Next project

Having completing Vegan MoFo I thought about whether I wanted to continue this blog or what not. I have decided I am going to post all about Vegan Gyms here

Come Visit!

Going Forward

So I failed at getting 20 posts done for VeganMoFo (would have said roughly 15% chance I get it done) but it was fun none the less.

Enjoying the Vegan lifestyle after 35 days or so, and see no reason to go back to eating meat etc.

So looks like I am going to be moving to North America (Vancouver, Canada?) in February.  I will be looking to get a job there and settle into the North American lifestyle. This will put my initial plan of becoming a Certified Personal Trainer, but no reason I cannot do it over there. I ultimately want to experience some of the Vegan events around the world to give me more experience and to keep learning (I am volunteering at WVD Melbourne on Sunday which will be cool).

I am going to start looking for jobs on Veganews and the like, send some emails etc. as getting into a company that has good morals and vouches for plant based vegan eating is defo a company I can feel passionate about.

Would not mind doing a few weeks under WWOOF, maybe in South America enroute to North America?

DECISIONS DECISIONS DECISIONS\

EXCITE EXCITE EXCITE

Community Comparison: Vegan versus Online Poker

So the past 5 – 6 years or so I have been apart of the online poker communtity. I am now also becoming a part of the Vegan/Plant Based Food community, however I have found that they are very similar in a variety of ways.

Regulation

Poker is highly regulated, currently USA players essentially cant play online at this point in time and Europe is being regulated more and more. The PPA is a great asset for the poker world however, and as far as I am aware there is not quite something the same in the Vegan industry that reaches such a large audience. The regulation in the food industry is generally lacking, with dairy/meat/junk food companies being able to do what they want essentially, twisting facts to there own benefit.

Monsanto…..lets not even go there 🙂

Minority

In terms of poker, most of the general public have negative views about online poker. They believe it is all luck despite all the different results proving statistically that it is a game of skill given that there is the element of imperfect information.

Vegan/Plant Based Foods are not the mainstream. You hear people saying ‘where do you get your protein for’, ‘dairy is healthy for you’ etc. This is despite many studies showing that eating a plant based diet has many benefits and that eating meat and dairy is not going to do you good (The China Study is best next to Forks over Knives etc)

Enthusiasm for improvement

Twoplustwo.com is the biggest of the hundreds of poker forums out there, and the fact is that some of the best players in the world help beginners out for free. The same can be said for Vegans, sites such as Veganbodybuilder.com and many of the 100’s of individual blogs there are where people share idea’s, what works and doesn’t etc.

Both communities do not hide info, everyone helps each other to improve as you can learn something from everyone.

Innovation

Despite Poker’s regulators making it tougher and tougher for the sites too attract new players, they are becoming more innovative with there promotions and the fact there sponsorships are getting into main stream media more and more (Sports teams etc). The Vegan community is also doing the same, new books are coming out, more festivals are being held and sport stars are promoting there Plant based eating ways. They are both building steadily over 10+ years, they are by no means are trends at all, they are here to say.

There are many more I am sure, in fact this has barely touched the subject but I thought it was interesting! I have enjoyed being a part of both communities and will continue to do so 🙂

 

 

 

Where I want to take this new found….passion?

So these last few months or so, I have read so much about eating the plant based food/vegan way, that it has motivated me to look at ways I could integrate this into a new career path. I have thought of all sorts of things, vegan restaurants/bakery, articles (I am not a great writer as you can tell), studying nutrition back at Uni, applying for jobs at vegan shops etc.

However I have been drawn to integrating fitness and plant based eating. This was first inspired by Robert Cheeke, most probably still the most known Vegan Body builder. When you think @RobertCheeke you think Vegan Body builder and vice-versa. He is such an inspiration  so passionate and successful. Following on from that, I have gotten my passion back for fitness, so ultimately in 1.5 – 2 years, I would like to be running a Vegan Gym. That’s a rather ambitious goal, but I think if I can make some goals along the way there is no reason why I cant, just look at @JLgoesVegan, specifically this post!

Next post will be some goals etc that I have thought of that will get me closer to my goal!!!

Vegan Meme

So I thought I would try this meme thing, I have not seen one done for Vegan before……what do you think? I’m sure others can be way more creative and accurate than this one 🙂

EDIT Looks like the pic is buggered, will fix it up when I get home

EDIT 2: Picture is a much better size 🙂

Vegan thoughts thus far (19 days)

So I made some thoughts after 6 days, and its time for another post on progress thoughts etc. as its coming up on 3 weeks.

I have had a couple blips, I had 2 prawn dumplings, I wanted to see if I missed them as my girlfriend was having them while I had my Vege dumplings – answer, no. So that’s no longer an issue for meat/seafood. I also had a  sip of a Black Russian, I should have asked what was in it, apparently I should know it contains milk, but was news to me! So overall I am happy with my progress.

I have gone out for a few dinners, I went to Love Hut with the girl last night, it’s a Vegan restaurant, we both enjoyed the food and there was no shortage of variations. We will no doubt seek out the various other Vegan places in Melbourne.

Also went out with some mates for a dinner, it was easy. It was the first time they told them I was eating Vegan, I got the reactions that I’m guessing you expect when a bunch of mid 20 lads go for a feed. What on earth do you eat? (the food earth provides us :P), you wont last long, fuck that etc. I ordered my stir fry veges and noodles and they were a lil jealous of the amount of food I got :).

I then also said that I joined the gym the other day, so of course the whole ‘given your eating Vegan, you wont get any protein’ came up. But I have looked into this, there’s many opinions of course on how much protein you need etc. I think if I can aim for 80+ grams a day I will be fine. I can get 15g~ from couscous, 12g~ from oats, 12~ from beans, 10~ approx from fruit and veges throughout the day, 15g~ from almonds. This leaves me needing ~15g needed, which I will get from Soy Protein Powder, which is easy. These numbers are on the low side I feel so it’s no worries what so ever 🙂

Vitamin B12 was the other concern I had, it is only found in animal foods (or in bacteria that plants grow in), so I was going to get Vitamin B12  to supplement. A lack of this vitamin can lead to anaemia and a reduction in neurological function in the long term, however it turns out that I get my recommended 2.8mcg from my daily glass of Vital Greens, which contains 4mcg/12g. So I am all covered!

People say eating vegan would be expensive, I can prove that wrong, will do that in a follow up post.

hint: Its not 😉

Veganism Acrostic Poem!

I have no idea how the idea of acrostics poems got in my head on the tram this morning but I suddenly wanted to do one, do VEGANISM was the obvious candidate 🙂

Here goes (be nice, its been way over 10 years since doing one haha)

V ITAL

E LEGANT

G ROWTH

A DVENTUROUS

N ATURAL

I NFINITE

S O GOOD FEELING

M E,MYSELF AND I

How would your VEGANISM acrostic poem look???

Healthy Eating Related Courses

A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon CourseRA.org and was instantly intrigued. Essentially the founders are opening up education for free for thousands all over the world. There are 1000’s of students taking each paper, and they are regularly getting new Universities with huge reps (Ivy League Schools) on board.

Looking through the papers I instantly was drawn to Principles of Obesity Economics and Community Change in Pubic Health for obvious reasons. Hopefully the info is useful and accurate and not just a big company view of everything. Nevertheless it will be interesting. And at only a few hours required a week for a month or so there is no reason not to do it really!

If anyone else has signed up to these already or is about to, let me know, learning together is always best 🙂

Eating Journal

So since 2nd of October I have been taking decent notes in my phone about what I have been eating each day, I missed a couple days but am pretty sure I filled in the details pretty accurately. Have now put them in a Google spreadsheet, so I can add to it daily and you can even view it if you really want. Going forward I am to include amount of sleep I get and general thoughts on the day.

Nothing major but will be good to keep me accountable, I would recommend anyone looking to change there eating for a better lifestyle to keep a journal, it takes a bit of effort to get started but is easy once your in the rhythm!

The link to Google Doc (they call it drive now?): Can you do this?

If anyone has any hints on how to format it in a better way, let me know!!! If you do this also again, let me know so I can browse 🙂

The Vegan Community is Awesome

In today’s society, everyone is more connected, and the Vegan community is thriving!!! I have found so many resources, and everyone is so friendly and welcoming. 

I originally came across VeganMofo via the Vegan Melbourne web site, browsing members ‘is awesome! Everyone is so passionate and brings a different aspect to there pages! While I am highly unlikely to ever produce food as good looking on the food blogs, I am going to make it my goal to comment on peoples blogs more. The comments I have received on mine are awesome and so motivating!!!

I have been listening to the rawveganradio.com podcasts while at work over the last week. The people on there are so passionate, and while I do not agree with everything that they say, everyone is free to have their own opinions and can interpret facts/wisdom/beliefs in there own way.

Vegnews.com is another awesome website, and coming across there job listing page has perked my interest in really getting into the community and looking into working in the vegan/plant based food industry. While my current job is okay, I am not stimulated daily and that passionate about. So who knows, I will probably look into it deeper in a month or two. Am pretty excited by it though.

This leads onto World Vegan Day in Melbourne in November. At the very least I will be attending of course, but I also submitted the volunteer form. Hopefully I am no too late, as I would love to get involved one way or the other. I will also be looking to get involved the general Vegan Melbourne scene and get a chance to meet a bunch of interesting people!

The last site I will mention is veganbodybuilding.com. My girlfriend wants me to get fatter so she can have more of a pillow when she rests on my shoulder, of course I am not going to be doing that given I am scrawny in general and am eating like a fit king! However, I would like to build my strength up cause frankly I am as weak as they come. I do not want to be a bodybuilder, but would like to put a bunch of weight and size onto my sturdy 174cm~/65kg frame haha. So hopefully if I can jump into those forums my knowledge can continue to expand. And I would love to prove to my meat eating mates first hand that you must eat meat for protein 🙂

Wow, I could go on and on! But that’s all for now, I guess I will make a comprehensive links page down the side of this page in the next few days for my own good and hopefully some others can come across so snazzy sites that have not seen before!!!