Baby Steps, Big Changes

Just to set the record straight, I’m not some 40 year vegetarian, 30 year vegan, woo woo, meditating, deep breathing, yoga stretching, matchstick Victoria’s Secret model in a custom made sports bra sitting in the lotus position writing this.  Far from it, my friends.

I’m a 44 year old wife and mom, who could stand to lose a few pounds, with a full time job, 2 felines, a good sense of humor and what seems like very little time.  I like to think of myself as a late bloomer when it comes to this whole plant based thing.  My husband and I got married in 2005 and soon after that, for one reason or another, we decided to give up meat.  It was really just health based, I think.  My dad was obese with a terrible diet and passed away from a heart attack 6 weeks before our wedding, never getting to meet his son in law and my beautiful then 5 year old step-daughter. Maybe that was always gnawing at the back of my brain. Also it was about this time that someone from a former job of mine had recommended The China Study, which I read and enjoyed, and got the gist of, but was a little science-y of a read for me.  So we decided to make this change. And I’d say we held fairly strong for about 4-6 months.  But life takes over, grills come out, social pressures impede, and it’s just easier to do what you know, you know? 

Flash forward to 2017, I'm pretty sure it was Mother’s Day weekend.  And my friend whom we shall call Carrie (hi, Carrie!), came over with dinner for us, just because she is awesome and generous like that.  She had prepared a completely raw dinner for us.  I remember she had made some type of raw burgers which we wrapped in lettuce leaves, and some kind of noodles, I think they were kelp, with a homemade raw sauce.  We were doing the nodding and smiling deal with wide eyes hoping she would not see the terror in our faces.  But out of love and gratefulness, we took a bite.  Then another.  Then another.  Before we knew it we were done and asking for more.  Carrie told us that she had been dabbling in raw food and was enjoying it.  What was this foreign train I felt I needed to board?    And thus my wheels began to spin.

Podcasts were a foreign concept to me.  I didn’t get it.  Probably because I never really tried it.  So I downloaded a free podcast app (Podcast Addict) and starting searching.  This was where I found Laura-Jane, The Rawtarian.  I devoured her podcast from episode one and started incorporating more raw style foods into my diet, and less and less meat.  This meant, automatically including more fruits and veggies in my diet, something that had previously been a very small percentage of my food intake.

I found myself feeling better, sleeping better, and losing some weight, simply by changing what I ate.  I was astounded.  This could simply not be possible.  I HATED exercise and never did it, so that certainly wasn’t it.  The only thing that I had altered was my diet.  I was so intrigued.  Netflix and the Buncombe County Library became my best friends.

My husband and I devoured all of the documentaries we could watch online and from the library:  ForksOver Knives, Vegucated, Food Inc., What the Health?, Cowspiracy, Food Matters, FoodChoices, Supersize Me, Why Are We Fat?, Beyond Food, Hungry For Change, PlantPure Nation, Vegan Everyday Stories, Fed Up, In Defense of Food.  You name, it we watched it.  Our jaws dropping further and further with each nugget of information.

Then I thought wait, there must be more of those podcast thingys about this stuff, too!!  BOOM.  Vickie and Larissa of Vegetarian Zen infiltrated my life starting sometime in the summer of 2017, and they have never left, please find them and love and cherish them and their Peas and Carrots Society as I do (Whaddup??!!).  Now I feel like I’m best buds with Alyssa of Live Planted.   Chuck Carroll (the weight loss champion) and I have a good laugh as we learn every Thursday when his new Exam Room podcast drops.  And through all of this, over the past 21 months, we have continued to make changes, and feel different, better.  But I seriously couldn’t have done it without these people and resources.  People like Dr. Colin T. Campbell, Dr. Michael Greger, The Minimalist Baker, the Cheap Lazy Vegan, Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Caitlin Shoemaker of From My Bowl, and oh so many more!  I’m telling you, the more you dig, the more you learn, the more you find ideas to try, the more you learn what works for you and what doesn’t.

This digital world that we live in has so many pros and cons.  You really have to find the way to make it work for you, not against you.  For example, don’t ever Google your symptoms, it will just tell you 19 ways that you are dying.  Do, however, google things like “easy vegan lasagna”, “easy vegan cheesecake”, "easy vegan mac and cheese”, “easy vegan buffalo wings”.   Oops, careful Lisa, you’re going to get a rep as an easy vegan, LOL!!  HAHAHAHA!!!  I kill me.  But I digress…

I’m not a strict anything. I just strive to eat 100% plant based, cooked, raw, home, out, wherever, and whatever and however.  It began for my health, and now my reasons have broadened as I learn more about animal cruelty, the environment and how these little choices I make every day can have such an enormous impact.

I will have other posts on foods and ideas that are more specific.  But what I want you to know is that this is not an all or nothing deal.  You do your own vegan you, if that is what you’re looking for.  Maybe that is Meatless Mondays.  Maybe it’s giving up all animal products but cheese (because OMG.  But more on that later.  I’ll let you enjoy it a little longer before I gross out.  Because we’re friends now J).  Maybe it is just eating less meat and dairy for a while to test the waters.  Maybe you want to just add more fruits and veggies and whole grains and legumes to whatever your existing diet consists of.  ROCK ON!!  Just do what you can when you can and before you know it, you will most likely find that these decisions are not even decisions anymore, they are just your natural choices that don’t require any more thought.

Maybe you’re doing it for your health.

Maybe you’re doing it for the love and safety of the animals.

Maybe you’re doing it for the environment, we only got one planet, peeps.

Whatever your reason(s) are, just do it.  One baby step at a time.  And me?  Hey, I’m just another resource for you on this wacky journey that I hope is long and healthy for both of us.  So please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or comments.  Nothing is too big or too small.

Go have a rock star day.

PS.  I figured out how to do hyperlinks today.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.