Friends that eat vegan, organic, unprocessed

Hello Everyone!

I've been on a quest to eat healthy since I was in my early 20's, for over 30 years now. This means I eat mostly organic, whole, unprocessed foods. I do eat canned organic white, black, pinto, etc beans. And I sometimes eat Annie's canned soups. But for the most part nothing out of a can or box for me. Oh and how could I forget I do eat jarred organic olives, artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers. But I read labels to make sure anything I buy that's prepackaged is completely free of any undesirable ingredients . . . and I only buy these items from our local, privately owned health food store. I don't trust the organic foods from the big box stores. Some of those organic foods come from China and are actually NOT organic or good for you!

Oh and since August 2012 I've been eating mainly vegan. Since then I've also stopped eating flour based products, which means I don't eat bread, cake, pies, cookies, muffins, pasta, etc. (I do eat Ezekiel brand flour-less sprouted grain bread and rice pasta).

My diet consists mainly of organic fresh fruits, berries, veggies, lentils, legumes, seeds, nuts, cold pressed olive oil, coconut oil, raw honey, coconut milk, cider vinegar, other organic vinegars, Ezekiel bread, oats, quinoa, rice, millet, barley, tempeh, miso and seaweed. I'm very fortunate because my husband has been an avid, organic gardener for the past 30 years! We even have a greenhouse for year round gardening, fruit trees, berry bushes. He raises chickens for eggs and also for meat and used to raise beef with the neighbor. Now of course, the eggs and meat aren't getting eaten as much because I'm eating vegan and the three kids have flown the nest. I can, freeze, dehydrate, and cold cellar my husbands bumper crops each summer. He also sells some.

There have been times in my life when I've been in great shape . . . at goal weight and physically active. But I've been sedentary for the past 10 years and as a result I gained around 40 lbs. I switched to a vegan diet in August (7 months ago) and lost 10 lbs without counting calories or exercising. This has given me the drive to keep going and I've started to exercise, count calories and I found MFP! I ordered a Bellicon Rebounder and can't wait to start using it daily. I also have a good rowing machine (my sons used to be on the crew team in middle/high school), some free weights, and a yoga DVD. I really need to find a good yoga class in my area. AND once I'm in better shape, I can't wait to start rollerblading again!!!!!

One thing I am worried about is my skin snapping back when I lose weight. It did snap back the other two times I dropped 30 lbs in my life, but I'm, ahem, older now. I don't have stretch marks thankfully. Still, I don't want to have a turkey neck and loosey goosey skin everywhere! Any advice in this area would be welcome.

I'm looking for like minded people to befriend :flowerforyou:

Judy from Connecticut/NYC