On Being a Vegan

(Typical vegan meal I eat - quesadilla w/ veg cheese, beans and rice, homemade coleslaw)

Whenever the subject of me being a vegan is brought up, I always tell people that I love veganism. Now, of coarse, I would ideally like to take the next step and become a raw vegan, but as I've stated before, it takes time. Sadly, my diet has been slipping lately...not in the sense that I've been eating meat or dairy, but the quality of food I consume isn't so great. I've been bouncing around between staying with my sister and staying at home, so I have yet to put myself on some sort of regular schedule. I guess now is the time to get all of those things that I want to do in my free time out of my system because come fall, it's time to hit the books.

Back to loving the vegan life...yes, it has been very good to me. The first added bonus has been the weight loss. I weigh-in on Sundays and my last reading was 142.5lbs...up one pound from last week, which was expected. That brings my total weight loss thus far to 25.5lbs. Since my leg is still not 100% yet, I haven't started a serious workout regimen. I have been doing a lot of walking around the city to get my heart pumping, but nothing too formal. If I don't feel like purchasing a Metrocard...I don't, and I hit the streets instead. Yesterday, for example, I hiked from 34th and 8th ave to 59th and 2nd ave which, for those of you who aren't from the city, is a hike indeed...those avenues are no joke, especially on the east side.

Another other great thing about being a vegan is that I feel like I'm free of a lot of the ailments that I was plagued with previously. When I was a vegetarian, I caught one cold, but since then I haven't gotten one (that was back in January I think). My immune system used to suck like no other, but that's really changed over the past few months. I used to take tons of vitamin c thinking that it would stop me from getting sick all of the time, but little did I know that taking things out of my diet would do more than adding extra stuff in...you feel me?

I'm going to talk for a second about how I think I'm a hypocrite...

These little gals come to our door everyday looking for a nice meal and a little affection. They are strays that roam the streets of my neighborhood, and they have to eat too...right? Well, that's my thinking at least. My mom and I generally hit up a corner store before we get home and buy them a few cans of 9Lives cat food, which is essentially just a can full of ground up meat. Now, I know that I shouldn't be putting any of my money into any industry that is associated with slaughtering, but cats are carnivores, and they turn their noses up at veggies. Maybe it would be more ethical if I stuck to giving them dry food, although it's a mystery what they put in that stuff too. Time to take a look at my ethics?

This post was a pretty useless rant, but I figure it's been awhile since I've written anything...and it's been a really long time since I've written anything with substance. I'm workin' on it.

Raw. Love.
-Nat