[elai]

I've have been vegan for at least 5/6 months & I also eliminated wheat from my diet which had the total side effect of nearly prohibiting all junk food known to man except lays plain potato chips and a few other minor exceptions. (You'd be surprised how many things used anything wheat based as part of their seasoning)

To tell you the truth, I actually didn't notice that much of a difference. All in all I felt a little bit shittier. As if my body couldn't take as hard of a "hit" of mistreatment (stress, low sleep, exercise, etc) than before. My bodyfat didn't really change, actually, nothing changed (and I'm somewhat overweight too, not obese).

Before that although, our family's diet was a middle-eastern/north amercian (think a mix of hindi and mediterranean diets w/ an emphasis on basmati rice) vegetarian family (eggs & milk) that occasionally ate seafood and very rarely ate any land based meat. The thing is although compared to the vegan diet I had previously, we ate pretty healthy already. Pop tasted like poison and we went through fruits and vegitable like Hoover vaccumes (I was known to idley eat a box of mandarin oranges without realizing it.) and rarely if ever ate any junk.

I think the main benefit that people get from going the whole vegan vegetarian route is that it has the side effect of removing junk too. I've heard from natrual paths that vegans are some of the sickest people they get and just by eat fish they feel much better and they can think better. The natrual path I went to said that really being vegan is not a bad idea the closer you are to a tropical/equator area and a really bad idea in the nearer you are to an arctic/eskimo area. (like me) The Pavlina's have mostly lived in the hot desert areas of Las Vegas & California where palm trees probably don't have as hard of a time growing than lets say, New York, Russia or Canada. The Pavlinas also live on an extensively researched and expensive organic diet and have far more time to devote to their food prep than the typical person.

Recently I have started integrating seafood back into my diet and really, I do feel a little bit better to be honest. So really, I think being vegan really depends on your climate, your body and your needs. I still don't have anything milk or egg based and before I went on the whole vegan thing I didn't really like plain milk anyway. It made me feel shitty.

I think if you avoid junk, eat not for emotional reasons but for nourishment and mostly follow what your body tells you you'll feel much better. The only thing you have to watch out for several natural tendencies of people to eat something compulsively because back in the feast or famine cavemen times, it was a good idea to do so. Those are basically the junk food flavors that many people love, things high in fats or glucose. Healthy food can taste as good and often better, but still there is something distinct about junk food that lends their addictive qualities.

PS: I have read that the people of Okinawa are some of the longest living, healthiest people in the world and it's because of their diet (okinawans that move away from okinawa tended to have the same mortality rates as the rest of the populace they moved in with). They have very high concentrations of people who are 100+ compared to the rest of the world. Guess what, they don't have a vegan diet and it actually uses alot of fish and various other good things.