My friend Rhea just wrote a blog on this very topic and inspired me to get on the horse here. She always reminds me to keep up on my blog and I have been neglecting it for a good month. Shame on me! Tsk. Tsk. Thank you, Rhea, for the inspiration.
For the last two days, it’s the only thing the two of us can talk about - and we are researching and comparing information that is out there about the agricultural business and sharing newfound recipes. It makes sense that in a state of economic and environmental crisis, the food industry has fought hard to compete with one another. Actually, what’s really happening out there is quite astonishing. Factory farming and slaughterhouses don’t quite upset anyone until you know what is really happening inside of them. It is horrific.
I have been contemplating announcing my decision to go vegan for awhile. Typically, people are like…”OMG. Are you kidding me? HOW can you NOT eat meat?!?” Well, the how is not really that difficult once you know the why. The why is what is distinctive – and it’s the reason most people ever go vegan.
For the last two years or so, I’ve slowly phased meat out of my diet. This wasn’t really a conscious decision, however. I noticed that when I was given a choice between meat or something else, I preferred “something else.” If I did eat meat, I would stick to ground turkey, chicken, or fish. I have not eaten or purchased ground beef in over eight years. Ground beef is actually the one single food that inflicts the most damage in the American diet. This is information coming straight from the scientists that spend their time researching at the science center of public interest, this is not an opinion.
When I think back to how this all began, I guess this started back in 2010 when I first started Advocare. Advocare is a pro-biotic overall health and wellness plan that first starts with a cleanse and follows with a 24-day challenge. It’s a challenge, because you are eliminating the things you indulge on and trading them for leafy greens, beans, complex carbs and protein. After awhile on the program, I found myself craving apples with peanut butter, salads, and organic pastas and vegetables. I’m convinced that I craved the foods my body needed during that time of “suffering” to lose weight. The truth is, I didn’t suffer – I felt amazing. I think this was the kickstart to my better eating habits. I wanted to feel like this every single day.
Over time, I stopped liking chicken. I don’t know why, but the thought of it was very unappealing and when I cooked it, I didn’t like how it smelled. Red meat was not something I ate very often either. I gravitated to fish and vegetable options. In this last year, I became a vegetarian without realizing it – as my meat intake was very frequent. When I did eat it, I felt heavy and “full”. Since moving to LA, I’m only cooking for myself and my daughter, so my days of making big meals were few and far between. I used to love to have dinner parties and make huge meals for my family. My dinners now revolve around foods that would have less leftovers. If Jacie wanted a quesadilla, I would eat a bean burrito. Jacie preferred pasta without meat, so I started making simple tomato-basil sauces.
After many years of struggling to figure out what was causing some of my panic and anxiety, I figured out I was hypoglycemic. My body simply cannot process sugar and rejects a lot of the foods I enjoyed eating and drinking – like carbs, alcohol, juice. I was never a big sweets eater, but I figured out I could only enjoy these in moderation. After eating more vegetables and fruits I noticed I felt better. I wasn’t having what I now call “sugar attacks.” This was the result of sometimes not having enough to eat, but having more frequent meals throughout the day and snacks I was gravitating to healthier options like apples, almonds, and avocados.
I LOVE cookbooks. I love trying new recipes. Growing up in an Italian and Puerto Rican family, we love our pasta, we love our meatballs, we love our bread. We love to cook and we love to eat. It’s such a mindshift to come from a family that loves food with meat to doing anything to the contrary. But, is it really? The thought was hard up until I watched the film Forks Over Knives, which examines the idea of using a plant-based diet to treat ailments and diseases. More than this, it explores the startling facts about animal-based and processed foods, and dairy consumption; how it can promote degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Sounds a little far-fetched and extreme because we have spent most of our lives being told that we need MORE protein (like chicken) and calcium (dairy). The truth is, nothing can be worse for you. Dairy consumption actually promotes osteoporosis and is a pro-inflammatory; not the other way around. In addition, whether organic or conventional, dairy has hormones and steriods (produced naturally) that promote cancer growth.
Watching this movie was eye opening, and it helped me to eliminate dairy and meat from my diet for good. I suddenly cared about what was in the foods I consumed and a better model of nutrition emerged by simply making better choices. Jacie drinks almond milk, rice, or soy instead of dairy milk – and the cheese we love has been replaced (and might I add it still tastes amazing). She LOVES it. You can always count on your kid to tell you if they don’t like something, so I think I’m in the clear.
We are all getting older, and to know that I can prevent heart disease, high cholesterol, and possibly diabetes and cancer by living on a plant-based diet; the answer was not difficult to come to. People with these diseases have actually improved their health and on some occasions, completely reversed the impairments just by changing what they eat. This is really the bottom line message of this movie: can it be that there is a single solution and simplicity to giving us a healthier and longer life?
The answer seemed so simple to me and I changed my mind overnight. I watched the movie, and the very next day I went to Ralph’s and made my first all vegan meal : broccoli stuffed shells.
Now that I am embracing my choice, I’m realizing that it wasn’t hard to do because I feel better. I feel lighter, I have more energy, and I know that I’m not putting pesticides, hormones, synthetic preservatives and excess protein into my body. My grandmother suffered for over twenty years with Chrones Disease. I wish I could have found a way to cure her. I know this would have helped her and maybe she wouldn’t have lost her life almost four years ago.
I feel committed to taking care of myself so I can be around to enjoy my daughter’s life. Having hypoglycemia scared me, because I could see the kind of life I would have had to live if it were to develop into Type 2 Diabetes. I am responsible for putting the best possible foods in front of my daughter so she is healthy and strong. This is my responsibility.
Animal cruelty is another element to this subject that could take this into a different direction; but, one that does not go unnoticed by vegans. Some simply choose not to eat meat for this reason alone. It is horrifying what happens during the transformation of animals into food. The agribusiness is in the business of making money, the competition is high to produce inexpensive meat, eggs, and dairy products. Due to this, animals are shoved into factory farms, warehouses, and crowded cages – treated like objects and worthless. It broke my heart to learn that male chicks were immediately disposed of after they were born because they served no economic purpose. There was a picture of literally hundreds, lying dead in a trash can. What happens next after that is even more horrifying; I can’t even write it. Lets just say I will never eat eggs again.
Not only can my lifestyle help save 100 animals a year, but it helps my daughter and I to be healthier, and it helps the environment. Why would I want to participate in anything to the contrary because I like the taste of meat? It’s truly captured in the slogan of this blog…live, love, vegan.
Not everyone will agree with me, and that’s not the reason I’ve shared my story. BUT, before you judge, watch Forks Over Knives. If for nothing else, a simple education on learning a little bit more about what you eat. My friend Rhea watched it and the very next day, went grocery shopping for vegan substitutes for her entire family.
Just sayin’.
xo.
