The main reason is because my health was going down the tubes and I saw no way to fix my problems. I had had one heart attack, almost a second one, I have 6 stents in my heart, I was considered a borderline diabetic, and was not eligible for a colonoscopy. Other people change to vegan because of the animals. That never crossed my mind. I also had aches and pains which I considered were the result of getting old (I am 75).

How hard was it to make the transition?
For me, it was not hard because I had the backup of the wife who will eat anything I cook, and she readily took on the diet. Before this, she was doing the South Beach diet for a few years and that did not get her anywhere. She has been in every diet there is. The original plan was to easy into the diet slowly. Well, I could not do that, I went into it head on and it was not difficult.

When did I become a vegan?
In March 1, 2010

What is involved?
As opposed to most diets, the VEGAN diet has very few rules and are vey easy to follow. First of all, you eat no animal products. This includes ALL animal products such as milk, cheese, eggs, yougurt, etc. Next, no processed foods such as white flour, white sugar (brown sugar is better or Stevia is best), white rice, most stuff that comes in boxes.
Next, no oils, remember oil (no matter what kind) is 100% fat.

So what is left?
All the vegetables and all the fruits and all the nuts. You can also have honey, maple syrup, molasses and spices. If you want milk, you can buy a replacement made out of rice or soy beans. In fact you can make your own milk from soy for as little as 50 cents per gallon. and it is thick, unlike the see thru 2% cows milk I was drinking.

When did I start feeling the effects of the change?
Within a week. You will notice the difference, you can walk faster, straighter, you feel alive again. As a side effect I lost 20 pounds, I was not counting on this at all, it just happened. What other changes did I experience?

I have had Rosacea for the last 40 years and have had to apply to my face whatever the specialists gave me, and I did that twice a day to keep the disease under control. If I let it go a few days, it took me 3 weeks to clear my face...well... 2 weeks after I started eating well I realized that my face was clearer than ever. I stopped using the cream (metroGel, $50 for 4 ounces) and... the Rosacea went away completely.

Last year my daughter gave me a contraption to aid me in putting my socks on because I had trouble reaching my feet. I started using it and it made my dressing in the morning much easier. I don't know when, I quit using that aid, I can reach my feet with ease.

How do you get started? First of all you need some recipe books. I got my first recipe book from Dr. McDougall's web site in California. His cook book has over 300 recipes. Some recipes are very spicy but you can modify them to your own taste. His web site is at http://www.drmcdougall.com. I also got a couple of books and DVD's from the Rave Diet, I have a link on the front page of my web site. There are many many web sites that have vegan recipes but, be aware, some of them include cheese, oil, and processed flours.

Now, I feel better, I have been told I look better and have an eye on the future.

Side Effects: January 3, 2011 - 9 months after starting - This body of mine is full of surprises. For many years I had about half a dozen lumps in my arms and my body, they were about 1 inch by about half an inch, or at least that is the way they felt but they never hurt, they were just there.

This morning I started looking for them and to my surprise, I could not find them. I finally located two of them but they are only about 1/4" long, very hard to find. What happened? Where did they go? They just vanished and believe me, I am not going to miss them.

Being vegan means clearing up your body from impurities that keeps your immune system from working correctly. The immune system keeps your body free of any attacking viruses, germs and bacteria. There are several "levels" of vegan. I am at the highest level. Dr McDougall calls this diet the Starch diet.

As opposed to any other diet, being VEGAN is not what you eat but what you don't eat.

I don't eat:

1.) Animal products
2.) Processed foods (white flour, white sugar)
3.) oils of any kind. (Avocado oil ? avocado is better it has all the amino acids needed to render the oil harmless.)

Other than that, the field is completely open. You can eat anything you want and in any quantities. Vegetables, nuts, fruits and any and all condiments but stay away from the caffeine.

You never have to measure how much you eat, just eat and don't feel guilty. your body will adapt to your new environment quickly and you will start feeling changes within days. A side effect is that your weight will go back to normal, if you are too light, you will gain weight, if you are too heavy you will lose weight. Just don't worry about it, be yourself.

There are several videos around that claim people with diabetes have gone back to normal, or people with heart disease have reversed their symptoms. A customer of mine had Asthma for 45 years, his symptoms went away within a week.

Another plus to being vegan.? Your body odor will dissapear. I was made aware of this from a customer from Moscow who is vegan. The reason for this is that your body does not have any animal toxins. I know that is not enough to convince anyone to try it, they are too much in love with their beloved short ribs or cannot even think of not putting a piece of farmer's cheese in their mouth. A woman friend of mine said a couple of weeks ago: Look, I lost 34 lbs. I am going to weight watchers, I followed your advise. She missed the point completely! It is not the weight, it is what you put in your mouth, the weight will fix itself. For all I know she still is be very prone to having breast cancer and I guess she does not care. Like another friend I have, she rather had both breasts removed (cancer) than changing her ways.... and she is still having problems, now is her feet. I guess she received too much chemotherapy.

Yes, I have been a Vegan since March 2010. Not long and I am still learning but I am enjoying it.

Another reason why I became vegan?
Just to imitate... or maybe they are imitating me! Do a search on google for "vegan celebrities" and click on "images" You will be surprised of all the familiar faces you see.

Here is something new, and better!

You will be surprised as to what comes out of that cup. A full meal in the liquid form. And it is vegan. When you finish drinking this, you will not feel hungry at all, and every time you make it, it will taste differently. Always good. I saw their infomercial, they suggest you drink one of these every day. I have been eating 2 of them and feel really good. In fact, just because I am taking these, I am not eating as much flour like whole wheat flour which keeps you fat.

Catch. Yes, there is catch to it. If the stuff you put in your cup was grown by you in your garden, you don't have to bother even washing it. You know it does not have any nasty stuff, however, anything you buy at the store must be washed and scrubbed. You don't know how many different types of insecticides and/or fertilizers are on that fruit. The safest way, just buy organic.

Dehydrated food:Here is a good idea:
To make it easier, I purchased a lot of 16 oz. containers (dollar store) with a lid. I then got to work and dehydrated a lot of fruits and vegetables.

Every couple of weeks I line up 30 of those containers in the kitchen counter and we put a bit of each one of the items we have dehydrated in them. We have a lot of dehydrated stuff in bags, such as almonds, apples, bananas, chia seeds, flax, goji, spinach, kale, etc. all together I have 26 items in the list but we never have all of them available, and I never include 2 greens at the same time. Once those 30 containers are filled, we put lids on them and put them away. I make 2 smoothies every morning with soy milk which we consume during the day. That makes up for one meal, and believe me, it is a complete meal.