Yesterday I celebrated a month of being vegan, and can I just say "wow" what a great adventure.
So allow me to back track a little. As I am going to school to be a holisitc Health Coach, we are exploring bio-individuality* & over 100 different dietery therioes that go from Atkins to the Zone Diet. One of those diets we explored was a Vegan diet,
It was something that sounded appealing to me, so I thought, why not try it. How hard could it be and what better way to learn, than to explore & experiment with my own body. Maybe it was for me?? So I went for it, and for a month, I are nothing but vegtables,fruits, nuts, beans, legumes & grains. YUM! Ina nutshell here is how it went.
What I liked about it:
- It helped me get out of my boring usual recepie comfort zone. I tried new recepies, and explored with a huge variety of vegtables, nuts, beans & grains.
- It made me feel better, stronger and cleared up the rash on my face, that had been there for 6 months.
- It helped me learn how to get more veggies into my 4 year old daughter & husbands diet. My daughter wasn't too excicted at first but now she eats, celery, almond butter & mixed spinach salad.
- I felt more energy when I did my workouts
- My digestive system worked even more regularly.
What I didn't like so much:
- I gained a little weight because I ate more fruit, grains & nuts
- I had more sugar cravings in the evenings because I lacked dense protien in my body, which I feel also contributed to weight gain.
What I learned from it all was that it's exciting & fun to try new things, to really explore and get into it. There is an entire world full of amazing vegtables,nuts, beans & grains that I had no idea were out there. I learned that it is possible to be strong & feel great without eating meat or animal products. I also learned that for now, being a Vegan is not for me, because my body requires certain things that being on a vegan diet does not provide. And I am okay with that.
What I plan to do now is incorporate small amounts of lean organic meats like fish, chicken and pork into my diet once a week, limit nuts, fruits & grains to smaller portions and enoy a mountain of fresh organic vegetables .
So there it is, my amazing adventure as a Vegan for a month!
I enjoyed every minute.
Now it's onto my next adventure, training for a 100 mile Bike Ride in May. I will let you know how that goes. Until next time!
Thank you for reading
Health, Happiness & Smiles, Nancy
*bio-individuality means there’s no one-size-fits-all diet – each person is a unique individual with highly individualized nutritional requirements. Personal differences in anatomy, metabolism, body composition and cell structure all influence your overall health and the foods that make you feel your best. That’s why no single way of eating works for everyone. The food that is perfect for your unique body, age, and lifestyle may make another person gain weight and feel lethargic.
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