The KInd Life Community Forum

I am a vegan. I was a vegan long before I ever came across the kind diet. I am not a skinny vegan. At Christmas time I was my heaviest, weighing in at 209 on my tiny 4'11'' frame. Not good.

After watching the documentary "Food Matters" and re-reading the Kind Diet, I realized I needed to do something as my weight had now become serious.

Now, not to say it has been easy, but it actually has. I have always been more of a "junk food" vegan eating highly processed foods, fried foods, candy, sodas, etc. It wasn't until I was hired by a Cardiac Surgeon to run a restaurant as his raw and vegan Chef that I even began to consider my health and the implications of an obese lifestyle.

I always figured at one point I would lose it until this past December that I not only could not fit into my own clothes anymore, but had far surpassed my "old" overweight weight and broke the 200lb. mark. This is big when you are under 5 feet tall.

Not one for resolutions, I figured this year I would have a resolution and that was to get healthy and happy no matter what it takes.

I eat 2/3 of a raw diet, eat as much of the superhero foods as I can and drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Since the first, I have not had one soda or any type of real junk food and I FEEL GREAT!!

I have such an insane amount of energy I have not had in years. I do not miss most of the culprits to my obesity and even the foods I do miss, I realize I have come too far to stop now. Since Jan.1, I have lost 20 lbs. I am not going by weight personally but I do believe that this is a huge step to regaining control of my self and my health.

Wow, that is phenomenal! I too could trim away a few. I switched to a vegan lifestyle a little under 2 years ago, and gained some weight. Relying too heavily on those processed goodies got me. I just watched Forks Over Knives, which has me feeling motivated to move to a more whole foods vegan diet. I'd also love to know which superhero meals are your favorites.

Again, congratulations, and thanks for the inspiration!

Sorry I haven't responded folks, I had a seriously terrible week with many misadventures that kept me away.

Depression from these events led me to stray off how I had been eating and not taking my supplements. I just wanted to lay in bed and hide from the world, but that is not reality and at some point you have to get up and dust yourself off.

I also was feeling the effects of white sugar and processed foods as I became bloated and nauseas, my face even swelling slightly. I told my husband I feel hungover without an actual hangover.

Back to my healthy lifestyle and already feeling so much better.

Saoirse, I hope things are getting better for you!

I experienced a similar thing when I began as a Vegan 15 months ago - looking for substitutes of things I have loved. I actually read Rip Esselstyn's book more recently which got me to rethink cooking my veggies with oil or using oil at all other than once in a while. I also took a hard look at sugar - whether from Agave or other sources, or the little sweet stuff like non-dairy chocolate chips - because it all adds up. I started eating more veggies and whole grains and seeds and all the stuff I was already eating, but without the oil and sugar. I cooked veggies with vegetable broth and used organic apple sauce in some of the baking and also minimized my use of Earth Balance (which was in most of what I baked) and it has helped. Over the past 3-4 months, I've dropped almost 15 lbs. without really trying. My tastebuds have adjusted too. Every now and then I make myself banana chocolate chip muffins (from BIG VEGAN) or the to-die-for peanut butter cups (from Alicia's book) to satisfy an urge. But it is no longer a mainstay. I really see that eating Super Hero or whatever name you put to it - raw, etc. - does improve it. Now I'm working on my energy levels and discovering that I haven't been eating ENOUGH! Go figure!