HAPPY VEGANVERSARY TO ME!!!!
So when I started this eating thing 3 years ago, if you told me I would stay plant based - I would have called you a liar.
The background is for TWENTY YEARS I had failed at EVERY diet I ever tried. Lost and regained the same weight over and over - never sticking to anything - lived at the mercy of craving things I knew I shouldn't have, but seemed powerless to resist.
Then things got serious, I had liver issues with the ultimate catch 22. To fix a liver surrounded by so much fat it is no longer able to work properly, one has to lose weight. The catch - it is extra hard for a person with a fatty liver to lost weight....cue face-palm.....
I was 39.
So for a couple of years I made small head way making positive changes. I switched to the awesome all natural whole food based Shake for breakfast - lost 10lbs in 5 weeks.... but was still around 200lbs. My liver levels dropped a little, I wasn't in imminent danger of liver failure, but still needed to have normal liver range.
Cue me trying a 3 week plan to gently go plant based and eat nice simple whole foods to give my body a rest from all the processed chemical laden junk that we are led to believe is "normal food". My plan was on day 22 to reinstate eggs, chicken and turkey, to stay dairy and sugar free, and to eat all whole foods.
By day 6 I noticed feeling better, by day 12 I had more energy in years, by day 21 I was 14lbs lighter, my liver levels were normal, my cholesterol dropped 56 points ( it wasn't high to start with) and I knew there was no going back.
Despite knowing I felt better I didn't know how well it would go. I had NEVER stuck to ANYTHING in my LIFE for a long term commitment. Yes I was and am still temped at times. But it is VERY easy to just remind myself WHY I eat the way i do and walk away now. I never had that before. I have had small amounts of dairy, a little piece of egg ( veggie fried rice has it, I ask for no egg, sometimes they forget, I pick out the big pieces, but obviously I consume a little - and I am not going to sweat that). But over all I am and have been 98% plant based for THREE YEARS!!!!!
I have never stuck to ANYTHING health related for this long ever!!! Here is the difference, and my main point here to ENCOURAGE anyone who is in the trenches with battling to eat healthy food....
FIND SOMETHING YOU LIKE - a way that is healthy you think, "I might be able to live like that". You HAVE to think long term. If you know you cant ( or shouldn't) eat a certain way for the rest of your life DON'T START IT!
HAVE A GOAL UNRELATED TO WEIGHT!! - mine is to keep my liver - a rather useful organ .
DONT STOP TRYING!!!! If you try plant based and it doesn't work for you, try something else. If that doesn't work try something else - there are MANY paths to health, you just have to LIKE the one you are on. It took me 20 years to find something I LIKED and that I could live with. I know to a lot of you how I eat seems extreme, but for me and the way my mind works, I live by one rule...it is either sugar free ( no chemical sugars either) and plant based ( aka vegan) or not. That is it. There is no humming and hering and battles of will with myself. If it fits the rule I can eat it, if it doesn't oh well, game over, end of discussion - I dont WANT it. ( That part is awesome, to not WANT to eat the high taste, unhealthy food)
I know it is hard to get the eating part of health under control...I remember it so well. It is SOOOO worth finding something you can live with, because it is like going from seeing in black and white to color. It is the ultimate freedom to not be driven and ruled by cravings and eating things you know are killing you.
If I can do this - YOU CAN!!!
If you are reading this and need help - message me! Click the link and then the CONTACT US button. https://www.facebook.com/sharethehealthfitness
If you are reading this and want to know about going plant based - I have a free guide - see above to contact me.
If you are reading this and need someone to root for you and cheer you on - MESSAGE ME!!!!
My immediate advice for a VERY reasonable plan is to go check out 100 Days of Real Food. Google it. AMAZING recipes, all whole food ( including meat and dairy). Get away from the packaged and boxed junk in the grocery store and start living off the foods our bodies were designed to consume. You will notice a difference in your energy, your health, your weight, your skin, your hair - EVERYTHING.
DONT EVER GIVE UP!!!!!!
Debi
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