Vegan Say What?

I have actually been getting a few questions about how I made the switch and I realized I never really gave a reason or back story as to why I was switching my diet. Doing a blog post let’s be longer winded and hopefully this will help some of you lovelies out on your own journey!

 

My earliest memories are of my deep love of things that cannot speak. I seriously remember having so many imaginary friends, having entire conversations with inanimate objects, and fiercely loving all plant and animal life. I was just born with this yearning to make everything feel loved, especially the things that aren’t getting love from other places. I would try to repair severed worms, I would scoop dead birds off the pavement and bury them (needless to say my mom never knew about those instances).

Vegetarian

When I was 13 I made the decision that I wasn’t going to eat meat and because I did most of my cooking for myself, my mom agreed she would buy vegetarian substitutions for me. I immediately cut out beef, pork and turkey. I took a bit longer with fish and chicken. Fish was the last thing to go. I ate a lot of imitation products back then and obviously wasn’t really concerned with ‘clean eating’ because I was a teenager and that wasn’t the kind of household I was brought up in. I still ate eggs and dairy but never drank or used milk.

I was VERY passionate about animal rights. I signed every petition. I saw every question about my diet as the start of a debate. I felt very deeply that I needed to spread the message about what was happening to the Earth and to these animals because of Big Agra and cattle farming.

 

As I got older, I let my passion for animal rights fizzle. I just stopped caring and educating myself on the issues. When I was around 20 or 21 years old I reincorporated fish into my diet because I thought I needed fish oil. Little did I know that the reason eating fish made me feel better was because I was not getting any proper nutrition (and fish really wasn’t helping as I would go on to gain more than 50 pounds).

 

Vegan

Fast forward a bit and I am 25, I have fallen in love with health, nutrition and fitness. I started finding plant based accounts on Instagram and my interest was piqued. I started reading books on vegan nutrition and lifestyle (Main Street Vegan, The Kind Diet, The Idiot’s Guide to Plant Based Nutrition, Forks Over Knives, The Starch Solution) and watching a few documentaries on Netflix (Forks Over Knives, Cowspiracy) and I felt that old flame blaze again. I felt really disappointed in myself, why didn’t I make the switch sooner? Why did I stop loving? The answer was that when I stopped loving myself, my ability to love and help others stopped, too. I let that disappointment go and decided on May 1^st that I was officially vegan.

 

 

Things I have noticed so far:

Pros

My nails are a lot stronger, and are growing faster, as is my hair (crazy right? Big Agra would like for you to think the opposite!)

My bowel movements are again very regular and pain free, bloating and gas are now to a normal minimum!

I am developing a MUCH healthier relationship with food (should I do a blog post on this?? Would anyone find it helpful to hear about my struggle with undereating?)

Trying lots of new and yummy foods and recipes!

I don’t actually miss the things I thought I would (ice cream, sour cream, cheese)

 

Cons

It is true that it is more difficult to go out to eat if you live in a rural area, but even in West Virginia we have a hand full of awesome restaurants that provide vegan options. AND there is an app for that! Which is great for people that travel a lot.

I can’t have Siggi’s anymore

 

Tips

Read as much as you can. Books, articles, blogs. If you aren’t a reader, totally hit up the documentaries! And YouTube is also a great resource for fast facts.

Determine based on your personality type how to go about it, baby steps or diving right in. (Main Street Vegan is a great read for how to approach both of these)

Don’t worry about “messing up” – there will be growing pains as there are with anything. If you accidentally eat something with an egg in it, it’s ok. Lessons have to be learned! I was reading an article from the Cleveland Clinic on pros and cons of switching to a plant based whole foods diet for health reasons, it gave a list of 5-6 pros and the ONE con was that it is easier said than done. This is true, you have to really be mindful and it does take more effort. But aren’t you worth that effort? Isn’t Mother Earth?