Extreme Makeover: Vegan Edition

I’ve tried so many different things to lose weight and get healthy.  I make some progress then gain the weight back or, if I’m lucky, stay stagnant for several months because I’m too lazy (or poor) to keep up with whatever the most recent healthy attempt had been.  Over the past 7 years I’ve lost 117 lbs, with lots of fluctuation, but I now weigh less than I did in high school. However I still have a long way to go and I have type 2 Diabetes.

My weakness: the convenience of fast food.  I always seem to fall back on that.  A quick breakfast sandwich from a drive through on my way to work always made life simpler since I struggle to get up and moving in the mornings.  That all changed on Friday, June 26, 2015 when I got food poisoning from a Carl’s Jr. sausage egg and cheese biscuit (that also had a hair in it, mind you, so I didn’t even finish it).  I’ve never experienced food poisoning before and I pray I never do again.  I was sick for four days and missed almost 2 whole days of work. I was miserable.

While I was home sick and unable to do much, my siblings and I started watching documentaries on Netflix, starting with “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” by Joe Cross.  Joe’s journey was very inspiring as he turned to juicing and healthy living to reverse his poor health and disease.  I was amazed at the results various people shared.  So my siblings and I started looking into it more and decided we need to make the change.  We ordered a juicer (which is taking forever to get here) and started planning out our health and wellness strategy.

We continued watching documentaries and ended up watching “Vegucated” which documents 3 people from different backgrounds as they attempt a vegan lifestyle for 6 weeks.  Vegans, like vegetarians, don’t eat meat.  But vegans, unlike vegetarians, don’t eat any animal byproducts.  Meaning no meat OR dairy, as well as excluding other animal byproducts.  Throughout their time they learn various aspects of veganism and the food/meat industry.  It was incredibly eye-opening and by the time it was over, my sister and I were ready to swear off all meat. 

Extreme? Maybe. Emotional response? Definitely. Crazy? No. I continued to research and to watch other documentaries about the food industry and have come to the conclusion that there is no way that I can go back to eating how I used to eat knowing what I now know. I can’t with a clear conscience eat animal products knowing not only how they are treated, but what the industry does to the product before it gets on my plate.

I’m not going to go into all the different reasons I’m doing this right now.  But as I continue to post, I will share tidbits I learn, videos I’ve watched, recipes I find, successes and struggles on the journey, funny stories and anything else I feel is relevant or noteworthy.  I’m so excited to get started on this journey.  I made the change to become vegan on June 30, 2015 and I’m not going back. :)