So, I picked up the book "Skinny Bitch" (sorry, Kind Diet had not yet been published) already knowing that I wanted to go vegan, just needed that extra push in the right direction. I went on a trip to vegas, read the whole book on the plane and went vegan the day I got back. In the two years I have gone vegan, I have had a cold once (I think I actually had swine flu as I got stuck on a plane that was had a final destination in Mexico City though I was stopping in LA, and EVERYONE ON THE PLANE WAS SICK!) but it was a few days of feeling tired, and bounced right back a week later. For me, this was nothing short of a miracle! I got my life back!
It wasnt easy. Coming from a "meat and potato" irish family, I had no idea what to make. At first, I relied a lot on fake meat and cheese products, before I finally learned to cook with whole foods. I now consider myself a "whole food" vegan. I eat mostly whole fruits, veggies, greens, pseudo-grains (mostly gluten free grains such as quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice flour, and do not treat wheat as a staple in my diet), legumes and nuts. I cannot describe how incredible I feel. I have tons of energy, much happier and focus on feeding my body good healthy food instead of treating food as the enemy! My husband and I are now trying for our first child and know that I know my diet well enough to repell any negative comments sent my direction! I dare them to do a blood test to try to prove that I am not getting enough iron or protein in my diet!
Over the past year, many of my new portland friends have been inspired by my story and several have gone vegan, vegetarian, or even just adding more vegetarian meals into their diet, even if they choose not to go vegan or vegetarian, it is a step in the right direction! I love to cook fresh vegan food, so much so, I started my own blog (work in progress http://veganadventuresincooking.blogspot.com/)
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