hydran

So my story is a bit different, but thought some might find it interesting. So I first got interested in it by reading about it in books. One New Years resolution was to eat vegan for a month, just for kicks. I tried it out and was surprised how much I didn't miss meat. I missed the condiments that I would eat with my meat meals, but the meat itself wasn't that big of a deal. Didn't really eat healthy but did eat vegan. I went back to eating meat and animal by-products for a couple of years, but would periodically try to get back into eating vegan. The more I read and thought about it the more it made sense. I believe in the Bible and the historicity of the flood. In Genesis man was given the plants to eat, but a mist watered the ground day by day. The first rain we see does not happen until the flood. Then after the flood, God gives man the animals to eat. It makes sense to me that this would be an alternative that would be used when a drought came due to the changing patterns of rain. But that's not originally what God intended. He intended for us to eat plants as our main source of food. If I am blessed enough to live in a place with an abundance of healthy food, why would I eat the secondary? Not the typical point of view I know. But that knowledge really helped strengthen my conviction and separate it from other diet claims. That combined with having to work inside different (meat and non-meat) processing plants (I work on phone systems for a living so I get to see interesting places sometimes), really pushed me to go towards unprocessed as much as possible. Not only is the process cruel, but the industrialization of the whole process is just brutal and lacks sanitation. I was at one place that was working on meat sauces and I can't get that sights and smells out of my head. I spent the whole day gagging while trying to get their phones up. I have finally had a successful run at the Eat to LIve diet and have just made it through the detox phase. Cheese is the one thing I really miss (and reading more about it's addictive properties makes me realize why and that I should let it control me), but even those cravings have lessened by quite a bit. Hoping to see some improvement in energy and athletic performance soon too.

I like your goals! It's a bummer being sick, but I think you were right not to push it too hard. It would stink to make it worse or injure yourself and then make your goals even tougher to accomplish. Good luck with it and I look forward to seeing how it goes.

Thanks for all the interest! So the eating plan right now is basically Level 5. I've also cut out most breads, but allowing tortillas as a hold over to ease my way into it. That's the plan for the first two weeks, but then cutting out the tortillas in the second two weeks. As for waking up early, there are a couple of factors. One I haven't gotten into a consistent sleep schedule really since college and I feel like it's continually hurt my health. I think it will be easier to start consistency by waking up, and then cut out the distractions at night and let my body fall asleep when its ready. My wife also gets up around then for work, so while I sometimes sleep through until I have to get up... I wake up 3-4 times in that next hour and it's just not good quality sleep. Between that and the inconsistent bed times, I feel exhausted a good chunk of the time. And finally I tend to work out in the evening. But in Texas, that makes it very hot to go for a run. Even worse, if work goes haywire or something social happens unexpectedly, its too easy to be inconsistent in my workout. I'm hoping that this will help my workouts be more consistent as well. No problem on being nosy Still trying to get used to opening up and giving details on things. With swimming, I really have had a hard time breathing. The only way I could swim free style for long stretches was to hold my head above water, which gave me neck problems. So I got lessons so I could learn how to breathe with proper form. I'm glad I did to, because I never would have been able to figure it out on my own. Plus she made me slow down, which was important because I think I was panicing underwater and that interrupted the easy breathing flow I should have had. Plus it's helped me fine tune my strokes, although those will still need more work.

So I've just started taking swimming lessons. I have a really hard time with breathing properly. But I really think swimming would help my fitness, so I'm trying that. Smaller Goals - Practice breathing/swimming techniques 5x per week Walking 5x per week Wake up at 5:15 AM 5x per week Epic Goal Stay on eating plan, no exceptions

Just requested to join the group as well. Newer to NF and just started my beginning quests in the academy. Excited about getting started! And would be interested in meeting up. Although its outside my comfort zone, so this post is a 20 seconds of courage to get committed to going.