Nice, I think I`m going to take up on this.
Its so motivating to see other people who are physically in shape and still be vegan.
Nice dude, yeah Vegans have possibly the healthiest diet out there.
Let me help you get started with some tips for beginners and even though it's long, it saves you a lot of trouble so be sure to read everything!:
1) The easiest way to get started eating a Vegan diet is to eat meat substitutes. They taste nearly identically to meat if not better but they also provide more nutritional benefit for you and are cheaper. If you literally take all the meat you have been eating, replace them with Vegan meat substitutes, then you can call yourself a vegan even though you eat basically the same food as before.
If you go to your local grocery store you'll be able to find a lot of vegan meat products all mashed into one pile somewhere. This one has been my favorite meat substitute, literally costs $12 at Costco and can last you a week or more even if you eat one or two daily:
But you might like other Vegan meat substitutes as well:
Most of these foods are fortified with nutrients that come from animals too and more, like Vitamin B12, so it's like you were eating meat the entire time except healthier, less calories and no cholesterol.
The easiest way to tell if a food on the shelf is vegan or not is if it has cholesterol. If it has cholesterol, it means there is an animal product involved, therefore it is not vegan. If it doesn't have cholesterol, check the ingredients for milk or eggs. If no milk or eggs, it's Vegan! Most foods are vegan by the way, so it's not like you are limiting yourself in any way.
If you follow every advice here and exercise daily with all the extra energy you will be having, example I don't even feel tired after exercising anymore, you will be pretty much be set for life but make sure you educate yourself by reading everything now so you don't have trouble later on as there are important Vegan guidelines to follow.
---
2) Being a vegan means you are free to eat anything you want, but consciously choose to avoid meat and animal products. This means you don't have to be so strict and can be lenient sometimes and eat foods that contain egg or milk in them. You can even eat meat again if you want to try it out. You can say you are vegan if you are just trying these foods for a short time or to experiment, just make sure you avoid it at all costs otherwise. Just don't say that you are a vegan when you drink dairy milk or eat chicken all the time.
One time I tried to eat meat again after being Vegan for a while and I didn't like it at all... It didn't taste good in my mouth. It felt like chewing on a heated ragged piece of dirty brown clothing and then swallowing.
Similar to Mike Tyson: "Nah. I ate, like, the tiniest piece of meat, and I woke up violently sick. It was vicious pain. I was throwing up. And I realized meat's become a poison for me now."
---
3) Because this is a major lifestyle change for anybody, at first it will feel completely different from the way you were living before. You'll experience many different challenges that every Vegan had to face when getting started such as avoiding all meat and animal products, dealing with how your friends and family will react to you becoming a vegan, knowing what kinds of foods are available to you, learning to cook in a new style with new recipes, and other challenges that might be unique only to you.
Stick with it though and you'll really be rewarded with all the benefits of the Vegan diet. You will feel more energized, you will feel better everyday, you will feel like you are smarter than before, and you will rarely get sick.
You reminded me. I honestly don't even remember the last time I got sick. My friends and family members get sick every now and then and here I am, running laps around them. Some of them take pills, some of them take drugs, they are losing their hair, and they have all kinds of illnesses.
As a vegan, you basically don't have to worry about any of that. Just remember to eat healthy and stay physically fit as well.
---
4) Make sure you take a multivitamin everyday. Also add ground flaxseed to your diet.
This part is important. Most researches say multivitamins do nothing, while that might be true, I like to take comfort in the fact that multivitamins provide Vitamin B12, which is a nutrient you will need that you will not find in plants. It will just make you feel more energized if you decide to take one everyday.
Flaxseed is also important. Flaxseed is the food that contains the most Omega-3 Fatty Acids, way more than Fish oil. This is just as essential as the Vitamin B12 you need daily.
If you buy whole flaxseed and eat it, it will most likely pass through your system. Ground flaxseed is much more easily absorbed by your stomach so I suggest you buy them pre-grounded or grind them yourself at home in a blender. With this you can sprinkle it on your food whenever you want, and it adds a subtle peanut-like taste to your foods.
---
5) Do your research and educate yourself. I've come to find that for every kind of sickness there is, the Vegan diet, as long as you follow the guidelines correctly like I said above like take a multivitamin daily and eat grounded flaxseed, it will help you reverse any sickness or illness you currently have.
Don't stop educating yourself on this diet. Look for new foods to try out, read about why some foods are better than others, educate yourself. Be part of a Vegan community, talk to others for inspiration and information sharing, etc.
Here are some good videos I recommend watching all the way through. Each one of these videos gives you vital information every second that passes by and it will be life changing for you. I can't stress enough how important it is to watch every single one of these videos to the end:
Food That Kills - M.D. goes over why meat is so unhealthy to eat and why it should be completely avoided. The speaker is a male and used to think you needed meat for muscles and protein, but everything is explained there on why it's all a myth and why Vegans thrive.
Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death - M.D. goes how a Vegan diet reverses the top 20 leading causes of death in the US including heart disease, cancer, etc.
Forks over Knives - More evidence that eating meat is one of the worst things you can do, like smoking cigarettes. If you have Netflix you can look for this movie there.
Food, Inc - Really interesting movie about the truth of where meat products come from. You can also watch this on Netflix.
---
Hmm I think that about covers everything you need to know. Just make sure you read all the advice given here, follow them thoroughly, and be sure watch the movies and videos that are about an hour long each. You can watch them whenever you want, just be sure to watch them. Most of all, don't give up.
It was really easy for me, like I didn't have to think about "Omg I want to eat this meat so much!!" because after I had educated myself through those videos and other sources, and after I felt the results for myself, considering I feel much better than I ever have in the past, it was honestly so easy for me never to go back.
If you ever crave meat again, just eat the subtitute meat. It has the same taste if not better, the same nutrients plus more, and it's cheaper overall.
So anyway, have fun with this new diet.
