During my youth I was always slightly overweight, not as morbidly obese as I was before leaving my prior home, but big enough for it to impact my social life, which luckily aside from bullying had very little ramifications on me, due to the fact I was extremely introverted and much preferred the company of books or activities I could do alone . Children are not known for their soft words for those outside of the perceived societal norms, although a frightening thought is that obesity is becoming the norm as apposed to a more healthy approach. Although my weight was a problem, my parents never really addressed it as they should have and I never attempted to do so due to lack of education and being as young as I was, I never had the resources to do so.
Leading to a general aversion to anything that wasn't unhealthy, wasn't covered in sugar and wasn't saturated in fat or salt I most likely wouldn't be eating it which was both a fault by me as a child and my parents as educators and motivators. The main problem with this is the fact that it sustain my obesity and more than that alone, it caused my ability to eat a varied diet to be incredibly compromised. Living as I did created many dietary problems, specifically the fact that my diet was limited as was my taste palette.
After moving out I lived alone for six months in an apartment in my home town, during which time I'd began the slow path of losing weight, I'd come down from 176 (388lbs) kilograms to somewhere around 145 (319lbs) kilogram mark and I was able to do more and more. About four months into my time living alone, I began researching veganism, I began looking at statistics relating to health, to the treatment of animals, towards the environmental effects intensive factory farming had and came to a decision I would transition into a vegan lifestyle. My reasoning being, given the fact I, as a human can make such a large difference in the world simply by adapting my living habits, in terms of sustainability, in terms of my effect on other forms of life and in terms of improving my own while still enjoy it, I failed to see a downside. Not to mention the challenge it presented and what it would mean if I was successful.
To put this into context, I had eaten an omnivorous diet for the last (and total) 19 years of my life. At my lowest point in life, I was essentially living off incredibly cheap, cardboard fast food. Store bought packaged meals and carbonated drinks (From what memory I have, around 2-4 liters consumed daily) and whatever else was available. Looking back at it now, I shudder at how I lived but realise as to why I was the way I was, how I had gotten to that point and how badly it effected my life. Simply put I was severely depressed.
All of this made the transition harder, it's a struggle, from what I have read from other vegan sites and blogs to transition from a 'well rounded' basic omnivorous diet to a vegan diet. So coming into it being miles behind in terms of taste palette and actually being able to eat only three kinds of vegetable and one fruit was a little harder. You may think I'm attempting to exaggerate with that statement but, I'm not. The only vegetables I could actually eat were carrots, peas and potatoes. The only fruit I could bear to eat was apples. I lived a woefully vitamin and mineral deficient life, as well as some of the wonderful tastes I've now to experience. Safe to say my vegetable and fruit counter has increased quite a large amount!
Overall I can say I feel better, my body aches significantly less, I'm fitter, I feel better, I'm worlds more confident and I'm not finished yet! I don't supplement my diet in anyway, I try to keep an even keel on my food and occasionally may deviate and have a 'bad' meal, which my girlfriend kindly obliges me with her incredible cooking skills and cooks the most wonderfully devilish vegan meal imaginable! Thanks for reading!
/Nathan
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