It
has officially been over a week since the beginning of my journey!
I
am incredibly excited to be able to blog about how wonderful I feel physically,
but unfortunately, that post isn’t today. Let me begin by saying that I haven’t
“cheated” at all, and I still fully and
wholeheartedly believe in my decision to go vegan.
To
be honest, I have not been feeling very well. There are a lot of physical
repercussions that have come from my decision to go vegan. My post is not to discourage anyone from attempting to cut animal
products out of their lives, but rather to express my journey in a way that is
extremely raw, real and true.
As
a typical American consumer, we are raised on the ideals that food is not a
necessity to live off of, but rather a luxury that comes as we please. When we
want ice cream we go to Dairy Queen, buy an ice cream cone, and we eat it. We
don’t feel guilty. Sometimes, we stuff our faces so full of pizza that we
physically can’t move. It is amazing to me that I never realized that is the
way I was for so long… Sure, I knew that I ate what I wanted, and didn’t eat
what I didn’t. But my whole entire diet was based upon cravings. When I wanted
something to eat, I found a way to eat it. It is a ritual I practiced over and
over again for twenty years.
The
struggle I have been facing the most this past week is changing my mindset
about the way that I approach eating. Because my body is so addicted to meat
and dairy products, I am craving them. This basically means that everything I
want, I am no longer willing to eat. For twenty years, I have always eaten what
I wanted in the moment and now, I am refusing to. This has been incredibly difficult
on me mentally and physically. Whenever Andrew asks me what or where I want to
eat, I get extremely irritated and nearly (or literally) burst into tears. Side
note: he is fantastically supportive, and I appreciate his patience with my
crazy self right now!
By making my transition to Veganism
so quickly and cutting animal products out of my life immediately, I think my
body has just been in shock. It has been extremely challenging to find food I
really want to eat, but with time I
am confident I will crave plant-based foods. Yum!
On
a more positive note, (because I want people following my blog to know that
this is such a POSITIVE, and life changing experience!) I can’t believe how
simple it has been to find foods to eat! I have never grown “hungry” from a
lack of food! Grocery shopping has become easier and I am learning the ways of
a vegan-life with each passing day.
Yesterday,
I made vegan vegetable lasagna with ‘chicotta’ (ricotta made from chick-peas).
It was incredible. I will post the
recipe sometime this week! Also, Andrew treated me to vegan Neapolitan ice
cream in a gluten-free cone last night… Maybe life as a vegan isn’t too bad :)
My plug for the week: If I have influenced you in anyway, or
you just happened to stumble upon my blog and are interested in doing something
incredibly impactful, please take the time to pledge to go vegetarian during US VegWeek! It is the week of April
21st. You can sign up to participate in this AMAZING experience
here:
No comments:
Post a Comment