My Winding Road to Veganville (Part II)

 Posted by on April 8, 2011  Savor  1 Response »
Apr 082011
 

Turning Off the Red Meat & Dairy Highways

In my late twenties I stopped eating red meat. I heard all the horror stories about undigested meat in the body, and I didn’t want that to be a part of me. I decided to replace the ground beef with lean ground turkey when cooking my favorite meals such as spaghetti, burgers, and tacos. I immediately saw that there was very little fat to drain after frying the ground turkey. I felt much healthier and not as “weighted down” as when I was eating the red meat. I also noticed that the change from ground beef to ground turkey allowed the full flavor of the seasonings and sauces to come through.

Around this time I also gave up dairy after chatting with a part-time vegan friend who oh so casually mentioned to me that “dairy fat is the hardest fast to burn from your body.” That short conversation resulted in me quickly tossing all of the butter, milk, cheese into the trash can and running to the grocery store to buy the alternatives.

I was never a big fan of eggs and milk, even as a child. I couldn’t stand the smell of milk, and cracking an egg open and watching the contents run out repulsed me. The scent of butter melting in a hot pan turned my stomach and caused me to gag. (I should have listened to my body back then!)

I gave up both red meat and dairy for periods of time, but somehow I found myself back on those dangerous highways that lead to serious health problems.

Entering the Problem Zone

Allergies, Dermotographism, and a skin disease; in 2008 at the age of 31 I was diagnosed with all three. Having never had any serious health conditions or problems, and being the internet junkie that I am, I scoured the web to learn more about the latter two issues. I ended up contacting a good friend of mine who was heavily into holistic health to find out what I could do to help alleviate some of the symptoms and prevent future inflammations. I was told to steer clear of acidic foods such as tomatoes and red sauce and to eat more alkaline foods such as green leafy vegetables. I followed his advice and though I didn’t see results right away, I did eventually see them.

During my annual physical exam in early 2009 (and just weeks before I relocated to Southern California) I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids and nodules on my thyroid. My doctor wanted to keep a watchful eye over my fibroids but admitted to being seriously concerned about the thyroid nodules since they could be cancerous. (Did he say the “c” word?)

Admittedly, I was scared out of my mind and had an immediate case of anxiety. I’ve never even heard of a thyroid. What is a thyroid anyway? What does it do? And how could I possibly have thyroid cancer? (Yes, I was that ignorant about my body. I believe that most of us who have been healthy the majority of our lives are health-ignorant until we are forced not to be.)

Once again, I grabbed my trusty laptop and started a long and deep search of the possible causes of uterine fibroids and thyroid nodules. And what I found scared me: birth control pills, high stress, too much estrogen, being overweight, hormone filled foods, and so on.

For me, it all started to click.

I remembered that in 2008, after almost a 10-year reprieve of taking birth control pills, I started taking them again. I had a horrible reaction to the pills. My breasts swelled and were so sore that it was painful to give and receive hugs. So painful that I actually yelped when a colleague gave me a hug. I was also nauseous most of the time and I gained a significant amount of weight.

Could it all be a coincidence? It’s quite possible, but after doing the research, not so much.

Arriving at Veganville

After all the twists, turns, detours, and curvy roads I traveled, I arrived in Veganville on October 24, 2009. Since I relocated here it has not been easy. I’m not going to fool you into thinking that it’s as simple as deciding to be vegan, because it takes more than making a choice between tofu and steak or soy ice cream and regular ice cream.

Being a vegan takes education, determination, patience, strength, and a strong desire to be healthy. It means standing by your convictions and your beliefs. It means not being persuaded into thinking that you’re just going through a phase. It also means being passionate about your body and doing the best you can to protect it from unnecessary harmful foods that we’ve been falsely educated are good for us.

Being vegan is a lifestyle. It requires constantly reading food labels to ensure that what you’re about to buy does not contain animal products. For some being vegan even goes as far as not using animal products in any part of life, such as not wearing leather and fur and/or not purchasing health and beauty items that use animal products or have been tested on animals.

Being vegan is fun. I enjoy exploring the wonders of veganville. I love going to the online stores and checking out all the cool stuff that is vegan that I can splurge on. I like reading all of the awesome vegan blogs by all the fabulous vegans out there in cyberworld. I have a field day discovering the myriad of vegan cookbooks and documentaries out there to educated the masses about the wonders and benefits of living  a vegan life as well as what we can do to protect these animals.

Make no mistake about it; I wouldn’t have made the move to Veganville without having gone on that long and arduous journey. Though it was no picnic, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve learned and grown so much, and I’m excited to have shared my story with you.

Veganville is not an exclusive community; you are welcome to move in at any time.

My Winding Road to Veganville (Part I)

 Posted by on April 6, 2011  Savor  5 Responses »
Apr 062011
 

It was in the midst of the biggest storm of my life that I decided to become vegan. I was 33 years old, living in San Diego, jobless after having taught English for a high school summer program, and in a treacherous state of limbo in practically every aspect of my life. I needed change and inspiration – and fast.

I spent a large amount of my time online job hunting and networking. And in between applying for every job posting from customer service agent to CEO, I’d take random breaks to catch up on celebrity gossip, Facebook status messages and tweets on Twitter.

One day in my quest for gossip about the latest celebuspawn who got caught shoplifting or crap-faced falling out of a bar, I stumbled upon an Alanis Morrisette interview in which she discussed her 20 lb weight loss, adopting a vegan diet and the book Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss that inspired the change. An avid reader with a past (and fleeting) interest in vegetarianism, I quickly ordered the book and impatiently awaited its delivery.

Turning On to Living to Eat Street
Eat to Live inspired me like no other dieting book out there, and the reason is that it’s not a book on how to diet to drop a few pounds for bikini season. Eat to Live is about changing the way you eat while keeping nutrition on the forefront of our minds. It’s about eating nutrient dense food for proper nourishment and keeping the never-ending food cravings at bay. It’s about eating to prevent – and reverse – some of the most common and avoidable diseases and health conditions. It’s about, as the title so cleverly suggests, eating to live.

After highlighting, dog earring, and reading Eat to Live cover-to-cover (twice!), I knew that I couldn’t continue eating the way that I was before. I made small changes in the way I ate; however, I wasn’t ready to dive into the gigantic vegan pool just yet.

Getting On the Kind Superhighway
Several weeks later, while flipping channels and utterly bored, I came across a morning talk show that featured Alicia Silverstone as a guest. I watched as she passionately and enthusiastically promoted her book The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. I salivated as she prepared vegan recipes for the semi-skeptical hosts. The food looked amazing and after hearing Alicia discuss how smooth the transition could be by simply replacing certain items with much healthier vegan choices, I couldn’t wait to taste the difference between that and the type of food that I was already eating.

As the show ended, I immediately wrote down its name and looked up its website to write down a few of the recipes that Alicia shared. The first recipe I tried from her book was “Cheesy, Oozy Guacamole Bean Dip” and it was so delicious! I ordered The Kind Diet right away and eagerly awaited its arrival.

The Kind Diet is part informational and part cookbook. Alicia breaks things down in the simplest of terms to enlighten everyone about the cruelty involved in eating animals as well as the enormous benefits of a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. The cookbook section is chock-full of recipes and pictures and little tidbits of information and resources. In The Kind Diet, Alicia made the transition to “flirting, vegan, and “superhero” diet and lifestyles sound easy breezy super easy.

The Intersection of Thin & Unhealthy
Growing up, I never had a weight problem. In fact, I was rather skinny – practically a stick figure. In high school at 5’6” I weighed a whopping 135 lbs. After graduation and on thru my early and mid-twenties I rarely gained any more than 10 lbs pound only to quickly lose the weight by stepping up my workouts and treating carbs as if they were kryptonite. No one looking at me would think that I was unhealthy.

Looking back, I was quite “malnourished” in the sense that I was not getting enough nutrients. I was loaded up and fueled by fat, salt, sugar, and fried foods. When I ate vegetables, it was always as a side to a big juicy steak or a baked chicken breast smothered with sauce and cheese. I rarely made a salad to accompany an entrée and dessert was always candy bars, cookies, cakes, or pies. Fruit was only eaten when it was presented to me as part of a menu at a luncheon or buffet. But because of my active lifestyle and super high metabolism, I was always a thin girl. But as I learned years later, not being fat didn’t mean that I was the healthiest that I could be.

On Friday I share Part II of my journey …