Interview: A Vegan of Over 10-Years (interview post)

Hello and welcome back to all my healthy green subscribers! For today's post, will be about an interview with a friend of mine name Vipul B Patel (pictured above), as he calls himself VIP. I met Vipul through a group on FaceBook that we were both mutually involved in called "Chicago Vegans". With over 13,000 members and that number growing each day this group is for Chicago vegans and anyone interested in becoming vegan. This group is like a neighborhood pub, with lots of different conversations, topics, interests and opinions. If there is one thing for absolute certain, vegans will never agree on everything. But one thing we can agree on is spreading and educating others on the importance of veganism. I asked Vipul to answer some of these questions that I came up with. Please enjoy and be respectful.

1.) What year and how old were you when you decided to become vegan? 

• "I was 38 years old and it was in 2010. The end of this upcoming August will mark the 10-year anniversary of adopting to a full vegan lifestyle."

2.) What made you / what reasonings converted you to a vegan lifestyle? 

• "I made the personal decision to adopt a vegan diet for spiritual and health reasons and I have not turned back since. I can honestly say that I feel better and stronger than I did 10 years ago. Perhaps there is something that you're supposed to give up or let go of, but you hold on to it because it's hard for you to see yourself living without it. Had you asked me 15 years ago if I would ever give up eating meat and dairy, I would've looked at you as if you were crazy. Now, believe it or not, my life is better without it and I have no desire to go back. I have not yet arrived at my ultimate health goal, and my spiritual evolution is far from over, but I am well on my way by God's grace."

3.) What was/are the most difficult things about being vegan? 

• "Some challenges that were difficult for me when going vegan was for one, I realized I was surrounded by those close to me who did not have the same open mindset about the lifestyle. I remember one specific story that comes to mind was right after I had gone full vegan, members of my family would constantly criticize me. It was labor day weekend and I was attending a family barbeque, my family was well aware of my new lifestyle and purposefully made it a mission to cook every dish non-vegan. I did come prepared with a vegan dish of my own but no one even acknowledge it nor were they understanding of my diet. In recent years, being vegan has become more widely accepted for the most part. In 2010, most restaurants had no vegan menu options. I also socialized less with my family and friends which impacted a lot of my close relationships."

4.) Have you been able to inspire others to convert to the plant based lifestyle? If so, who? 

• "As a matter of fact just recently, my lifestyle habits started to wear off on many of my coworkers. One of them has taken the step forward by adopting a vegetarian diet. When I first went vegan in 2010, my wife was not on board with the whole lifestyle change. She continued to feed animal byproducts to our kids up until I believe it was sometime in 2012. She started to incorporate more and more of my plant based substitues into my kids and her diet. Now my whole family has converted to a vegan diet."

5.) What benefits have you seen for yourself since making the switch?

• "I suffered from heavy weight gain throughout my 30's as well as chronic migraines. My family has a history of heart disease. Going vegan was very beneficial for me in terms of losing weight and aiding my constant migraines. I was also barely able to run a few blocks without feeling like my whole body was going to shut down. Now, I did have plans for this October to run in the Chicago Marathon, unfortunately it is canceled now due to COVID.  I have felt the best I have in my life thanks to a plant based diet."

6.) Do you have any suggestions/tips for those who are trying to adopt a vegan lifestyle? 

• "I didn't become vegan overnight that's for sure. I started out by cutting certain animal products out one at a time going from eliminating red meat to chicken then all meat, then all dairy products, and then cutting them all out at once. I would say it took me about 3-4 months to become fully vegan. Use umami flavors to satisfy meat cravings. Mushrooms, soy and teriyaki sauce, and nutritional yeast are great for this. Go slow and aim for healthy foods rather than processed. It seems like those who say that switching to vegan made them feel sick, tired, and all around bad, didn't fuel their bodies properly."