Vegan Diet For A Healthy Life?

By Sarah Taylor – It starts when we’re 40 … the painful knees, the lack of energy, the puffing breath as we climb a few flights of stairs … it’s the beginning of our declining health.  We tell our friend about our painful knees and he complains about his cholesterol.  Our neighbor complains about her blood sugar.  And it snowballs from there as the years go by, into more serious discussions about heart attacks, diabetes, surgeries …

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

More and more people from the Baby Boomer generation are realizing that, no matter what the state of their current health, it’s truly never too late to turn it around.  And an increasingly popular solution amongst these boomers is the vegan diet.

The vegan diet is a diet that contains no animal foods (including poultry and fish) or products from animals.  This cuts out all meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs.  What’s left?  All the things nature intended for us to eat!  Fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds make up the vegan diet.  When you’ve spent years creating and eating meals centered around a slab of meat, cheese, potatoes and perhaps some token vegetables on the side, the vegan diet can take some getting used to.  You’ll want to invest in a couple of vegan cookbooks to give you ideas, such as 30 Minute Vegan if you like simpler yet still delicious recipes, or Vegan Fusion if you like to cook gourmet.  But once you’ve spent a month or two trying new recipes and finding new things to eat at your favorite restaurants, you’ll simply find it your new way of eating, and you’ll enjoy lentil stew instead of beef stew, and veggie pizza instead of pepperoni pizza.

Most importantly, it won’t take long – perhaps even just days – before something BIG happens … you wake up with tons of energy, or you make it through the day without that mid-afternoon slump.  In a few weeks or months, you may notice that your knee has quit hurting, your cholesterol is normal again or (despite what the doctor said), your asthma is gone!!  These exciting changes will be so noticeable and so exciting that you’ll be very motivated to keep getting healthier as you keep feeling better and better.  Boomers are great patients, as they appreciate their health, and will do anything – even give up meat, dairy and eggs! – if it means getting their health back.

You may be over 55, but you don’t have to feel like it!  Try the vegan diet for just 60 days, and see if you don’t notice a major difference in how you feel!

About the Author

Sarah Taylor is the author of the recently released Vegetarian to Vegan and Vegan in 30 Days.  She has a Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from Cornell, and has been vegan since 2002.

Category: Blog, Senior Diet