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Vegan For A Year

Vegan For A Year

I toyed with the idea of being a vegan for many years. If nothing else, it would make me seem like a very interesting person. I could go to dinner parties and brag about how I simply couldn’t eat anything because I was so utterly disciplined.

One day a friend told me a story about a man who had kept his HIV viral levels low and immune system high by eating a vegan diet. Even though it sounded like an urban legend, the idea was amazing. I always fantasized about a way to control my HIV health naturally, without the use of medications.

I wasn’t truly sold until I saw the movie “Forks Over Knives.” The entertaining documentary presented convincing evidence that eating vegan could eliminate diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. My final concern with a vegan diet got answered when the movie profiled a martial arts fighter who never lost his amazing muscle after going vegan.

I had no more excuses. I needed to try this. Besides, I pathetically had to admit that by the age of 30, I hadn’t ever peeled an orange in my whole life. I grew up with processed foods. My fruits and veggies only came from cans. So I desperately needed to learn how to eat real plants.

When I met with my HIV doctor, she immediately shut down my exciting new decision. According to her, diet had very little impact on the immune system. I found this hard to believe seeing as how our country is the industrialized nation with the worst diet and the worst rates of chronic disease. I had to prove her wrong. And if my health prospered by one year, I would also go off my HIV medications too.

Not focusing on protein was incredibly difficult. It had been a central part of my diet ever since I got into weight lifting. But at the same time, I was thrilled about eating all these fresh vegetables, exotic fruits, and whole grains. The more I learned about what plants had to offer, the healthier I felt for eating them to such high degrees. I no longer needed a multivitamin and my desires for sugary snacks had weaned. Even Luke, my partner, was totally supportive and began cooking strictly vegan inside the home (although at restaurants he continued to delight in fleshy goodness).

As the months marched on, so did my health. My t-cells continued to jump back and forth as they always had. And we couldn’t tell what the virus was doing since it was already undetectable from the meds. But the true indication of health was my CD4 percentage (the number doctors now look at to truly measure immune health in an HIV-positive person). My percentage was slowly climbing to some seriously ideal levels.

My doctor seemed astonished by the results. I wanted to rub it in her face, but I liked her too much. Besides, I knew that this alone wasn’t enough to make solid evidence. So I would just have to sit and relish in my own little satisfaction.

However as my first year of being vegan came near, I wasn’t feeling so satisfied anymore. In fact, my stress levels were through the roof. It took at least an hour or two to prep nearly every meal, and as someone who ate six meals a day, that didn’t work very well. I didn’t have time for anything anymore and I started becoming incredibly irritable because of it.

I also didn’t retain my muscle like the fighter did in the documentary. By the year’s end, I had lost a significant amount of body mass regardless of all the nutrients I had taken in. I began hating my body like I had done in year’s past. I suddenly didn’t feel so healthy anymore.

Instead of going off my HIV medicines as I had planned, I decided to stop being a vegan. Luke and I went to a restaurant with some friends and I had a burger loaded with bacon, cheese, and a fried egg. I figured I might as well try to eat as many animals at once to make up for lost time. My glorious CD4 percentage rate dropped back down a bit over the next year (but still stayed in healthy ranges). While being vegan wasn’t the lifestyle for me, I did truly learn how to appreciate the value of fresh fruits and vegetables in my diet. And that is a healthy habit worthy of the entire experiment.

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