The V-Word

It's been a little over 4 months since I decided to go vegan. yes, vegan. I really hate telling people "I'm vegan" because it carries so many negotive connotations to my mind. I remember workign at Essencia and the young yuppie women would come in all brimming with energy and shiny from working out at the gym and ask if there was dairy in the soup and give a little sigh, raise their eyebrows and shift their weight to the other foot when I would tell them it was, in fact, cream based. So I hated to be seen as one of "those people" who i myself really really didnt like.

I geuss I'll start with why I made the switch. I've been an athlete my whole life and i love working out, sports, teams, activity. When I went to college this love of sports sort of took a turn in that I no longer had a team and if i was going to keep inshape and also my sanity, I would have to drive myself. I became a little more health-conscious in that I would watch what I ate, when I ate and why I ate and I would work out a lot. This kept progressing and I kept wanting to increase my health knowledge, really know how I could turn it up a notch. All through the summer and fall when I was at home I worked out all the time but I wanted to eat better to. Still livign at home it was hard to think of drastically changing my diet b/c i wasnt the one buying the groceries. However, I started to look into new diets, ones that would give me a lot of energy, not a lot of fat, and in generall make me a healthier person.

Vegetarianism definitely has its benefits. I mostly found that meat takes a lot longer to digest and the body also uses a lot of energy to digest it-precious energy i could be using doing something else! For sure, meat is awesome for protein. But that's countered with a high amount of saturated fats. I can get the same amount of protein from vegetables, beans, and soy without the fats and saving that energy. also after a while of being vegan meat is a little weird to me. I never really sympathized with the animal rights activists. I mean, i did, but it never really drove me to change my diet-it was all a selfish deal for me. but now when i look at meat i get a little weirded out...its a dead animal.

the vegan aspect seemed to go hand in hand with the vegetarian diet for me because soy would be a huge source of protein for me and besides, vanilla soy milk is DELICIOUS. cutting dairy wasn't as hard as you would think. It was reason for me to stay away from junk food (ie pastries at work) and they make vegan everything so it wasnt hard to awitch. i do miss cheese, ill admit, but my thighs are testament enough to the outrageous benefits of not eating dairy.

being vegan has really been about being healthier. It's been great. awesome. totally sweet. ive only lost about 5 lbs over the months but ive been able to hold muscle way better than i did before. I'm still working out a lot and playing rugby and Ive noticed that my energy level has soared. I dont really drink caffeine at all anymore and sleep really well. i FEEL tremendous. plus, i can still eat chocolate and cookies and cake-the coop here has AWESOME vegan cake every once in a while.

so all in all i dont eat meat and i dont eat dairy. im thinking about eating eggs more. i love them. i dont like to call myself vegan b/c its like everyone who hears it automatically puts me on a different level than them which is annoying. also, i dont think its the best way to live. i dont think people who eat meat are gross and i dont think dairy is from the devil. i like this lifestyle for me.

much love