New Year, New Journey...

If you're looking at this, you most likely know me. I'm a runner, I'm married, I work at a college in the Admissions department, and I've been mostly vegetarian (MOSTLY being the key word....) for about 6 or 7 years. In that time span I had about 3 fall-off-the-wagon moments (more like years..), where I relapsed into eating meat, which I fancied (in a gluttonous, 'I'm nutritionally invincible' kind of way). I also loved being vegetarian, mostly because of the extra energy and lost weight (very good things!!)


My husband and I have been vegetarian since the month after our wedding (thank you, peta.org =Video that convinced Bryan)... and while I had an off the wagon moment (4 months or so), I read an article (Grilling Meat Is Bad) that changed me back to a die-hard veg-head. Although I did cheat on Thanksgiving (I cooked the bird, come ON), I have re-committed to a meat-free diet, and I'm wholeheartedly enjoying myself. So much so, that I noticed the bathroom scale's numbers creeping higher and higher.... long story short: Weight Watchers. Since September. Yes, it works; I'm down 10 lbs. Running works too (training for a half marathon in April, planning on running the Chicago Marathon in October, but Bryan doesn't know that yet). 


Weight struggles aside, even though I was armed with all this healthy info (including lots of documentary watching, arbitrary and random article reading, and one Bachelors degree in Health Promotion), I've (regrettably) recently learned that that may not be enough... for those of us health-conscious enough to know that what we eat directly affects our health (as does exercise, duh!). 


You may be saying.. "WHAT's not enough?? All you eat are plants and stuff now; what's so bad about that??" Well, being vegetarian doesn't necessarily = healthy. It does = no meat. The vegetarian diet includes eggs, cheese, and dairy. Again, what's so bad about that? Well, nothing really... but numerous studies show an absolute link between eating any animal product (eggs, cheese, ice cream, Bailey's liquor, etc) and disease. I HATE IT TOO- but virtually every study out there shows that it's true. You don't know about because big Dairy and big Meat (OscarMayer, Tyson, etc) don't want you to know about it. I know, it sounds like a conspiracy theory. Do me a favor (and your heart too, for that matter..) and watch two movies, both conveniently available on Netflix instant:

1. Food Inc.
2. Forks Over Knives

We did.. and after viewing we determined that we seriously need to cut any animal based product out of our diets. This was difficult to conclude, since as a product of traditional American society, I am very NOT used to the concept that eating meat, cheese, dairy, and other animal products is bad. This was hard to reverse after years and years of family and societal indoctrination of "Meat=protein" and "Eggs=protein" and "Cheese=YUMMY" and "Milk=calcium". 

The simple truth is this: everything your body needs can be found and supplied to your system through whole, plant based foods. Fruits and vegetables contain protein, calcium, and carbohydrates. So do beans, soy products, plant milks, nuts, seeds, etc, etc. 

I know it sounds wacky. Even extreme (I'll admit that!!). But, when faced with the research, and there's a lot of it, I just can't ignore the facts. 

So, over the last week or so, I've been researching the best way to go about this Vegan thing. Cutting out all dairy, eggs, and CHEESE from my diet sounded scary, but the potential heart problems I could face in 20 years if I continued eating the way I have been scared me more (I like cheese... a lot. There's cholesterol, hormones, and fat in cheese, and I have a horrendous family history of heart disease. 'Nuff said?). Today, Bryan and I made our first trip to the store with a vegan diet in mind. 

I find food challenges fun. I make a lot of our food now from scratch, and I love the concept of good, clean, homemade food as it is. To me, going vegan isn't as much about what I CAN'T eat, but about how much more I CAN eat, explore, and experiment with in the kitchen. Inspired by our recent viewing of 'Forks Over Knives' (number 2 up there on things you should watch) on Christmas Eve, I was ready to tackle the store, then the kitchen today to whip up some fine, Vegan cuisine. Armed with my quickly made shopping list and a handful of mental notes about recipes I wanted to try, we made a very productive (and can I say CHEAP-- veggies are inexpensive) trip to Woodman's today. Here's a pic of our Loot:

This is "plant-based" in a nut-shell (no pun intended.). Lots of veggies, mostly dark green, with representations of all other colors of veg; whole grain, starches like sweet potato and barley, and nuts, beans, and legumes for protein. 

From this yumminess, we made Hummus from dried chickpeas (less than $0.25/serving)- see pic below, Kale Chips (no pic- we ate them too fast), and Apple-Sage Sausage, vegan, of course (recipe and pic to follow... tomorrow).

I am excited for this venture into Veganism. Thus the blog! I'm thrilled that my husband is in this-- willingly, I might add-- and that through nothing but food, I can reduce my risk for disease and reverse any existing heart disease in less than 2 months. This is something that I'm doing for me, but I know will have a lasting impact on my health, my family, and the environment. 

Thanks for Reading!!

<3

Courtney