Okay, okay, I know what you must be thinking: "YOU?!?! VEGAN?!?! Wait, doesn't that mean you don't eat ANY animal products AT ALL?!?!". Yep, that's me! I LOVE it! I honestly have no regrets. Well, maybe sometimes when I think about cheese but other than that I am really happy with my decision. I love how I feel and have even lost about 25 pounds or so over the last two months. My family must think I'm nuts because I'm the girl who literally took home the carcasses of any animal we ate for holiday dinners to make soup or stock from. I was the turkey carver. I ate more cheeseburgers in a year than a family of four did. I would stop and get a burger and chicken sandwich or stuffed jalapenos or a chocolate shake almost every day for dinner.
So how in the heck did I go from that to this? I had gained so much weight over the holidays that my scale literally wouldn't weigh me. Mind you, it went really high! My knees hurt. I couldn't sleep more than about 4-5 hours at a time. I had constant heart burn even though I was taking Prilosec OTC. I was always tired and couldn't get enough food inside of me. I was constantly hungry. I'd go through bouts where my stomach hurt so badly that I thought I was having a gallstone attack or appendicitis. I knew I had to do something or else I was going to die. I could not keep living like this, could I? Even with all those things going on inside of me I could not bring myself to make such a drastic change. My own suffering could not make me give up my beloved pizza and cheeseburgers though. I have a girlfriend from high school who is a vegan eater and I saw the foods she was eating and thought "Heh, I should start eating one day of vegan eating a week." but only for health purposes. Once the new year began I decided to do a cleanse so I went to Trader Joe's and bought my little two week cleanse in a box and decided to begin straight away. Then one day I was talking to another friend about diatomaceous earth and did some research on it. While researching it I found people who had been doing cleanses for years who ended up finding that they had monsterous worms living inside of them. That was it. I was sold and had to get my hands on some DE. My girlfriend was so sweet that she let me buy a canister from her and I began taking three tablespoons a day. I swore to myself that if I had worms I'd give up meat. At least red meat and pork. What I found is staggering and not just a little gross! I found at last half a dozen or more ascaris living inside my intestines that had flushed out. I also found what looked to be liver flukes.
Now, after researching these organisms I realize that it was probably the liver flukes that were causing me so much pain in my gut. UGH! You'd think that after all this junk I would have sworn off animal products completely but nope! I still wasn't ready to do so. I just decided not to eat pig and cow meat. I was addicted to hamburgers and pizza and other animals flesh. I would see a commercial and literally start salivating and shake from a need for that food. It was crazy! I started researching dangers of animal products and how to be a vegetarian because heaven KNEW I would never make it as a vegan. I ran across a website that had what I thought was information on eating vegetarian but ended up being all about how animals were treated. I saw pictures and videos and I was sick to my stomach and my heart ached for those animals who were being killed just so that I could indulge in my food addiction. I knew then that I could not eat animals anymore. At that point I thought that the occasional dairy product would still be okay, though I'd sworn off eggs as well. I wanted to know, not just from one source but really know if this was how animals were really treated so I did more research. While researching I saw an interview with Ellen DeGeneres and she said what really caused her to become a vegan was watching the documentary "Earthlings". What I saw killed me. I knew that I would not eat dairy again either. My heart hurts when I think of all the animals who had to suffer because I was too weak to quit the food that was killing me anyway. When I think about the fact that I could not give up animal products for myself but could do it for them, it almost awes me. This was a choice. It continues to be a choice. I will always make this choice. I will not put my own wants over the health and well being of an animal.
This journey has been full of trials and pitfalls. There have been times when I thought I was eating humanely only to find that big ag has stumped me again with their loopholes and tricky terms. I've learned a lot though in a very short period of time and if I can inspire just one person to quit eating animals, then I feel as though I have succeeded!
So what is my blog about? I remember how lost I felt when I first made this decision to eat humanely. Initially I ate all kinds of processed foods because I didn't know what the heck to eat. I didn't know how plant eaters could sustain life without protein. UGH! It's crazy how much crap we are spoon fed (literally if you're an omnivore) about how we can't get enough protein as plant eaters and how difficult it is to get enough protein and vitamins as plant eaters. GRRR! I want to shank someone when I hear or read that crap because that's just what it is: CRAP! But alas, I digress! The whole "how much protein do I need?" bit will be discussed later. I was lucky because I had an amazing friend who helped me along my journey and kept me from giving up. She told me what she ate and that helped me tremendously.
The things I'd like to cover are as follows:
- I want to post any news that comes out about eating plant based.
- I want to explain what is in my vegan pantry and how to switch over to being an herbivore.
- I will share recipes that I've tried from others and also some that I've created as well.
- I will talk about my journey in hopes that it will make yours easier.
- I want to help new plant eaters navigate labels and figure out how to eat as an herbivore.
- I will post videos and pictures so that people are aware of how animals are killed and treated every day while we're sitting in our cars scarfing them down.
- I will also add links to animal rights legislation so that we can help animals right from the comfort of our living rooms.
- Lots of other things too that, because my brain is farting right now, I can't remember.
Ultimately I want to help others live a more humane life. What I have chosen for my life isn't necessarily what is best for everybody else, however, if everyone were to eat one plant day a week we'd save some many animals and, by extension, clean up the planet as well. (More on that later) I don't want this blog to be about making people feel badly for their choices. I do want this blog to help people become aware so that they can actually make an information choice.
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