Vegan - 21 months -

I have been a vegan for almost 2 years. I am now very comfortable with eating vegan food every single day. Only difficulty still remains is how to manage social situation (Sometimes, I cannot hang out with others to explore new restaurants). Veganism definitely made my social life more difficult.

I visited Japan last spring, and it was also very difficult experience. You can have super few vegan option in Japan. And non-vegan Japanese cuisine is so yummy, seducing you. I felt bit miserable there because it was very hard to survive in my home country.... It was like loosing my home. You will lose many things as you live, home will be one of those.

I will definitely remain to be vegan at any expense, since my body knows it is the right decision. You cannot get everything, so you anyway have to make a choice. Veganism is the choice I made.

Vegan -1 year-

I noticed that I have been a vegan for a year. I cannot believe that I did not eat any meat or fish for one year. To be honest, I do not miss meat at all, but do miss sushi bit. I sometimes make avocado rolls when I really want to eat sushi.

I think I cooked a lot during this one year. After being a vegan, I hardly had a choice to eat fast food outside, therefore, I always come back home and cook every single meal. I think this way of living is healthier but consumes much more time. In my opinion, it is not a too bad idea to invest my time for better health. Good health is number one issue, more important than money or success.

Vegan cheese alternative

Today, I was looking for an vegan alternative of cheese. I have eaten vegan pizza which had melted cheese alternative on top. It tasted like more or less cheese.

After google search, I found that a product called vegan gourmet cheese alternative might be the one I ate. I will find this alternative in the city, because I want to eat a piece of toast with melted cheese on.

Vegan -7 months-

I have been a vegan for 7 months now. The strong happiness I felt at the beginning has already gone. Indeed, I lost desire to eat meat completely. Being a vegan is now so natural for me, and I do not want to eat American fast food again (No more MacDonald's in my life).

However, as I became a natural vegan, the true problem of being a vegan has emerged its face. Social life. Most of friends of mine are not vegan. When I am invited to a party, dinner or any social situation, I usually have really few things I can actually eat. Then I face a really difficult question. What should I do? Not eating food served for me or not ordering food at restaurant are extremely rude, and I do not want to do so. However, I do not want to eat non-vegan food neither.

I have no answer yet for this difficult question. I usually eat non-vegan food except for meats when people serve it to me (For my sense, denying to eat meal that someone cooked for me is too rude). I order fish at restaurant because only eating salad will bemuse other people. I do not want to loose social connections to people I care, therefore, I will have to find a good solution for this problem.

Vegan -Vitasoy Original-

Recently, I got a lot of accesses to vegan entries of this blog. Therefore, I will talk about my vegan life little bit more.

I would not have become a vegan if I had not known this Vitasoy original soy milk. This is the best soy milk I have ever drunk, and I am drinking Vitasoy original at least one pack a day. This drink is a dominant protein source of my current body. You can buy this soy milk in many shops in San Francisco, including Safeway and Whole Foods, so try this out (and make sure it is "original", other derivatives are not as good as original, I think).

Vegan -day 121-

"Why did you become a vegan?"
This is the most frequently asked question after I decided to be a vegan.

I have two versions of answers for the question, shorter and longer versions. The shorter version is simple: "One morning, when I wake up, I noticed that I am a vegan." People sometime laugh when I say so, but it is exactly what happened to me. No more, no less.

Although I usually do not tell, I have the longer version of the answer. Some people believe that all creature experience the same pain and suffering as we humans do (that is why to be a vegan). But I personally do not know about it (they may or they may not). I am a scientist, so if you say "the same pain", I would wonder how can you quantify the pain? I do not want to give an unnecessary pain to any creature, but I do not mind hunting animals to eat (That is a part of nature). The true longer version of my answer is that I became a vegan because I have to survive in a foreign country as a stranger. Living in a foreign country for a long period (such as 10 years) is a really tough challenge. It is totally different from visiting the foreign country for sightseeing. Nothing happens as you expected in a foreign countries, you have to be extraordinary careful all the time. All the time.

I just noticed that I need very strong physical and mental intensity to survive here. Being a vegan and running a marathon are part of my training to obtain them.

Vegan -day 35-

I have been a vegan for more than a month. I am getting used to being a vegan and spending a lot of time on reading ingredients at Whole Foods. I have never payed any attention to the ingredients before, but now I understand more things are actually vegan than I expected to (There are many kinds of vegan ice creams taste good).

However, thanksgiving is approaching. This year I have to give up Turkey due to my resolution to be a vegan. A friend of mine suggested that there is a turkey alternative, called Tofurky, which is created by tofu and tastes like a turkey. I decided to cook this Tofurky on this coming Thanksgiving day.


Tofurky

Vegan -day 20-

I have been a vegan for 3 weeks now. I can call myself a 100% vegan.

There was an another big change in my body at around 2 weeks after starting vegan diet. Around that time, I started to eat a lot of raw vegetables and that surprised my intestine. My stool frequency was dramatically increased during that week, and I had to evacuate the bowels more than 5 times a day. I was impressed that even though I did not loose any weight. I think that was a part of detox process of my body. Nowadays my intestine gets used to digest huge amount of raw vegetables and I do not have to go to a restroom so frequently (This is more convenient).

After I started to eat huge amount of raw vegetables, I think my skin has changed. I don't know why but it gets much smoother and more sensitive. First thing I did after starting the vegetable diet is to cut off all inner tags of T-shirts. The tags suddenly started irritating me due to my skin condition change (I used not to mind them at all).

Vegan -day 6-

I wrote:

Write things that no one else knows as everybody else can easily understand.

To achieve this, I will descriptively write what happened to me after becoming a vegan. Because I am the only one who knows what happened to my body.

4 days after I had started vegan diet, there was a striking change in my body. At day 4, I felt really terrible due to severe headache. I did not understand what was going on and my body was so weak at that day. My pee smelled really badly all day long. It smelled really stingingly, which I have never smelled in my life before. I was confused and became really anxious that I might get sickness due to unusual foods.

However, at day 5 morning, everything was cleaned up. My headache was gone and my pee did not smell anymore. Indeed, I felt real health in me. I've never felt this health and happiness before. I think around day 4, I was going through detox process in which the liver cleans up the poison accumulated in my body.

Vegan. -day 3-

Since I grew up in Japan, I was strictly told to eat as many kinds of food as I can. Indeed, I was strictly taught to eat everything served for me no matter whether I like them or not. Since it is culture, I do not blame it. If I go to Japan again, I would try to eat everything they will serve me.

But here in the States, situation is much different. I would die if I have to eat everything served for me in restaurants all the time. They usually serve the way too much for my body.

To protect myself, I decided to be a Vegan from last week. I do not know how long I will be able to continue this diet, but I will write what will happen to my body. What kind of change or desire will occur to my mind and body.