No Meat, No Cheese, No Alcohol Please...

Going vegetarian can be like skydiving out of an airplane.  It is really scary at first....You don't know what is going to happen or how it is going to work.  You know you could get hurt if you don't do it right, but you also know you will have a great time.  So you have to just do it..Just jump!

One year and Seven Months ago....I gave up eating meat....!  Wow!  That was a huge change for me.  No BBQ Chicken anymore..bye-bye Pulled Pork BBQ...See ya later Cheeseburgers.  This sounds terribly sad doesn't it?... but it isn't!  I gave up these things because the tastes of the food was not worth the suffering of the animals.  I made the choice on my own to contribute to the freedom of animals and for the health of my body.  Since then, I had been feeling great.  My mind was in a better place and my body felt lighter and healthier already. 

But then....

Nine months ago...I gave up eating cheese!! This was/is probably the hardest thing I could do. Milk and eggs were no problem and honestly vegan treats taste better. But cheese!  Whew!  I realized again that the cost of having cheese is too high.  The animals that give us our dairy products suffer just as much as those who give us our meat. By eating cheese, I was still supporting the meat industry, a cause I did not wish to support. First, I stopped eating cheese on my veggie burgers, then that lead to eliminating it from my side of crackers, then bypassing it on my Mexican food and then....to....Pizza!  I started buying the almond cheese substitutes in the store and making my own pizzas.  This in turn makes for a better, healthier pizza all around.  Once I went totally vegan, I really began to reap the health benefits.  My cholesterol dropped 30 points!  Amazing right!?

And to finish...

About two months ago, I gave up alcohol.  This was purely a health benefit.  I am not a "drinker" by any means, but I would have a few too many glasses of wine on occasion.  I started to realize that even a few glasses would make me feel awful the next day.  I chalked it up to two things; 1. age...2. being healthy.  I figured that I take care of my body every day and that I do not need alcohol at all.  It was not good for me.  Not to mention extra calories.  So bye-bye Champagne Cocktails! 

So that is my story, and not everyone's is the same.  There are some "superheros" that can give it all up at once.  There are some that give up meat but have a lot of trouble with the cheese.  Bottom line, it will happen when you are ready for it to happen.  Don't push it, don't stress...just keep chasing the truth and it will all work out.  Being vegetarian or vegan should not be something that is "hard".  It should be quite pleasurable.  So when you are ready, it will all fall into place.  It is just a hop, skip and a jump from vegetarian to vegan.  Hop into becoming vegetarian, skip over to vegan and jump for joy the rest of your life! 

21 day Vegan Kickstart Plan: http://www.pcrm.org/kickstartHome/mealplan/index.cfm