'my vegan story' by ty-k berry

Posted by Alicia Silverstone on Feb 23, 2010

Kind Lifer Ty-K Berry wrote a blog on his profile page about his journey to veganism, and it is truly amazing! Take a look...

"My VEGAN Story: 

OK, my story began almost a year ago. On Feb 5th, 2009--I began my journey which would result in my becoming vegan in less than 8-months after being carnivorous my entire 64+ year life. Why? Anyone might ask! First, I hated being over 200 lbs, so, on my own, I developed a plan to rid myself of 30+ lbs in about 3 months time. Lost 26 lbs the first 2 months.

After that I simply maintained my weight-loss (as I still do) by limiting calories & fat plus exercising via walking/jogging at least 4-miles per session and at least 4 days a week. That continued until Sept 22nd, 2009...the day I decided to go vegan.

Here's my reason why. Each day I walked UP the steep 2-mile mountain & jogged down it I passed by a cow pasture on my left and a horse pasture on my right. And each time I passed these animals I talked to them. Well, for some reason, on that day (Sept 22nd), it hit me that I loved these animals & felt guilty about consuming them--ergo I made the internal decision THAT VERY DAY that I was never gonna eat animals again.

Of course I "thought" that I would really miss the taste. And, also, I had no thoughts that day, that changing my eating habits would be self-beneficial. You see, I HAD Type II Diabetes and High Cholesterol, for which I took pills twice daily to control. Did you catch my word, "had?" In early November (just before my 65th birthday), I had blood-work done. When the nurse called me to say that the doctor said I could quit taking all medications, can you imagine how elated I was? Talk about an early birthday present! Wow!

So, eating a whole food plant-based diet is somewhat of a miracle for me--even at my age. No pills. No diabetes. No high cholesterol. No high blood pressure. Three days ago I had a hernia operation--no nausea pills/no pain pills, and, I walked my 4-mile course today, without pain. Can't jog again yet, but I'm out walking & maintaining my weight & loving my vegan diet. That's my story! Cool?"

This story is so inspiring! It's incredible to hear how this lifestyle has changed your life and improved your health soo much, Ty-K Berry!

To all of you Kind Lifers out there - if you have an exciting and inspiring success story like Ty-K Berry, write about it on your profile page or in the forum and flag it as "cool". I love reading these and sharing them with all of you!

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Categories: health , success stories

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89 Responses

Michelle O.
Feb 28, 2010
82

I love your story Ty-K Berry ! and kuddos to you for being so open minded & doing what you needed to do to be healthier (and kinder to the animals)

Sandy Comer
Mar 1, 2010
83

What a great story. Congratulations on your accomplishments and good health...and for loving those animals! :)

Mary Alban
Mar 3, 2010
84

Loved the story. I so wanna come off all my medications and shed some pounds. I don't eat that much meat to begin with so that won't really be a problem. The problem will be the dairy!

Sonia Fiallos
Mar 3, 2010
85

This story is so refreshing. I am flirting with the whole vegan lifestyle. I love it. I want to go full force but I am indulging in the recipies slowly.

I am sooo happy for you! Thank you for the inspiration!

Sophie Valiquette
Mar 3, 2010
86

I heart that story ! Thank you Ty-K Berry for sharing it with us, it is really helping me in my journey to be vegan ! :)

Jessica K
Mar 6, 2010
87

What I love about this story is stressing how he does not have to take medication anymore and all his high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes went away. If instead of immediately writing prescriptions for pills, doctors first suggested becoming a vegan, people would be much better off!

erica
Mar 7, 2010
88

Very nice story.... Besides exercise how did you loose 30 lbs, I want to do the same as well. What types of things did you eat, did you still allow yourself vegan desserts?

Alexandra Thom
Mar 8, 2010
89

Ok, perhaps a silly and personal question. In the book you mention going off the pill. I myself would like to also go off the pill because I feel like it makes me a little crazy and carry a little extra baggage. As we know you do not have children (at least the human kind) and are very happily married, what is your preferred method of birth control?

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