Never thought I will become vegan

I am very health conscious but I was nowhere near being vegan and eating only plant based food because….
1) I thought it is for animal lovers who are against eating meat, because of their love for animal.
2) I never eat meat. I was born in vegetarian family where we do not hurt cattle, to get milk.
3) I learned in childhood that milk is perfect food and it has everything we need for good health.
4) Once I had taken butter out of my meal for about six months but I experienced effect of ulcer in my mouth. I thought it is because of lack of the cooling effect of butter.
5) I love dairy products and thought I could not live without it.

But my life changed after I attended Dr. Holly’s seminar. Out of curiosity I came to see movie ‘fork over knife’. I heard it was for the people who eat meat and although I was not a meat eater, but since my health was degrading, I was in search of knowing what is wrong with me. I had seen many doctors and done many tests but could not find a solution. The only option I had was to keep taking medicines life-long. Year on year the intake of medicine was increasing. In 2008 I was taking a total of seven medicines a day and was fed up of it.
When any one in our family gets sick, my mother always asks, what did you eat? This question always comes first and then the treatment. So I knew that diet has a lot to do with one’s health, but never knew where I was going wrong until I talked to Dr. Holly.
The other thing my mother taught me was,” health should be our topmost priority and there should be no compromise in this. Happiness is within you if you are healthy. One does not find happiness in anything if he/she is not healthy”.
I never knew if I was taking a wrong diet, until I heard from Dr. Holly. I was thunderstruck to hear from him that milk is a liquid meat because as I said dairy product was a major chunk of my meal and I could not think of a diet without dairy products. How can I be ready for vegan diet? That was not my plan when I came to see this movie and did not think I could do that either but sometime we surprise ourselves.
I decided to try out meals without Dairy products just for a day and see how it feels. Next day I felt like I can extend it further to two more days. After three days I decided to go for a week. I felt a huge difference in a week’s time. The clouds from my head were clearing out & I felt like weight has been lifted off of my head which was unusually heavy because I was feeling stressful all the time without a reason. This stress started getting released as I gradually changed my diet.
How can I let go of such a miracle? But my mind was not ready to let go off my love for dairy products. It was very hard for me to control when tempted, so it became difficult to eat with my husband. I decided to continue for at least a month and stay away from seeing any dairy materials. For few days I avoided eating with him. It does not bother me now. Temptation has gone.
Well, one month turned into a year and it feels so great that I kept telling myself “if you want to feel good don’t go back to original diet which included dairy”. I will see how far I can go without my all-time favorite dairy dishes. Ohh! It bring water in my mouth just thinking about it makes me hungry but then I think about the difference plant based diet made and the other part of my brain tells me not to go back there again and not to forget how I felt before and after.
Let me tell you how I felt before and how I am feeling now.
My Cholesterol was 296 at one point. It is 199 now. Which is almost 50% less?
My blood pressure was running between the 130’s and 140’s. But now, most of the time it is running around the 80 – 120 bands
What surprises me is that I breathe a lot easier than before. My whole body is cooling down. I stay calmer. The plant base diet is helping me physically, mentally and spiritually.
I lost some weight. I am feeling lighter and don’t feel lazy to do more exercise.
I am taking only one medicine now and it is for blood pressure which I think it will not be for long time.
My husband has also changed his eating habits as well and I notice he is complaining less about his health problems as well because most of time he eats what I eat.
Only side effect is that sometime I feel weak not knowing what mineral and supplement my body needs more. I feel very sensitive to the effect of what I eat and feel different every day. Some days are greater than others. I was worried about getting enough calcium and other nutrients but Dr. Holly always had a list of plant based food which can help getting these nutrients.
I can walk for an hour without stopping, contrary to the times, just few months back, where I used to get tired with a 15 minutes’ walk before I changed my diet. I don’t feel any tiredness now when I go for walk.
I feel better and better every day and keep my fingers vehemently crossed pledging to stay on the plant based diet until end of my life. One thing that is not going away completely is my tooth ache. I watched a movie ‘beautiful truth’ (did you happen to see this movie?) more than twenty minutes was about negative effect of mercury used in denture. I have partial denture so probably that is the cause, which I am not cent percent sure, but what I do know is that if we do not change the way we eat, our markets will continue their way of making money by selling us poor food choices.
I like to thank Dr. Holly for helping me make my life healthier. I also like to thank ms. Phyllis and other people in the group who always made us feel welcome here in this series of seminars about health.