I started out doing the Hallelujah Diet on August 1, 2011. The Hallelujah Diet consists of a diet that is 85% raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains while the other 15% of your food can be cooked. I stuck to the Hallelujah Diet for about a month where I was eating a lot of raw food but I must admit that while I still do eat raw food, I am currently eating more cooked food than raw. For the past 29 years I have eaten the SAD (Standard American Diet). For the past 2 months and 8 days I have been eating a vegan diet. I will not make excuses for why I have not stuck to a mostly raw food diet, basically I just wanted to cook stuff and have found it easier for me to stick to eating healthy when I can cook my food. Let's not get it twisted, if I became ill and was trying to cure myself of a deadly disease or condition then I believe 100% that I would be able to go back to eating mostly raw food and would have the ability to cure myself as so many others have. However, for now, I am going to be vegan.
Have I stuck to a whole food plant based diet 100% of the time for the past 2 months and 8 days? Well, mostly. I have only eaten meat on one occasion which was my class reunion a couple of weekends ago. I went to the reunion knowing that I was going to eat stuff I shouldn't and planned for it in advance by juicing the next day and basically flushing all of the crap out of my system. Sometimes I may go out to eat and have something that has a little bit of cream or yogurt in a sauce. But for the most part I do not eat any animal products.
How is my weight loss and overall health? I am still losing weight but the weight loss has slowed. My son will be 5 months old in 2 days and I currently weigh 134 lbs (13 lbs under the weight I was before I became pregnant). I feel good about my weight right now but would like to start lifting to get a little more toned. I do feel great though. I have a lot of energy, I rarely feel tired during the day at all and I stay up quite late and have to entertain and infant all day and work sometimes. My skin has cleared up and my mind feels clear as well. Some of my old clothes feel lose on me and I am down 3 notches in my belt. So I guess you could say that things are going quite well.
A lot of people probably think that being vegan is really hard and I can understand why they feel that way because I know I felt the same way at one time. I will not pretend that is is always easy but it does get easier as you learn how to make more delicious and versatile vegan dishes and find the restaurants that you can go to and eat a delicious vegan meal (Indian cuisine is by far, my favorite). The way I feel about my health and my physical appearance and the long term health benefits make it all worth it to me! Sure I have a weak moment every now and then but I eat as much food as I want and I truly enjoy everything that I eat.
I am interested to know something. When you hear the word "vegan" and you visualize someone who is vegan, what do you picture in your mind? I would love it if all of my followers would please post your responses as comments. That would be awesome, I would love to know what you think!
P.S. My better half, Darek, is doing great...he is down 45 lbs and looking and feeling great!
I picture someone who is frail looking.
ReplyDeleteNot long ago I saw a newspaper article about a lady in Sarasota whoe was vegan. She wished people could feel as great as she felt with her diet. Well, she may have 'FELT' fine but she looked like a bag of bones.
I would think that as a vegan, a person should be able to eat some fish for protein because plant proteins are not whole proteins. Just like eggs, eggs are the cornerstone of proteins because the body uses 100% of egg nutrients but not 100% of other protein yet eggs are considered a meat product.
All in all, Americans should eat more vegetables and fruits but I don't know that meat abstination becomes part of that answer. Just my thoughts.
John
Thank you for your thoughts John. Another question for you...before you saw this woman in the article who looked like "a bag of bones" did you always picture someone who is vegan as looking frail or did you develop this schema due to the woman in the article?
ReplyDeleteMy last post on this blog is "Where do I get my protein & calcium"...it addresses a lot of the concerns you have about lack of protein. It may or may not interest you to read it.
Before I began eating this way, I used to picture hippies from the 70's. Now I picture lean, happy, healthy people.
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