Hi everyone, i am new here, and i've been eating SAD for 55 years. Is it too late for me? I've been a vegan for the past 4 months. A lot of what i eat is also raw, but not 100%. I work in a hospital, mostly around nurses, and when they just found out i'm a vegan, they just about flipped!! I was peppered with so many questions, and one co-worker, when she thought i wasn't looking, was shaking her head. Now this small gesture really got to me, because it implies either a) i'm nuts or b) i'm stupid or c) both............. she is obese, has rotten teeth and a 400 pound husband, and she is shaking her head at me!! So i guess i'll just stay low key and stick to what i've learned on my own. It's tough though, dealing with questions, looks, head-shaking and the like.
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Hi Gabriele,
I "hear" you. I have not told many coworkers about my choice to go vegetarian for fear of ridicule. Though the ones I have told seemed understanding (maybe cause I live in California). Just remember you are doing this for yourself and try to join in the work celebrations when possible. I've been eating more cooked food since the weather turned colder and can tell a difference in how I feel (sluggish).
Also, I got my protein and cholesterol checked recently and both were good! My cholesterol decreased 30 points after 3 months high raw eating (about 75-80% raw).
Stick in there!
Hey Juliette, thanks for the advice. Actually, my birthday was on Monday, shared with my boss, and the whole office gave us a little party and this time the theme was SALAD!! Only one other person knew what diet i'm on and she must have said something. i was very tickled by this, thought it was a very nice gesture. So of course that's when everyone else found out. My favorite question was (get this) "WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR NUTRIENTS FROM?" huh??? What????? oh, let's see, NOT from vegetables and fruits and nuts, i guess i'm not getting the nutrients you are from your charred meat and booze!!! hahaha They were polite and had many questions but the head-shaker really got to me. :(
All great points, Tangerina. Yes, they see me too drinking my crazy green concoctions. My immediate boss is my age and very supportive, she came in and handed me something she printed out just for me about vegan thanksgiving recipes. So that was nice.
It is quite an irony that we are all working in a hospital but it is not a healthy place. The cure for everything is drugs, not nutrition.
To be honest though, it took me 2 years of researching on the internet before i realized what i needed to do. So the average person, eating SAD, doing no research and having no motivation to do any, would not stumble across any of this information. I wouldn't have either if i didn't end up having a surprise heart catherization (sucks to not feel well at work, i was whisked into my own ER). So they think that to get calcium of course you have to drink milk. They think that to get protein of course they have to eat meat. They would think i was deranged if i told them "the truth" about these things. The headshaker, by the way, is not a nurse, thankfully.
So frustrating to do so much reading and learning only to have everyone think you are starving for nutrients and are eating in a deranged way. :))
me and a friend discussed peoples (particulary health care peoples) reactions to someone being on a vegan diet. He said "If a person has little or no knowledge about a subject they will immediatly react negativly towards it because they try to proctect themselves (from showing their lack of knowledge)". I think there is a lot of truth to that. Those who are sceptical will eventually turn when they see how healthy and happy you are. Those who are down right hostile (meaning head shakers) are maybe that way because they deep down are too afraid to help themselves.
I get alot of very stupid questions about my diet, and always alot of attention during lunch hour. I try my best to answere their silly questions respectfully and always try to offer them a taste of what i have made. This way i hope to give them a more positive viewpoint on veganism/rawfood.
ps there is a reason why dr. oz turns people on a vegan diet: http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2009/11/dr-oz-turns-meateating-cowboy-vegan.html
What wonderful responses you have all given me, thank you so much.
Bean, she didn't see me standing in the hallway, she didn't know i could see her shaking her head. It was the smallest of gestures (which i'm making such a big deal about here) but it really struck me hard.
sV3 so true!! Since i have begun this journey, i have turned my meat-eating, weight-lifting New Jersey husband into a total and complete animal loving VEGAN!! My grown daughter, who still eats taboo foods, is trying to be a vegetarian now, and forces her coworkers to eat big salads for lunch (and they do too) and my son who is in college in Chicago is giving lectures in the inner city (he's in nursing school) on the benefits of smoothies!! He tells them his mother hast lost 45 pounds (in 4 months of being vegan) and so all of those around me have picked up some ideas and motivation from me and are quietly spreading it into their little worlds. I am so touched by this fact.
Silystarrfish, you certainly were not rambling, i appreciate every word. There is one person at work who doesn't know me well who, every time she sees me, keeps asking me more questions, all in earnest - i can tell she is thinking about making some kind of change.
Mariannes - yes, i have read a lot on this issue of defensiveness of SAD eaters, even have a book which i haven't started yet - it is so interesting. I think on a deep human level they know what you are doing is somehow "right" and this means what they are doing is probably somehow "wrong". Also, i think chosing veganism is mostly an ethical decision (at least it's mixed in there) as opposed to saying you're on a grapefruit diet, or Adkins, nobody would even say much to that. But this, this touches something in everyone and they just can't stop asking about it.