Going Plant Strong - Part I

If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw that I've decided to go vegan..forever. I've been thinking a lot today about what led me in this direction and I can't really pinpoint one thing. Part of it is health reasons and the other part is ethical reasons. 

I've always been an animal welfare kind of girl. Plus I've never really liked the taste of meat but I've always considered it healthy and necessary. I was always afraid of becoming a "junk food vegetarian". I didn't ever think I'd go completely vegetarian but last September I had a moment when I just decided that I couldn't do it anymore. For over 6 months I've been completely vegetarian. It has not been hard at all for me BUT I realized I had become the exact kind of vegetarian that I was afraid of. Plenty of fruits, vegetables and junk. It's easy to do. It's easy to make excuses and not have the time to make a good dinner or plan out healthy meals. I had really good days.. and I had really bad days.

Source: http://engine2diet.com/

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I needed to do something drastic. In the past year or two I've seen tons of food documentaries (Food Inc, Fork vs. Knives, Hungry for Change, Fat Sick & Nearly Dead) and I've read quite a few books (The China Study, Eat to Live, The Unhealthy Truth, The Engine 2 Diet). and it's been really eye opening. There is some scary stuff in our food supply, people..

Almost 4 weeks ago I decided that I could commit to a vegan diet for 28 days. I really thought about it and decided that after the 4 weeks, I'd add back in dairy but not as much as I had been eating. Right after Easter I decided to add back in some dairy and it made me so sick! I've always thought I was a little bit lactose intolerant so it could definitely be that or it could have been from not having it for so long. Whichever it was, it made me decide that plant strong was the life for me. The comparison between how I've felt the last couple of weeks (lots of energy, weight loss, glowy skin, not feeling sick) to how I normally feel (tired, sick, bloated, not losing weight no matter what) was the biggest factor for me.

If your on the fence at all, you really need to watch this and you'll change your mind in a heartbeat ;)
Justin Timberlake - Bring It On Down 2 Veganville (VeganShake) - SNL 3-9-13 - Video Dailymotion