I have been thinking about going vegan for awhile now, having been ovo-lacto veg for a couple of years now - which I also spent a good amount of time pondering before biting the bullet (or carrot perhaps? :-p). It's really just something I have put in the too hard basket up until now, I couldn't be bothered learning everything about vegan food - but now that vegetarian food is not a mystery to me any longer I feel like it's something I can definitely tackle. It's something I am excited to tackle, it's a whole new world of food waiting to be explored!

My motivation for becoming vegetarian was entirely compassionate, having been raised on a farm YOU MUST EAT MEAT had been firmly ingrained in me, and quite frankly I was frightened that I would shrivel up and die without meat lol but I just couldn't do it any longer. I had a hundred and ten reasons to make the change, so I did. My main motivation for going vegan is selfish, to improve my health, but the compassionate reasons resonate strongly with me and I'm certain that the more I learn about the animal aspect of a vegan lifestyle the more I will want to stick with it. So anyroad, after giving it much thought, watching the documentary Forks over Knives cemented for me the decision to cut out eggs, dairy and honey from my diet and from today is day one of my adventure into veganism.

I must be the world's fattest vegan at this point, but that will change soon enough and I'm fairly certain that that is not all that will change. I intend to chronicle my journey here, mostly for my personal benefit (so I can look back and see what I have achieved, when I'm having a bad day and all I can think about is cheese I can come here and see how far I have come and why I am doing it etc) but also for the benefit of other people like me... I hope I can provide some motivation, or something, to someone considering the ol' switch-a-roo for whatever reason.

So last night I watched Forks over Knives, because as I said up there ^ I have been considering going vegan for awhile. It really gave me the push I needed, what an awesome doco. I'm feeling like total crap in myself. I'm healthier than when I ate meat, but only just because I find myself replacing meat with lots of dairy and the like way more than I should and I'm missing out on the stuff I actually need! I am lucky that I am not seriously ill, I am lucky to be able to make the change before I have any serious illness. I don't want to take medication for anything unless I absolutely have to, let alone have to survive on medication daily... but that's what's coming and I AM GOING TO PREVENT IT.

I am lucky to have a husband and child who will support me no matter what crazy thing I do next, but I know I'm going to get flack from my extended family and some of my friends, this is one of the things I have dreaded most about becoming vegan and another reason I have been putting it off for so long. I came up against a lot of criticism from friends and family (still do, but I'm learning not to care slowly lol) when I became veg but after awhile when I was feeling better rather than like death was imminent I realised faff it! Why does it matter to anyone else what I put in my body HELLO what is the worst that can happen? Right now I am unhealthy, I am unhappy and I am enormous... obviously what I have been doing up until this point hasn't been good for me!! I am not and I never intend to be one of those people who pushes their opinions and beliefs onto other people... I don't complain about or even mention other people's diets because I don't live in their bodies... so I wish I could catch a break with people! But, I look forward to the day when skinny and healthy me stands in front of my critics and says, "tell me again why I shouldn't be vegan".

Right now, I feel like a sloth. I have no energy, no motivation. I can't sleep at night and I can't wake in the morning. I am depressed. I have pretty much zero self esteem. I have a host of minor embarassing complaints that I shan't go into at this point. I pure and simple feel horrendous. So this is it, this is what I'm doing, and this is where I'll be talking about it.

In other news, I must make note of this blog in all places possible : kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/
2010/07/best-vegan-blogs.html