Birdy Takes Flight

[Veg]

That doesn't sound good Birdy. Maybe it's an inner ear thing? If it persists you might want to call a friend to take you to the doctors and get checked out. I hope everything goes well for you.

[f1jim]

Are you taking BP meds? You may need to get them adjusted. Also please eat enough. Weight loss should be your secondary consideration.
f1jim

[Anna Green]

Birdy! You're doing so good! Yeah!!!!! I'm so impressed. As far as the firming up, yes you will firm up. Not to where you would be at a younger age but you'll see definite improvement. More importantly you will feel good and everything you do will be easier. That's my experience. When I think of the things I used to not want to do such as stand at parades for hours, I realize how much I've changed. Bring on the Mardi Gras now because I am ready! Or smaller things like just getting off the floor is easy peasy.

Let us know how you are feeling and if you figured out what it is.

[Birdy]

Thanks to each of you for posting. Anna I'm especially glad to hear from you - I was a little worried about ya! Glad you're feeling better. I think I figured out what happened this morning was positional vertigo which apparently can onset while you're asleep. I've never experienced this before (and hope not to again), but I don't think it's related to blood pressure. Jim, you're right about medication. But I didn't start taking it because I do believe this dietary change and exercise will bring it down. So far it's working although, as I mentioned in the previous post, kind of slow changes. When I can also eliminate more of the higher fat plant foods, such as nuts and avocados, and abandon oils, the bp and weight will drop even faster. Thanks to all three of you for your concern and support.

I watched the film "A Delicate Balance" this afternoon. It's very well done. When you have about an hour and a half, go to this link to view it: http://vsh.voip-info.org/Delicate_Balance_2.html

[Veg]

Glad to read that you figured it out and are alright.

[Birdy]

Day 25 of being vegan.

Thank you MMXI. Well, I think that's what it was - best guess. The internet is pretty helpful in figuring stuff out. Even so, the question remains of why the heck it happened at all. I've still felt "off" the rest of the week and very tired, but have gone to work and done all the usual things. Still eating vegan and proud of it. Still need to eliminate way more fats from my diet. Still need to exercise more. It's a work in progress. I think it's possible my body is going through detox because my face is breaking out, which hasn't happened in years. And the fatigue may be related to that as well.

I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday. Planning to go for a nice walk rain or shine.

I need to post my meals more consistently. Today I ate:
Breakfast - tea with tsp. sugar, tortilla with leftover collard greens/avocado*/salsa
Lunch - brown rice with green salad and tahini*; tea with tsp sugar
Snack - about 10 cashew nuts & an orange; slice of bread; glass of water
Dinner - large green salad and two small baked potatoes with garlic sauce*; an ounce of vegan chocolate bar

My husband and I watched a documentary tonight which is an interview with Michael Ruppert called "Collapse." I think he's telling the truth as he sees it and may very well be right about the coming scenarios related to peak oil and collapse of global systems which are all based on petroleum. It's an interesting and informative film, if also scary. It makes me think about the things I can do to address the problems, such as being vegan, growing a vegetable garden (and of course always flowers also), riding a bicycle rather than driving, and learning more about first aid and wholistic medicine. You can probably find the documentary through Netflix if curious.

Also, need to drink more water! I'm going to sign off and go drink a glass right now......

[Anna Green]

Hey vegan lady! Good for you. I like that you watch Collapse and then you just start thinking about what you need to do to change. Healthy. That's what I need to do too.

[Birdy]

Day 29/One MONTH of being vegan

This is the longest I've ever succeeded in being vegan! I've only lost 1/2 a pound this week, but have lost 5 pounds in the month. My blood pressure measured 160/85 today, so it's improved but needs to come much further down.

The two areas where I'm focusing on improving during the coming second month of being vegan are exercise and eliminating oils. I have to be careful eliminating the higher fat plant foods, because those foods help me stick with the vegan diet. Reducing salt is another thing that may help reduce the bp.

I read on the Humane Society website that the cause of the deaths of 1,000s of birds last month was an extermination program by a wildlife "management" bureau that poisoned the birds. This was very saddening news. I still haven't heard what caused tens of thousands of fish to wash up dead on riverbanks about the same time. Anyone know anything about that?

Breakfast today: multigrain muffin* and black tea with tsp. sugar

Snack: I met a friend at a coffee house and had a soymilk cocoa

Lunch: brown rice with green salad and tahini dressing*, tortilla, water

Snack: fruit

Dinner: tofu, broccoli, bok choy, mushroom and ginger stir "fry" served over brown rice

Exercise: 30 minute walk; at least 10 minutes of yoga

[Birdy]

Day 30 of you know what...

I'm finding that making soups is the way to go with eating McDougall style. It solves the problem of what to eat for several days and there's always something quick to warm up if one is in starvation mode.

Speaking of which, I'm finding that I'm just not as hungry as I used to be. I get hungry when I should be and don't have the vague, drive yourself crazy hunger for anything and everything. Especially I've noticed I don't want sugar. Hope that lasts!

After reading ETeSelle's posts in testimonials tonight, I'm resigned to giving up caffeine to see if that will bring the bp down further.

Yesterday, I kind of went on a bender to "celebrate" a month of eating vegan and actually ate a croissant which I know must of had butter in it. Woops. But that's as far as it went.

That was breakfast yesterday.

Today, breakfast was quinoa* with vegetables & black tea w/sugar; water
Lunch: brown rice with 2 tablespoons tahini*; water
Snack: orange
Dinner: tofu stir fry* with broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots & a little left over brown rice; fresh mango for dessert; water

I'm going to eliminate nuts and tahini starting now.

Exercise today: walking around town a little doing errands (not enough walking); a little gardening. For some reason I just can't get motivated to walk. It's weird because I used to walk all the time and really enjoy it when I do. It's strange to not understand your own behavior. Maybe it's true and the Nike saying has it, "Just do it," and never mind why. How do you keep yourself motivated to exercise?

[Dechen]

Congratulations on the 1 month achievement! Keep going!

[Birdy]

Dechen, I like your laughing Buddha! Isn't it wonderful that people from all over the world can communicate with each other now?

Day 33 of being vegan

Today I'm eating:
Breakfast - black tea with sugar, oatmeal with raisins and splash of vanilla soy milk
Lunch - I made sandwiches from whole wheat bread, garbanzo beans mashed with garlic sauce*, fresh lemon and lettuce with 1/4 of an avocado* sliced. An apple. Green tea (unsweetned).
Dinner - tofu pad thai (we're meeting friends for dinner and this is the only vegan offering; it is made with oil, but not a lot).

Today my exercise is going for a 30 to 40 minute walk and doing housework.

I got on the scale this morning and found that I weigh less than I've weighed in ten or fifteen years. But I'll wait until Tuesday to post the weight. I'm feeling so calm. The first 3 or 4 weeks of converting to a vegan diet are kind of hard on your body, or that's been my experience. I'm still having a lot of congestion which is possibly due to wheat and/or the fact it's winter and there's a lot of stuff in the air from heaters at work and our woodstove at home. It's hard to think of cutting out wheat when I've eliminated so many other foods and am still trying to reduce oils and the fattier plant foods.

Not much other to report. It's a rainy day today and I'm enjoying a slow pace. Tomorrow afternoon I have a yoga class to look forward to. Happy Super Bowl watching to you fans out there!

[sksamboots]

Birdy,

Your doing amazing!!!!

[Birdy]

Day 37 of being vegan/5 weeks yesterday

Hey, thanks sksamboots! There are so many people like you for inspiration! I don't think making this transition would be possible without this website community.

I should have posted yesterday which is my usual day for weekly check-in, but was too busy to do so. I've gotten a little discouraged because I haven't lost any weight this past week and my blood pressure is stuck at around 155/92 after 5 weeks of eating vegan, drinking black tea instead of coffee, eating almost no sugar or sweetened foods or drinks, no alcohol. and much reduced salt consumption. So after wallowing a bit in "woe is me," it's clear that the oils and other fats have to go. Insert big, "woe is me" here. This will be the hardest thing for me to do. For one thing, I find vegan food bland and mostly mushy. Granted there are crunchy carrots and chewy....hmmm, chewy what? For some reason, the little fat treats such as olives, avocados, etc. really add so much to a vegan diet. So, what to do? I guess I'll leave you with this question, because I don't yet have a good answer for myself.

Still vegan. That's good.

Still need more exercise. That's not so good. But nicer weather is in the air and I'm on the brink of gardening which is good exercise. And I am going to a yoga class once a week - just need to start doing some practice at home.

Breakfast: leftover brown rice with a vegie stew from dinner; soymilk latte
Lunch: brown rice with salad & tahini dressing*
Snack: banana
Dinner: whole wheat pasta with marinara made with onion, garlic, bell pepper, spinach & parsley; one slice of whole wheat bread with sunflower seed butter*

[f1jim]

I'm one of those people that have to go 100% or I can figure on BP meds for the rest of my life. Also until I got to a healthy weight my BP stayed high. It's really unfair but some of us must follow a low fat, plant based diet to thrive. When you make the decision to do that then the weight and the BP will probably fall into line. Till then, don't expect much to change. Some people get away with very small changes and both weight and BP jump. Some of us must do EVERYTHING. Eating vegan is commendable, eating low fat is probably key. If you can't do that it's going to be tough on your sanity. You have to figure out if this is worth it to you. High BP is responsible for the torn aorta in my chest and I wish I had started this way of eating many years ago. It would have saved me a lot of trouble! I'm not saying you will have serious issues if you don't, that's not in any of our crystal balls, but if you can't do this I would seriously get on the right dose of meds to drop the BP. Might save your life.
f1jim

[Dechen]

Don't get discouraged BTF. What f1jim is saying makes a lot of sense and he is living proof that it can be done.
Perhaps this site would be of help to you. I love it and it, together with this board, keeps me sane.
Kinda.