What I’ve Learned From Being A Vegan For The Past 2 Years

What I’ve Learned From Being A Vegan For The Past 2 Years Nick Shell

It was March 6, 2013 that I accidently decided to become a vegan. Wow, that was a quick 2 years!

In hindsight, I definitely went through a self-imposed, self-advertised, and awkward public transition during the first couple of months that followed. You could say I may have been a little too zealous about my lifestyle change at first; on Facebook, in particular.

Since then, I have grown up; not only in how much more reserved I’ve become on Facebook in general, but also how I communicate regarding stories about my vegan lifestyle.

Over the past 2 years, I’ve learned to become more inviting (and less bold) when it comes to sharing about it all.

It doesn’t help, as I’ve recently learned, that I have a “D” personality; according to the DISC personality test. In other words, I have the most aggressive personality, so I am learning to control how my passion comes across to others.

At first, I was so eager to prove the vegan lifestyle to the entire world.

What I’ve Learned From Being A Vegan For The Past 2 Years

These days, I simply want to be known as the token go-to vegan in everyone’s social circle. I’m not eager to convert anyone. I’m just simply here to offer information to anyone suffering from chronic sinusitis and/or dyshidrosis (eczema); both of which I am cured of now that I discovered this lifestyle.

For example, being a vegan for 2 years has taught me a simple concept: Mucus in, mucus out.

No one wants to think about this, but ultimately, both milk and eggs contain a certain amount of mucus, from a foreign species.

When a human ingests that mucus (which is a product of the endocrine system, which truly is disgusting when you consider what else the endocrine system is responsible for), it can definitely have negative effects; as mucus itself is a defense mechanism the body to uses to fight off foreign substances.

Therefore, roughly 20% of the American population has chronic sinus and allergy issues (like I did for 22 years). According to my theory here, it’s because they are ingesting the foreign-fighting mucus of a foreign species.

This is not the sort of thing I openly talk about on Facebook, like I did at first. Instead, I reserve it for open-minded/curious people who care enough to actually read an entire post like this.

What I’ve Learned From Being A Vegan For The Past 2 Years

In addition to learning to be more reserved in my communication about it, another thing I’ve learned is how my psychology has evolved.

I see now that my relationship with food has transitioned from an emotional relationship to a functional relationship.

Well, obviously I’ve survived the past 2 years without eating any animal products (eggs, dairy, meat, etc.). Granted, I had already been a vegetarian for more than a year before my vegan conversion, and had been kosher (no pork or shellfish, etc.) for several years before that.

While some people have assumed it must take extra discipline to live my life this way, I actually believe the indirect opposite is true:

I don’t have the discipline it takes to only say “yes” in moderation to certain foods. But if the rule is consistent, that I can never have certain things (anything that registers 1% of my daily cholesterol or greater), then it actually takes the temptation away.

In the past 2 years, by default, I’ve learned the importance of getting all my necessary nutrition from 6 things: vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.

I’m happy. I’m never hungry. I eat all the time. It works for me.

If you have any questions, I am happy to answer. I want to be known has the friendliest, least annoying, most helpful vegan you know.

What I’ve Learned From Being A Vegan For The Past 2 Years

You might also enjoy these other vegan-themed posts I’ve done as well:

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: Nick Shell- A Year And A Half Later

I Survived A Year Of Being A Vegan, Part 1

I Survived A Year Of Being A Vegan, Part 2

How To Stay Fuller But Eat Healthier This Year (And Still Eat Meat): A Starter Plan

Ask A Vegan Anything: Is Dairy Related To Allergies And Sinus Problems?

Ask A Vegan Anything: “Where Do You Get Your Vitamin B12?”

Ask A Vegan Anything: Here’s Your Chance

How To Have A Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher Or Plant-Based Christmas

Vegan Friendly Review Of Atlanta, Georgia

Vegan Friendly Review Of Ponte Vedra Inn And Club At Pompano Beach, FL

Vegan Friendly Review Of Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe

Vegan Review Of The Farm House In Downtown Nashville

Vegan Recipe Review: Quinoa And Pinto Bean Sloppy Joes

Review Of Dandies Vegan Marshmallows By Chicago Vegan Foods

5 Reasons Your Facebook Friends Are Going Vegan

Dairy And Egg Free Testimonials: Ben Wilder, 6 Months Later

Recipe For The Vegan Fruitcake Breakfast Smoothie: Williams-Sonoma Smoothie Week

After recently discovering my post, Recipe For Vegan Banana Split Milkshake With No Added Sugar Or Anything Artificialfrom last summer, Williams-Sonoma asked me to share a new recipe for Williams-Sonoma Smoothie Week.

Williams-Sonoma Smoothie Week

I am glad to help out with this because, actually, I’ve been meaning to get around to sharing the recipe for my daily morning smoothie.

I call it the “Vegan Fruitcake Breakfast Smoothie.”

It’s full of fruit and nuts, like a fruitcake, but doesn’t contain the typical artifical food dyes and added sugar that fruitcake contains.

Not to mention, I think most people would prefer the taste of my Vegan Fruitcake Smoothie over fruitcake anyway.

I created the Vegan Fruitcake Breakfast Smoothie because I wanted to invent a delicious, easy breakfast starter that was full of good fat, but like all vegan food, contains 0% of your daily cholesterol allowance.

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 banana

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1 tablespoon of vegan cocoa powder

1/2 cup of cashews

1/2 cup of berries (your choice of strawberries, blueberries, etc.)

4 cranberries

First, I pour the almond milk into the blender. Next, I place the banana. From there, I toss the rest of the ingredients in. Then I use the pulse button for about 10 seconds to ensure there are no clumps.

From there, I drink it!

Recipe For Vegan Fruitcake Smoothie: Williams-Sonoma Smoothie Week

I seriously make this smoothie everyday in my blender. I’ve been doing it ever since I invented the Vegan Banana Split Milkshake 6 months ago; that smoothie is what inspired this thicker version of it.

Recipe For Vegan Fruitcake Smoothie: Williams-Sonoma Smoothie Week

As we are just one week away from moving into our new house, I am considering getting a newer, bigger, badder food processor; not only for my smoothies, but because as a vegan/vegetarian family, we use blenders and food precessors a lot!

Thanks for learning about my recipe for the Vegan Fruitcake Breakfast Smoothie!

To check out more recipes for Sonoma Smoothie Week, you can visit the Pinterest Page or the Facebook page on Friday, January 23rd where they will be highlighting some of the recipes.

And please let me know if you decide to try the Vegan Fruitcake Breakfast Smoothie!

 

New Infographic: Is Your Home Safe? Radioactive Radon

With our famly scheduled to move in our new home just 3 weeks from now, I catch myself thinking of new issues to consider as we will be moving in. I suppose radon is something I need to learn more about. So to get started and inspired, I’m sharing this infographic:

 

RadonIsReal.org [Infographic]

Courtesy of RadonIsReal.org

What If Susan G. Komen’s Sponsors Actually Helped Cause Cancer Instead Of Find A Cure?

I’ve been saying this for years, but there is good reason to question why it is that so quickly so many major brands paint themselves pink in the name of finding a cure for breast cancer.

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Sure, we all want to there to be an easy medical cure for breast cancer and we all personally know someone who has been affected by breast cancer.

It’s a deeply emotional subject. Therefore, it’s natural to want to show our support to find a cure for breast cancer.

However, what I want to point out about our society is that we’re much, much, much more concerned with finding a cure, having been throwing money at Susan G. Komen since 1984, than we are concerned with actually preventing breast cancer.

I subscribe to the philosophy of Albert Einstein: “Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.”

The thing is, the cure for cancer was discovered decades ago. Just watch the documentary Forks Over Knives on Netflix. You’ll see testimonials from women who diagnosed with terminal cancer back in the 1980s and 1990s.

You will be able to learn the reality that “the cancer switch can be turned on and off” through a plant based diet:

They switched to a plant-based lifestyle (they stopped eating animal products and artificial flavors and colors). Turns out, they are still alive and as of the taping of the documentary were still cancer free!

The overwhelming evidence is there.

However, this truth is annoying. It requires a person to change their lifestyle in order to not get cancer.

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Our society instead places a higher value on fixing the preventable problem after it has already happened.

Just take a look at the infographic at the very bottom of this post, which illustrates which health issues we raise the most money to find a cure for, versus which health issues are actually killing us.

What you see is that the diseases that kill us the most are the most easily preventable; through proper diet and exercise; yet our passion is in “finding the cure” for the more disease that kills the lower number of us.

As for the Susan G. Komen “find a cure” movement, I’m apparently not the own one picking up on the fact that the marketable passion to find a cure is actually overshadowing the importance of actually finding a cure, and most importantly, it distracts from the fact cancer is largely preventable with a plant-based lifestyle.

Just check out this recent satirical Onion article: Susan G. Komen Foundation Launches Deep Space Probe To Bring Breast Cancer Awareness To Rest Of Galaxy

It points out the fact that lack of awareness, or raising money to find a cure for breast cancer, aren’t the problems. They are the symptoms of the problem.

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The actual problem is people are dying of a largely preventable cancer.

I think it’s important to consider the fact that countries that consume little to no dairy also happen to have the least occurrence of breast cancer.

So it seems the actual problem is the lack of awareness of how to eat in a way to prevent cancer from forming in the body in the first place.

There’s also this one featured on The Huggington Post, “Susan G. Komen Partners With Fracking Firm, Despite Possible Cancer Links“, which points out Susan G. Komen is turning a blind eye to the fact so many of brands that raise money for them (as a sales tactic, of course) actually have products that are known to cause cancer, not prevent it.

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But it’s not just with companies who wave the pink flag to increase profits, or with Susan G. Komen turning a blind eye to sponsored products actually being linked to cancer.

The annoying truth is that it’s also our society’s tendency to keep literally buying into the concept that “finding a cure” for cancer is more important or relevant than preventing it.

If you’re familiar with my blog and my life, you know that I’ve been a vegan for more than a year and a half, a vegetarian for 3 years, and kosher (no pork, shellfish, etc.) for 6 years.

I am happy to answer any questions you have about this “extreme” lifestyle. Just leave a comment below.

What If Susan Komen’s Sponsors Actually Cause Cancer Instead Of Find A Cure?

As For Me And My House, We Will Refuse Flu Shots

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Refuse A Flu Shot!

I’m bored by the conversations about whether it’s a good or bad thing to get vaccinations. I flat out don’t care what other people choose for themselves. Let them argue online about that without me.

But what I am passionate about instead is standing my grounds on my right to refuse a flu shot. I have my reasons for having refused flu shots my entire life, and I’m sure they’re nothing new or interesting to anyone reading this.

Ultimately, I just don’t appreciate the fact that there is pressure from society, businesses, the medical field, and the government to tell me I need a flu shot. I’m too clever of a guy not to question that.

Maybe I’m indeed a conspiracy theorist who believes that the real reason the media bombarded us with the Ebola scare might have been that the government wanted us all to be vaccinated for their own agenda.

(I also question the fact we were never shown footage of an actual plan crashing into the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. Most people I know are okay with that… I’m not. And that makes me the crazy one, labeled as the wacky conspiracy theorist.)

“No thanks to vaccinations” is what I have to say.

I also made sure that at my son’s recent check-up, that he did not get a flu shot. My son was pretty happy that his Daddy got him out of that!

By the way, I’m 33 years old and I’ve never had the flu… nor have I had a flu shot. And that information is validated from my mom. She would know.

I find it pretty interesting that walk-in clinics these days are all spending plenty of advertising dollars on “selling flu shots.” I guess there must be a lot of profit to be made off of selling vaccinations that may or may not even work

What really got me riled up about this recently is when a close family member (who will remain nameless for my fear of outing them with their employer) was heavily (!) pressured by their employer to get a flu shot.

This family member had to put in writing exactly why they were refusing the flu shot; they were told by the deciding committee that the only acceptable exceptions had to be either for personal or religious reasons.

The first two times, this person was denied the right to refuse the flu shot, after having given personal reasons; like explaining to the employer that a flu shot is an unnatural, invasive procedure.

This family member was, in essense, told that their personal reasons were not legitimate enough to merit a flu shot refusal.

It took the 3rd time before this family member’s reason for refusal was accepted; after saying their body is a temple of God.

For whatever reason, the employer accepted that answer.

This article was also helpful:

Mandatory Vaccines for Healthcare Workers: How to Refuse Mandatory Vaccines and Not Get Fired

I’m not telling anyone whether or not they should or should not get a vaccination, because again, that’s a personal decision and I should have no say when it comes to other people.

Flu shots are right for a lot of people. I’m just not one of them.