Vegan-ish
I began my own health journey after the birth of my first son. I was tired of wearing my prenatal clothes a year after pregnancy and decided to change my life. Just as cliché as it sounds and almost movie-montage-like, I emptied out my fridge and boxed up my old clothes. I made the necessary pep talk to myself in the mirror and promised myself "I got this". I dove in the deep end and absorbed everything I could about diet, exercise, health and wellbeing. I even got my personal health coach certification and wanted to pursue a career in helping others on their health journeys. I stayed on the primal/keto diet, lost over 60lbs, and felt amazing.
Staying motivated and on track with my health goals was easy when I could focus on myself. But over the years with the addition of two more kids, a career change, relocation to a different state, and a brand new business, I've slowly lost track of what's important to myself in order to focus on the other voices that need my attention.
It wasn't until after the birth of my third child that I started to notice significant changes in how I felt physically and mentally. I thought maybe it was some post partum depression, so I went to my doctor and told her I was getting sick nearly every night and I didn't "feel like myself". We did a celiac test, which came back negative and all the results from my skin test at the allergist were unimpressive. I started an elimination diet and found eggs were the sneaky food causing my constant nausea, headaches and dizziness. Which was heartbreaking, because I *loved* eggs!
I feel like I've done almost everything out there to feel good and lose a little weight. I was a vegetarian in college for 7 years, I've done countless diet and weight loss apps, meal and macros trackers, and intermittent fasting - nothing that stuck and nothing that I'm currently keeping up with. I need a complete lifestyle change, a commitment to my health and sacrifice for my future. But how do you find the motivation when it seems hopeless to find permanent change?
It's pretty ironic I'm in my current position, with a vegan restaurant, because when I was doing keto, I was almost anti-vegan. I didn't agree with the amount of soy that's found in a lot of processed vegan foods and thought it was overall unhealthy. However, I do think that the quality of most vegan food has come so far, even in just the past 6 years, and I'm beginning to come around to the idea of going more plant based in my everyday life.
What I do know is I am 100% content inside and out, when I eat most of my meals from Glofoods. They're nourishing and complete and wholesome in a way that conventional food doesn't fit. I don't feel tired or bloated or regretful about what I've eaten and I feel excited to try and make my next meal the same way!
Not only do I want to start from the beginning, but I'm ready to dive in again. I think if I find plant based and gluten free versions of my favorite snacks, then it won't feel as much of a change and will be more manageable to keep up with.
I eat like my 3 year old and like to have small snacks for meals. So instead of my regular sliced of cheese and nuts with yogurt and fruit, I chose the Violife slices and oat milk yogurt from True Goodness. I managed to find some decent gluten free and vegan bagels from a brand I haven't had yet, Queen St. Bakery with Daiya cream cheese and got some Silk next milk for my smoothies instead of kefir. Time is a big factor into how much energy I have to prepare food for myself, so I grabbed some easy 90-second garden vegetable rice with avocado and shredded cheese (also from True Goodness).
I know it's going to be work keeping up with a new lifestyle, but I feel like since I'm already living this life at work, then I can keep it up at home too. I think it would be good for my kids to have less processed food in their diets without seeming too different. My oldest son is already coming around to our mac and cheez at Glofoods and our new cheez sauce is now made from vegetables instead of nutritional yeast! It's all about the sneaky vegetables. I'm excited to see how far this will take me and I know whatever changes I have to make, it'll be worth it for my body to finally be happy.