New convert intro! *waving hello*

[koru]

I love MDC & can only imagine you lovlies will be a huge help to me with my newfound journey! 

I cut out all animal products about a week ago after eating the Nourishing Traditions way for quite some time. Seems like a drastic switch but it really hasn't been that bad considering we eat 95% whole foods anyway so I'm essentially just skipping the meat & raw dairy. 

I made the switch based on a spontaneous middle of the night decision. I've been having some unexplained abdominal pain & after staying up way too late reading one night, I turned out the light & let my mind wander to that scary place of "what if." Ultimately I decided that if I were diagnosed with a terminal illness, I'd go vegan instantly! I woke up the next morning somewhat giggling at myself but then thought, "If that's what I'd do if I were sick, why not when I'm well??" And that was that. I love a clean cut decision making process!

Because NT encourages fermentation, I do some of that, as well. I brew kombucha, have made sauerkraut and try to soak all our grains & nuts. I'm very interested in making tempeh, if anyone has advice on that. I feel somewhat macrobiotic but I'm not labeling myself as that.....yet. 

So, that's a short version of my journey & I hope to learn much from you all!

[kismetbaby]

WELCOME!  :)

I highly recommend the cookbook Veganomicon. It's the one I turn to again and again for ideas and really yummy recipes.

[suddenlyamama]

Second Veganomicon! So easy and wonderful recipes! Love the pineapple quinoa stir fry!

[nicolelynn]

Welcome! I thought I was the only one who went vegan AFTER being convinced by NT/TF for 4 years. I ended up really sick (intestinal parasitic and yeast infection that lasted 1.5 years)and after I kept trying more strict versions of animal-based diets I humbled myself and realized maybe the only thing I hadn't tried might help. Now that my digestion is better I am sticking with it because of period problems (that developed while on the strict animal based low carb diets) and family history (great-grandmother, grandmother, aunt and now Mother) of severe endometriosis leading to hysterectomies....I can't go back to consuming excessive animal hormones.

I have been having a blast cooking and eating, and unlike my restrictive animal-based diets I do not feel deprived, I feel energetic and happy. Hello, my body needs carbs and plant foods! I've checked out all kinds of vegan and vegetarian books from the library. My favorite is How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. Though he uses dairy and eggs there are plenty of ways to replace those things and enough content in that book for a vegan. I also bought Vegan on the Cheap and World Vegetarian, both excellent. I am pleasantly surprised the variety I've opened myself up to: instead of having to always make a burger from beef or turkey, I can make it from 100 combinations of grains, legumes, nuts, veggies and seasonings.

I, too used to be into veggie ferments, but ate so much of them trying to restore my gut flora that I have an aversion to them now. I am wondering now if fermented food is the same as pickled food, which a study in Taiwan linked to a 200% increase in colon cancer rates in women! Another study showed excessive egg consumption drastically increased the colon cancer rates for women. When I had colitis I had been eating large amounts of eggs, red meat, dairy, animal fat and fermented foods...thinking all those things would protect me, but in fact may have had a cumulative harmful affect on my colon.

Hmm, just thinking out loud. Anyways, welcome again!

[koru]

Thanks for the welcome! And I have a copies of Veganomicon & How to Cook Everything Vegetarian on hold at the library. 

Nicolelyn, I'm happy to know others have made the drastic switch from eating a diet filled with "healthy animal fat" to vegan. Now I'm starting to wonder about how I'm feeding my family!? I must admit, though, that I'm not convinced every person would benefit from any one way of eating. Years ago I read The Metabolic Typing Diet & went to a workshop about it last year & it makes so much sense to me. Even back then I realized I was a "carb type" that requires little amounts of animal protein & mostly plants but somehow NT still managed to suck me in!? I have half a deep freezer full of grass-fed, organic meat and pick up raw milk & farm fresh eggs twice a month. I may start doing the latter only once a month & switching the kids over to almond/rice/hemp milk & see how that goes. Meat is easy to get around if you prepare a yummy enough meal & thankfully all 3 of my kids will happily eat most veggies. Which reminds me of another question I want to ask on the board. 

Do you have a link to that Taiwanese study? I'm definitely curious. I'm wanting to try making tempeh simply because it's fermented! 

Ack. Sometimes I think it would be best to live in ignorance. Haha!

[nicolelynn]

This was the original place I read it, yes the heading is about the first hypothesis of the study being that peanut consumption lowers the risk of colon cancer, but scroll down and you'll find the bit about pickled food

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=101

And I think this is the original study

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/12/222.asp

Another hypothesis that relates to this is I learned from reading Dr. Furhman's stuff is that excess salt increases cancer risk. The study doesn't go further to find out if it is the large amount of salt in pickled/fermented food or the fermentation itself. I am inclined to think that it is the salt in the brine, not the fermentation itself. I have not heard of tempeh raising the risk of colon cancer, ya know? I still think it is probably the best form of soy to consume.

Yeah, I wish I could stay ignorant, sometimes I have to take a step back from all my health and diet study because it can stress me out, and that stress is worse for my health than anything I eat haha. And I too, totally agree that there is no 1 diet for everyone...I tried a dozen diets to get where I am now..yet each of those diets have testimonies from people I doubt lied about how their health improved. It's funny you mentioned it because I thought I was a protein/fat type because that's what I thought I should be..should have figured it out when I felt awful on low carb diets...I am SO a carb type. My health greatly improved once I figured this out.

I can kind of relate to figuring out how to feed the family now. I don't have kids yet but we are in process to foster-adopt 2 kids ages 0-4 (we will be on the list for a placement in as a soon as a month). I'm kind of stressing out that I am changing my diet so drastically and being more convinced about a plant based diet for almost everyone, then we could get placed with some toddler that are used to frozen chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for every meal. I realize I can't stress about it, I will offer all the yummy plant food I eat and hope over the years their tastes will change, but not stress out that they will die tomorrow if they refuse to eat anything but hotdogs for now.

One of the only hurdles I've found going vegan is getting enough calories. I had a trial run going vegan in December that left me feeling weak, then I tracked my calories and realized I was only getting like 1400/day. I found the more I got used to eating a ton of fiber, now I can easily eat 3 meals AND 3 snacks per day to get enough calories..and feel perfectly good doing that.

Anywho, hope any of that helped =)