Eat 'Yo Veggies

It’s no secret that when you turn 30 everything changes.  Yes, I heard everyone say… “oh, your metabolism will slow down.”   I didn’t believe it.  I’m an active person.  I work out and run very regularly.  I’d say I eat fairly well… I by no means sit around eating potato chips all day.  But I grew up in the Midwest – my diet has always been meat, potato and bread heavy.   It wasn’t until I got to college that I started to eat vegetables other than carrots and iceberg lettuce. 

Last year, I had the opportunity to work with/for one of the most holistically minded people I’ve ever known.  I ate raw and vegan while I was at her house.  I learned about essential oils and supplements.  I left that job at the end of the year, and have spent the last 365 days feeling like my body has a mind of it’s own.  Yes, I still work out.  No, I’m still not eating bags of potato chips.  I’ve always thought it would be interesting to make a drastic diet change and see what happened.  Last week I had dinner with my resident all things healthy friend and was telling her I had thought about going vegetarian…but that I love meat so much. (As I took a bite some of the best damn beef curry my mouth has had the pleasure of knowing.)  She asked what my blood type was – A+ - and said my blood type thrives on a vegetarian diet.  She asked me when I’ve felt the best in my life.  Without hesitation I tell her it was when I did a 10-day juice cleanse in April.  Fine.  I’ll try being a vegetarian.  But only for 30 days.  Just to see what happens and how I feel. 

I came home that night and watched “Forks Over Knives”… and then “Vegucated.”  My thoughts shifted from the clear health benefits of a plant-based diet to animal welfare.  My heart ached for all of the animals that were being tortured so I could have some bomb ass beef curry, delicious cheese and a coffee with skim milk. 

The next day I went to Costco and to Whole Foods on Friday night – very suburban and 30-something of me, I know!  I left with things my cupboards have never known. 

And today… is my 5^th day of a vegan diet.  Yea, you heard right.  Vegan.  I’m trying it.  For 30 days.  So far, so good.  I had a monster headache for about 3 days… but I suspect that had something to do with no sugar, caffeine, gluten OR animal products.  Yea…go big, or?  Right. 

So here I am, craving cheese like it’s no bodies business.  Nutritional yeast on my rice and quinoa… you are my savior tonight.  Thank you for tasting cheesy and providing me those 6-amino acids my body won’t produce naturally.  I’m excited to see how my taste buds and cravings change in the next few weeks – and mostly I’m excited that I have friends that can point me in the right direction, give me recipes when I’m bored, and tell me just to go get some damn French fries.  So thank you Dalit, Cathy and Angie!! And thank you to all my veggie friends!

And as luck would have it… Angie is blogging 30 days of vegan recipes, starting today!  Boom! http://www.powered-by-produce.com/

Here we go!  Oh, and Happy New Year!