VEGAN WEEK 4: OH YEAH

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I said I was going to explain why I went vegan after 30 days, and here I am on day 45 with no explanation until now. Better now than never, right?

Essentially, I wanted to challenge myself. I told myself before I couldn't because that would mean goodbye Frosty. What about the Frosty?

I watched 'Forks Over Knives' again and it connected with me. I have a family history of heart issues (from enlarged hearts to high blood pressure) and it scares me. I haven't been the best eater for a large portion of my life and if I didn't make a change it was bound to catch up with me. Mind you, after cutting out gluten my eating habits weren't awful, but still needed improvement. Besides, no matter what people say, you can still be a not so healthy gluten free eater. On top of that, having PCOS makes it difficult to lose weight and that's what I wanted to do.

I'm not a medical anything and I didn't seek a doctor's advice on this (oops) but I felt it couldn't hurt. If I didn't feel like it was right for me, I'd go back after 30 days.

The best thing for me was to make a change and it had to be completely different than what I was doing now. It couldn't hurt. If I thought I was going to explode from lack of chicken in my burrito bowl then I'd simply go back to (organic) chicken.

But...

I think I'm going to keep this up. I feel better, I'm actually losing the weight I want (holla!), my endurance has improved...everything just seems to be better for me. My main goal is to get this PCOS under control and not need any medication. I don't think I can "cure" it, but if I can keep it together, that would be fantastic. Also, lowering my chances of any heart complications is a bonus.

I still don't and won't support PETA and I am not judging anyone who eats meat. I believe it's part of the circle of life, so go nuts.

I have yet to crave anything outside the vegan perimeters so bad that I'd go crazy without it, but I still vow to have a "cheat" day if I feel like my heart won't go on.

Some people ask me how I do it, and by how they mean, "What about bacon?" and I have to say, I just look at the end goal that I want. I still get the look of, "OK, girl," which is fine. I give the same look when I learn my friends are on Paleo and they're not hummus. Yeah, I'm not living my life without hummus.

Like I stated, I'm not a medical anything, and I can't give someone the OK from a medical standpoint. I understand all the points of needing some kind of fats and proteins and I'm researching to the best of my ability to make sure there's some kind of replacement so my body stays healthy. If you really want to try being a vegan, I can suggest cutting back slowly. Start with cutting meat, then egg and dairy later. It really is up to you. And if you can't live without meat, it's fine.

In the end, just be healthy :) -C