Okay, so I'm new to blogging. How new? Well, let's just say this is my first time blogging and creating a page. I really want to do this because being vegan is something that I'm extremely passionate about and I'd love to share my experiences to motivate, educate, and inspire people.
This blog is a long one as it describes my transition but I hope this helps you!
Before going vegan I was mostly vegetarian with the
exception of fish, chicken, dairy, and eggs. Occasionally I would indulge in some other type of meat but my main focus was on being as vegetarian as I could! I've always eaten more on the healthier side but I did have moments where I really loved to indulge. My biggest downfall is
sweets! Oh chocolate, how I ever so dearly love you but you put the weight in my caboose! Ugh, let’s face it...we all need some type of little indulgence here and there because that's what keeps us going. A little bit of chocolate never hurts as long as it's in moderation. I'll address this sweet tooth issue in a different blog post because I found a way to cure it!
In November 2012 I had an unfortunate mishap with my
right knee where I twisted it and it ended up creating a full-thickness cartilage defect on my right medial femoral condyle. I had to undergo arthroscopic surgery to "clean up" the area and to remove a flap of cartilage that was catching. I was out of work for 4 weeks and bored out of my mind. So, Netflix quickly became my best friend! I started watching all of these videos on the food we eat and about veganism. It quickly sparked my interest. One of the first videos I watched was "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead". Now, I wasn't overweight at the time and nor am I now but I was seeking a way to live a healthier lifestyle. So after dropping hints to my husband that I'd love a juicer for my upcoming birthday, my wish was granted. I didn't do anything crazy like a juice fast but I started to incorporate a juice at breakfast time and in the afternoon as a snack. The benefits were amazing! I felt like I was on fire with the amount of energy I had! I did this for about a month before making my next step.
I started to transition into veganism slowly. I just wanted to see if I felt any different. After watching "Vegucated" on Netflix, I immediately stopped eating meat. I was literally traumatized! I always knew that animals were never killed in a humane way for food but something about this movie just hit a soft spot in my heart. Besides, how do you kill an animal in a humane way? The truth is that there is and will never be a humane way to kill an animal for food. This movie also offer insight on the term "free range" and it also touches on how cruelty is still displayed on grass fed animals (such as how they perform
castration of calves which is typically done by a rubber band that is pulled tighter and tighter until the testicles fall off). Then I had watched the movie "Forks Over Knives" and this was my final straw! Dr. Campbell connects the dots as to how what we eat can cause diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 40 and my father was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of prostate cancer at the age
of 59. My Mother made a full recovery and has been cancer free since her treatment. My Father is still fighting the battle but he is doing well. When my Father was diagnosed with prostate cancer it hit me really hard. I was bewildered that both of my parents were diagnosed with some form of cancer and yet we did not have a history of those types of cancer in our family. Although, on my Mother's side we do have throat and lung cancer but those were most likely induced by smoking and/or drinking. So,
this movie "Forks Over Knives" really hit home for me because heart disease, cancer, and diabetes run in my family. Heart disease is the main killer in my family and that's always been a concern of mine. This movie
offered insight on how I can prevent all three o these diseases and if there is anything that I can do to prevent this then I WILL!
So I then began to phase out milk, dairy products, and any animal by-products slowly. Once the milk ran out, the cheese was gone, and the animal by-product stuff was out, that was it! I wasn't going to buy more animal products anymore! I felt like this type of transition was perfect
for me because it allowed me to take everything like a grain of salt and it helped to build a greater determination. Getting rid of the meat and milk was easy for me! I LOVE almond milk and this is coming from a gal who used to polish down a gallon of milk per week!
I stumbled upon a great source in the beginning of my transition at www.healthyeatingstartshere.com. This woman is amazing! She's a holistic nutritionist with amazing recipes! She cooks more with whole foods and mostly no processed foods. I started out with her recipes when I first started eating no meat and I was transitioning into veganism. I was having such a hard time finding realistic and satisfying recipes when I first started out and I almost gave up until I stumbled across her blog. If it wasn't for her, I would have never started! I loved her recipes because most of her recipes didn't call for weird ingredients that I haven't heard of or that I wasn't ready for. Her recipes introduced me to quinoa, which I never heard of but it's readily available. Even Pick N' Save carries it in their bulk department! I remember roaming the aisle of the grocery store and scoping out how easy this vegan transition would be and much to my discretion it was easier than I thought! I never knew that the grocery
store carried lentils, barley, quinoa, veganaise, non-dairy cream cheese, etc. Then again, I never looked because those ingredients weren't what I typically cooked with.
I was skeptical about giving up my cheese though. Cheese is another love of my mine and I couldn't fathom not having it but I was ready to take that step. I stumbled across The Vegan Zombie on YouTube (and found their website at http://theveganzombie.com/) and I discovered Daiya cheese (soy cheese) and oh man, was I hooked! You’re telling me that I can be vegan and have my pizza too? Heck yeah! HIs pizza recipes are amazing! Rather, all of his recipes that I tried are amazing! I love that the recipes are fulfilling and my husband enjoys them. I owe it to The Vegan Zombie for helping me out during this transition because if it wasn't for him, I think my husband would've made me stop cooking vegan!
I then hit the jackpot on Pinterest for more recipes! It's like a vegan paradise! That's been the best source because of the volume of recipes and the variety. I'm usually on
there every other day pinning new recipes to my boards so that I have a variety to choose from.
After this whole transition into being vegan, I was amazed with how great I felt! It was as if my body had an awakening! My energy level increased, my skin cleared up, and I had a glow. People were even noticing the difference. Odd thing is, no
matter what vegan thing I ate, I never had that sluggish feeling anymore! I'm too far into this to turn back. I will be honest though, I am not a strict vegan. I will eat things that contain honey (although I haven't since I started) and I will consume products that are made vegan buy may be processed on equipment that also processes milk and egg products. I find that this gives me a bigger variety to choose from. However, I only do this if I can't find a truly vegan alternative.
This blog is a long one as it describes my transition but I hope this helps you!
Before going vegan I was mostly vegetarian with the
exception of fish, chicken, dairy, and eggs. Occasionally I would indulge in some other type of meat but my main focus was on being as vegetarian as I could! I've always eaten more on the healthier side but I did have moments where I really loved to indulge. My biggest downfall is
sweets! Oh chocolate, how I ever so dearly love you but you put the weight in my caboose! Ugh, let’s face it...we all need some type of little indulgence here and there because that's what keeps us going. A little bit of chocolate never hurts as long as it's in moderation. I'll address this sweet tooth issue in a different blog post because I found a way to cure it!
In November 2012 I had an unfortunate mishap with my
right knee where I twisted it and it ended up creating a full-thickness cartilage defect on my right medial femoral condyle. I had to undergo arthroscopic surgery to "clean up" the area and to remove a flap of cartilage that was catching. I was out of work for 4 weeks and bored out of my mind. So, Netflix quickly became my best friend! I started watching all of these videos on the food we eat and about veganism. It quickly sparked my interest. One of the first videos I watched was "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead". Now, I wasn't overweight at the time and nor am I now but I was seeking a way to live a healthier lifestyle. So after dropping hints to my husband that I'd love a juicer for my upcoming birthday, my wish was granted. I didn't do anything crazy like a juice fast but I started to incorporate a juice at breakfast time and in the afternoon as a snack. The benefits were amazing! I felt like I was on fire with the amount of energy I had! I did this for about a month before making my next step.
I started to transition into veganism slowly. I just wanted to see if I felt any different. After watching "Vegucated" on Netflix, I immediately stopped eating meat. I was literally traumatized! I always knew that animals were never killed in a humane way for food but something about this movie just hit a soft spot in my heart. Besides, how do you kill an animal in a humane way? The truth is that there is and will never be a humane way to kill an animal for food. This movie also offer insight on the term "free range" and it also touches on how cruelty is still displayed on grass fed animals (such as how they perform
castration of calves which is typically done by a rubber band that is pulled tighter and tighter until the testicles fall off). Then I had watched the movie "Forks Over Knives" and this was my final straw! Dr. Campbell connects the dots as to how what we eat can cause diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 40 and my father was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of prostate cancer at the age
of 59. My Mother made a full recovery and has been cancer free since her treatment. My Father is still fighting the battle but he is doing well. When my Father was diagnosed with prostate cancer it hit me really hard. I was bewildered that both of my parents were diagnosed with some form of cancer and yet we did not have a history of those types of cancer in our family. Although, on my Mother's side we do have throat and lung cancer but those were most likely induced by smoking and/or drinking. So,
this movie "Forks Over Knives" really hit home for me because heart disease, cancer, and diabetes run in my family. Heart disease is the main killer in my family and that's always been a concern of mine. This movie
offered insight on how I can prevent all three o these diseases and if there is anything that I can do to prevent this then I WILL!
So I then began to phase out milk, dairy products, and any animal by-products slowly. Once the milk ran out, the cheese was gone, and the animal by-product stuff was out, that was it! I wasn't going to buy more animal products anymore! I felt like this type of transition was perfect
for me because it allowed me to take everything like a grain of salt and it helped to build a greater determination. Getting rid of the meat and milk was easy for me! I LOVE almond milk and this is coming from a gal who used to polish down a gallon of milk per week!
I stumbled upon a great source in the beginning of my transition at www.healthyeatingstartshere.com. This woman is amazing! She's a holistic nutritionist with amazing recipes! She cooks more with whole foods and mostly no processed foods. I started out with her recipes when I first started eating no meat and I was transitioning into veganism. I was having such a hard time finding realistic and satisfying recipes when I first started out and I almost gave up until I stumbled across her blog. If it wasn't for her, I would have never started! I loved her recipes because most of her recipes didn't call for weird ingredients that I haven't heard of or that I wasn't ready for. Her recipes introduced me to quinoa, which I never heard of but it's readily available. Even Pick N' Save carries it in their bulk department! I remember roaming the aisle of the grocery store and scoping out how easy this vegan transition would be and much to my discretion it was easier than I thought! I never knew that the grocery
store carried lentils, barley, quinoa, veganaise, non-dairy cream cheese, etc. Then again, I never looked because those ingredients weren't what I typically cooked with.
I was skeptical about giving up my cheese though. Cheese is another love of my mine and I couldn't fathom not having it but I was ready to take that step. I stumbled across The Vegan Zombie on YouTube (and found their website at http://theveganzombie.com/) and I discovered Daiya cheese (soy cheese) and oh man, was I hooked! You’re telling me that I can be vegan and have my pizza too? Heck yeah! HIs pizza recipes are amazing! Rather, all of his recipes that I tried are amazing! I love that the recipes are fulfilling and my husband enjoys them. I owe it to The Vegan Zombie for helping me out during this transition because if it wasn't for him, I think my husband would've made me stop cooking vegan!
I then hit the jackpot on Pinterest for more recipes! It's like a vegan paradise! That's been the best source because of the volume of recipes and the variety. I'm usually on
there every other day pinning new recipes to my boards so that I have a variety to choose from.
After this whole transition into being vegan, I was amazed with how great I felt! It was as if my body had an awakening! My energy level increased, my skin cleared up, and I had a glow. People were even noticing the difference. Odd thing is, no
matter what vegan thing I ate, I never had that sluggish feeling anymore! I'm too far into this to turn back. I will be honest though, I am not a strict vegan. I will eat things that contain honey (although I haven't since I started) and I will consume products that are made vegan buy may be processed on equipment that also processes milk and egg products. I find that this gives me a bigger variety to choose from. However, I only do this if I can't find a truly vegan alternative.
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