I know what you’re thinking: “She watched ‘What the Health’ and jumped on the vegan band wagon. Now she is going to tell us to eat grass.”

I know, I know. I used to be the same way when I saw that certain people cut out meat and dairy *gasp*. Frankly, I just dismissed them as radical and went right back to my regularly scheduled programming. It was beyond me why anyone would choose to do what looked like a fast for the rest of their lives. But here I am.  I’m now THAT ‘grass eating’ person and I know you are wondering HOW and WHY, so lets get started, shall we?

My Health Journey

As a kid, I ate pretty normal. Of course, my family had their super busy and unhealthy seasons where we just grabbed fast food because we were on the run but we did better as the years went on. As I got older, my biggest fear was becoming overweight, so most of my efforts to live a ‘healthy’ life consisted of stops and starts of exercising and eating right. For me , ‘eating right’ was always a shot in the dark. At one point, I thought eating right meant eating less.  In college, I thought it was about counting calories and working out so I could still eat a huge cheeseburger and ice cream later. I always struggled with my diet and exercise routine because I really didn’t know what to DO. It wasn’t until after college that I started to get this revelation about what wellness really meant. After talking to one of my classmates from college one night about dropping meat I decided to try the whole ‘no meat’ thing out.  For 3 months I went without meat (for the most part, on  rare occasions I went out to eat I had some) and noticed changes in my body and skin. I felt lighter and had a lot more energy. My body felt ‘clean’. On top of all that, I remember looking at some of the food documentaries out at the time and learning about the food industry in America. It really concerned me that we didn’t intentionally know what we were putting in our mouths on a day to day basis. After those 3 months, I moved back home and picked back up eating meat because I just wasn’t ready to be completely consistent. That was last year, and since then I have noticed that my body has become extremely sensitive to any junk I would partake in. After a night of pizza and Krispy Kreme Donuts I would go to bed queasy. I quickly learned that if I had a big meal of meat, I could never eat it all because mid bite I would start to feel extremely full and  nauseous. Through all of that, I still couldn’t let it go because it  was YUMMY. But now I realize it was kind of insane to go back to food that made me feel so bad time and time again; it sounds like a drug addiction honestly. By the time this summer hit I had gained 10 lbs in about 3 months and I was feeling bloated and not myself. I started back on the cycle of exercising and ‘trying’ to eat right but I still struggled. One night, I decided to check out ‘What the Health’ on Netlfix and to say my perspective drastically shifted is an understatement. I knew that eventually I would go completely meat-free, but I didn’t want to jump on the band wagon quite yet. For the next few weeks I vowed to pay attention to how my body felt and THEN make a decision.  To my disappointment, even the ‘healthiest’ meats like turkey started to leave a bad taste in my mouth. After my family watched WTH, to my surprise they immediately  wanted to change their eating habits and I followed. The rest is history……

One Question…#HOW

I have been doing this for about a week and I love it! I already lost 2 pounds, my skin is more glowy, and one morning I woke up super early with boundless energy! Its not as hard as people think, you just have to be prepared and intentional. Meaning, if you don’t plan out lunch the day before you are more likely to falter.  I have to admit that cutting out all dairy is hard, and I love my desserts and cheese! Of course I’m not dousing my food in cheese or eating ice cream; but I might be a cheating vegan in the area of the occasional dessert *shrugs*. My point is, I can’t control every morsel of food that goes in my mouth especially if I eat out. I guess that’s why I prefer to say ‘plant based’ more than vegan cause I don’t need ya’ll policing my plates…lol.  But, for the most part I AM doing this thing and I hope to get better at it as the years go on! I’m not going to push a certain life change on everyone; it was just that for me I was starting to feel sick and this is so much better for my body. Health and wellness isn’t about rules or following a formula, its about knowing your body and whats makes it thrive. Do your research and take care of yo’self.