diamond. I bought it and, for the
first time in 19 years, it all made sense. One book helped me put all the pieces together.
One book taught me everything I needed to know. I went home, and for months, I kept it as
my bible and I slowly switched my lifestyle. I kicked all of my bad eating habits. I
cleansed my body and then I discovered how amazing I could feel. My moods stabilized. I
slept at night. I lost weight without trying. I felt my body stabilizing and, for the
first time in my entire life, I felt clean, and didn't feel worn out or worn down.
Fit for life didn't make me turn into a vegan, but I began to study
what is done to our food. I began to study the epidemic of obesity and eating disorders in
america and other wealthier, more advanced civilizations. The more I learned, the more I
tried on myself. I kept reading everything I could find. I learned to understand what and
why and how chemicals affect us.
Now, lets discuss the reality. A lot of the food you are eating isn't food, but, rather,
it is filling. It is calories without any type of real nourishment. This means you're
always hungry. I always used to wonder why junk food never filled me up. It isn't food.
The reality is that you are a consumer. You are a sheep. Lets say you are a typical
believe the media kind of american. So, when they tell you meat is good for you, and lots
of milk is good for you, and that mcdonalds wont hurt you, you believe it. Why do you
believe it? It's funny. People believe in everything, except thinking for themselves. I
will admit that I was like this too. I believed all the crap too. I ate all the food you
do and I didn't think it affected or hurt me. I thought I was moody because of genetics,
not food. I didn't think food could be one of the main reasons for my depression and
anxiety. I was wrong. I learned the hard way and some people may never learn. But, if
you're still reading this, there is hope for you. I want people to find out things for
themselves. I don't want to be a mother or a preacher. Go look in the mirror. Go now and
tell me something. Do you like what you see? If not, why not? Do you like the way you
feel? Are you depressed? Do you want to lose weight? Most of america does.
Now back to the media. Here is the cycle.
Turn on tv and you see beautiful thin people. You
feel depressed because you want to be like them. You see beautiful, thin people eating
potato chips and mcdonalds. (These people are paid to eat those things and a lot of times,
they aren't even real.) so, you then go to the store where you see potato chips and you
think the people on tv are beautiful and thin and eat this, so maybe if I eat it too, I
will be like them. Then you buy the food they tell you to buy; you buy the beauty products
they tell you buy; you wear the perfume they tell you to wear; you get the jeans they tell
you to get; you go back and you read the magazines they tell you to read; you watch the tv
programs they tell you to watch; you go to the bars and drink the beer they tell you to
drink; you go to church and you say the prayers they tell you to say; you go to a job and
you sit in a box and do what they tell you to do; you go home and you take the drugs they
tell you to take. You do everything they tell you to do and you know what? It isn't
working.
So, you buy more food, more clothing, more drugs, more beer, more sex, more porn, bigger
cars, more music, better shoes. You get another job and you get a better car and you can
afford more expensive women, drugs, food, and you know what? You still lay in bed alone
late at night staring at the ceiling wondering if this is it, if this is all there is.
They tell you that it is, so you know what? You spend your life feeding them.
Who are
"they"? I may be a part of "they" and "they" may be a part
of me. I am amongst them. There are two kinds of "they" -- the takers and the
givers. There are those theys who want to see you wake up and learn the truth and escape
the system of a slow death but, then there are those theys who just want your money
because they are like you only much, much worse because they have everything and it still
isn't working so they need more, and more, and more. The more you buy, the more they own.
The more they can get you hooked on their drugs of the mind, of the wallet, of your sex
drive, the more they can control you with a button or a string. The more they get, the
more energy, the more power, the more control they have. Now money isn't evil. Sex isn't
evil. Drug's aren't evil. But, if it is your god, if it controls you, then it is evil.
There is a large number of people out there who are controlled by something. You're
controlled by porn, drugs, money, power, food, tv, jobs. What's your drug? What's your
god? Where and what do you give your energy to? Your life to? What is your god?
Okay, enough of my rant. Your body, mind and soul are connected. If you care for your body, it will help your mind and soul. If you treat your body like crap, it will affect your body and soul. Your body is your body. It is not the body of the marketer of junk food. It is simple. I say try it for yourself and give it 3 to 6 months period. Chances are you are like a drug addict and at first you are going to have cravings. You're going to feel hungry and you are going miss things. Just remember though that you aren't missing the food, you are missing the chemicals.
(if you click this, they will send you some further information) fit for life is easy. Of
all the books that I have seen and read, it is one of the better ones because it covers
everything. It connects the dots between your body, mind and soul. It is also only seven
dollars, so the next time you are going to get diet pills or diet books or feel like
spending money on new clothing or makeup or anything else to try to make yourself feel
better about yourself, try this book instead. It is easy, simple, basic, and it works.
There are other books too, but you can start here and learn a lot easily and effectively.
The first thing I would do is start by making 50 percent of your food live fruits or
vegetables, not fruit or vegetables that have been cooked, fried or canned. If you eat
fruit or vegetables out of a can or that have been fried, you might as well go back and
eat a burger with cheese. Also, here is another simple rule. Don't eat fruit with anything
else. Always eat it alone and on an empty stomach. If you eat fruit with anything else, it
ferments (rots) inside your stomach which is why a lot of people get sick after eating
fruit. It isn't the fruit that is making you sick. It is the fact that you ate it after a
burger and it is rotting in your body. Also, don't mix complex carbohydrates with protein.
Example, meat and potatoes or steak and bread.
Your body releases two types of digestive juices, one is alkaline and one is acidic. Now,
I don't know if you paid any attention to your teacher in science class, but when you mix
something that is acidic and something that is alkaline, they cancel each other out, which
means that the meat and bread you ate together will sit like a log in your stomach for
more than 12 hours rotting there until they eventually get pushed out. This means that you
will be tired and full and feel heavy. Imagine your body as a car. Would you put super
glue inside your engine? Would you clog it? Or would you want it to be able to use the
fuel? You are the car and food is the fuel.
Fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, and rice all have lots and lots of vitamins and
minerals in them. They were made for human bodies' engines, made by god in the first
place. Last time I checked, god knew what he was doing and for decades we have lived
pretty well off of what came out of the ground. Yes, we ate meat, but it was like once a
week or once every few days throughout the majority of history. It was only in the last
100 years that we decided to eat meat once or twice a day. Meat historically was used more
as something that was special. It wasn't the main part or the center of a diet. Also, meat
in a america is full of chemicals, hormones, and so on. If you eat meat, fish and chicken
are much, much better than red meat. Organic meat is also preferred because it contains
less chemicals. (Notice that I said less because I don't believe that the packaging is
always telling the whole truth.) ideally, you should live on a diet based on vegetables,
fruit, nuts, grains, seeds, rice, beans, or basically anything that is natural and not
synthetic, not chemically engineered, not created by mad scientists who just want bigger
houses or a better pay check.
Try it. If it doesn't work, go back to your junk food. But why not
at least try it? What are you going to lose? It's not like a marriage, but if you aren't
somewhat committed, you won't see change. You have to take the time to clean out all the
crap from inside your body but once that happens, your body can fix itself and heal.
Do you really want to know what the people on tv eat? Most of them eat a lot of
vegetables, fruit and stuff from whole foods. A lot of them are vegans or vegetarians.
It's huge in new york and other big cities ( http://www.famousveggie.com ) but I suppose
that is because here knowledge and truth is a drug, maybe a god. I suppose it all depends
on how you look at it ( an essay on being a vegetarian). I look at it like this: my life
has changed in many ways. This just happens to be one of them. Having my mind and my body
balanced has furthered my work because I have the energy and the ability to work longer
and harder. I don't get sick often and if I do, I don't stay sick long. Everyday it only
gets better. I am becoming like the energizer bunny. I keep going and going. I am still
doing research, but I am fixed. I have new habits. I am well. It is so amazing because now
I have all this energy and time that before was wasted on being unhappy or depressed or
wasted on negative thoughts.
Below, I will put a list of the foods I eat all the time and the things that, as a vegan,
are my main sources of food. I am a practical vegan because I travel so much and am always
working with people who eat meat. But, anyway, I say try it. I will show you before and
after pictures and you can tell me what you think.
the best place to start
veggie girl = another fun place to go
hello
kitty on animal cruelty
http://www.meatout.org + http://www.meatout.org/links.html + http://www.animalconcerns.org/ +
Farm
Animal Reform Movement
A national organization promoting legislative reforms and the annual Great American
Meatout.
http://www.farmusa.org
Raw food/ Vegan Resources/ Information and details on how to change
eating raw and how to do it cheaply + http://www.vegan.org/
http://www.ivu.org + http://www.rawfoodsnews.com + http://www.gardenofhealth.com/ + http://www.rawfoodlife.com/ + http://www.hacres.com +
Vegan Porn ( this is great I love people who are as crazy as me
Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine
A health non-profit promoting preventive medicine through healthy diets.
http://www.pcrm.org
Religious Perspectives on Vegetarianism
A number of articles on arguments for vegetarianism from many of the world's religions.
http://www.ivu.org/religion/index.html
VegEats!
'Enjoy the Vegan Lifestyle! Dedicated to vegetarian/vegan recipe listings, and updated
restaurant listings and reviews to improve your veg dining experience. Over 2000 vegan
restaurant guides and over 4500 low-fat vegan recipes to help find your next veg meal quickly.'
http://www.vegeats.com/
VegDining
'Your Online Guide to Vegetarian Restaurants Around the World.'
http://www.vegdining.com/
Vegetarian
Resource Group
Publisher of many informative materials covering vegan nutrition and vegan cooking.
http://www.vrg.org
Vegan
Outreach
Publisher of the concise and compelling, "Why Vegan?" booklet. Visit their site
for an online version.
http://www.veganoutreach.com
http://www.rawtimes.com all about raw food
lan shark = an intelligent place for people who are thinking of switching
mY personal Diet and things I do and dont do
What I usually eat
In the morning, I usually start with a huge glass of water, and I am addicted to
emergen-c, a powder vitamin you can get at any health food store. I drink water first
thing in the morning because it helps flush anything left over out and, if you start your
day with a big glass of water, it is usually helpful. Breakfast is often the meal I skip.
I usually have a cup of yerba mate tea, which is really good for you and it is better than
green tea as it will keep your mind and body in good shape. Fruit is usually the only
thing I eat in the early part of the day. I also try to take my vitamins. A good source
for vitamins is the tea garden (thanks b). I eat usually at least four to six times a day,
often nibbling on fruit, nuts and vegetables. I have found that for me it is easier to eat
small things often than large meals three times a day. Although I try to eat three times a
day, I usually eat a large salad at night and snack on carrots or other veggies after
dinner. I like to nibble and I drink a lot of water as well so it all evens out. Over the
last two years, I have found the following foods to be my staples. Also, I recommend
taking b-12 and a multi- vitamin.
Fruits: apples, oranges, bananas, melons, grapes, berries, and all the others types of
fruit.
Vegetables: spinach, lettuce, carrots, kale, beets, potatoes, squash, mushrooms, eggplant,
zucchini, broccoli, corn, asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, ginger, avocados, and some
others.
I drink rice milk most of the time and sometimes soy milk. I eat tofu on occasion although
I have read that it isn't good for you in large amounts. I eat a lot of nuts, almonds,
walnuts, and other types depending on the day. Organic nuts are so much better than other
nuts. Trust me on this. I recently discovered pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds so I eat a
lot of those as well. Flax seed is also very good and you can put it in salads, smoothies,
and cereal. It has omega 3 and other good things we need. I use olive oil in my salads,
mixed with lemon juice. Miso is also very, very good.
Let's see. What else do I eat? Grape nuts, beans, rice, seaweed (not together) , sushi
(vegetable, salad, miso soup is very good for you). Basically, what you see above, add in
different fruit and veggies, nuts and grains, and, sometimes, I get addicted to vegan
cookies and also vegan ice cream, as well as other sweet things. I have been working on
kicking sugar. It is the hardest for me -- sugar and honey -- I have been known to consume
a jar in two days. But the rest is easy, affordable and you can make a lot of interesting
things by mixing and matching, by adding olive oil and lemon juice, or by adding other
dressings.
Over the last year, I suppose after trying everything, this is what works for me so I am
sticking to it. It is nice because now I know what my body likes. I know how it feels and
how to make it work its best. I understand how what I eat affects me. i have learned that
by taking care of your body, it makes life easier because you have more energy to focus on
growth. I am glad that I learned young. Many of my friends are much older and just
starting to get it. They are just starting to see that what they eat does affect them and
will affect their daily lives.
Some say being a vegan/vegetarian is expensive, I disagree. I have lived on around twenty
dollars a week and could live on less, but it would require me to eat more beans. It is
less expensive as long as you are practical about it. It is like anything else; you can go
out and buy pre-packaged things that you throw in the oven, or you can take half an hour a
day and make it. Then again, the only time I think I stop working is when I eat so for me
it is a form of meditation. Speaking of meditation, that is the next thing I will be
working on: meditation, yoga, and taking things again to another level.
You live once, so you should always be on a journey to renew your mind and body to grow
stronger, healthier and more aware. Trust me, it isn't a dull path.
Reasons to be a vegetarian
1. You won't be eating dead animals so you will be filling your body with live positive
energy.
2. You won't be taking your body internally so you will have more energy
for work, play, fun, and so on.
3. you wont get sick nearly as much and your immune system will get stronger.
4. Chances are that if you have acne and skin problems, they will get better.
5. If you are overweight, a good vegan/vegetarian diet will most likely, over time,
help you find your body's natural weight.
6. You won't have to worry about food poisoning and getting sick from bad meat/fish/milk.
7. You won't be putting your sugar levels into shock all the time, which
will help stabilize your moods and give you increased clarity.
8. By becoming a vegan, you will become more aware as you cleanse yourself
from the toxins that affect your moods as well as your emotions.
9. You will have increased energy and won't have to worry about not being
able to go the bathroom (a friend of mine was so happy when he figured out
all he had to do was eat vegetables instead of paying for drugs to help).
10. You know what you are really eating.
The end for now
