What the Vegan???

The Vegan Life has been growing at a rapid pace and for lots of good reason!
Just turn on Netflix and watch a documentary “Forks over Knives” or the one we watched last night which really got us thinking “What the Health”.

There are a few people I know over the past few years who have gone vegan and swear they have never felt better. And I shook my head saying NO WAY could I ever give up chicken, pork, fish and a good steak! (insert drooling emoji here). Yet…after talking to my fellow gym member and coach Victoria who has been living a vegan life for 3 months….she says she can’t imagine living any other way. Eating vegan changes everything I’ve ever learned about eating! I’ve been living a high protein diet (animal based) for the past 2 years and have been really successful at keeping most of the weight off and feeling leaner. However recently it has become harder to drop the weight and I’ve also had some digestion issues and have been having a hard time getting things “moving” so to speak. Started wondering if maybe the meats I’m eating and the high protein diet have been on are now not processing the way I used to and are now “stuck” to my insides. I have no proof of this or that its even true…but it has me questioning my WOE (way of eating). Now don’t get me wrong….my before and afters from changing my eating habits and intense Crossfit worktouts has transformed my body like nothing ever before and am in the best shape of my life at 39 years old! I have been more or less living a Paleo life and love the clean eating that comes along with it.

BUT….what about if I changed to a plant based diet? I did a juice “cleanse” for 7 days about 4 years ago. The first two days….ABSOLUTE HELL!! Not eating or caffeine? Did I mention how much I LOVE food??
HOWEVER….what I will say is that on the juicing cleanse I never felt better!!!! I was alert, felt great and I liked how I felt so much that I continued juicing once a day thereafter and completely came off of dairy and sweetners. This was inspired by Netflix once again “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead”. Then…..I got sick for a few weeks and fell of the wagon. My juicer now sits in a box in the basement. The juice cleanse was JUST fruits and vegetables. But I remember how great I felt. Vegan is more than this. Legumes, fruits, veggies, nuts, grains….anything that grows from the ground.

So after watching “What the Health” last night….and talking to our coach Victoria….we are going to go vegan for ONE MONTH starting Monday! We are a household of little to no carbs, animal based proteins, eggs and lots of veggies but no legumes. Vegetables will not be a challenge for us to put into our diet as they are such a large part of it. But I do love my eggs and omelettes. I have been eying the “Oh She Glows” at Costco for awhile now……maybe today is the day to pick it up. We just bought a ton of pork last week but we’ll move it to the freezer in the garage. Seb is on board and he actually suggested it. LUCKILY for him….most of the beers he likes is vegan. LOL. The challenge will be over Easter when gathering with family. But I’m sure we can figure something out.

Now….where to begin?? I have added a ton of Vegan IG accounts to follow, looked up some cookbooks at my local library as well as “Vegan for Dummies”. Any thoughts from Vegans out there? Where to start? Suggestions? Will you join the 30 day challenge of going vegan? What the heck? Try it for 30 days and see how you feel!

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