Trial & Error

So I'm finally back again, now that the internet has been restored to a semblance of normality. Super excited to blog about some of the changes that have been happening in my own life as I continue on this journey to whole-health living!

About 10 months ago I wrote out my birthday goals. I do it every year, on my birthday (which occurs mid-year) and around January 1st. I write out what I plan to achieve in the next year, and then when each anniversary comes around I have great fun looking back and reading what I wrote. Amazingly enough, it seems that when I write down my goals I have a greater chance of achieving those goals. I am learning to move to more concrete plans rather than idealistic dreams, but I still enjoy the process.

One of my birthday goals was to become vegan. I was happily writing down about three or four different things that I thought were reasonable and doable, when the thought popped into my head and I obediently wrote it down, not really thinking about what I had just written. "Become vegan." I looked at the words in amazement. I wasn't sure I was ready for such a huge leap. I was raised vegetarian, and while I did do a stint of veganism for a period of time out of necessity, I hadn't made being a vegan a complete lifestyle choice. I still enjoyed my marionberry Whole Foods pastries, my Round Table pizza, my Ranch Doritos, my Chipotle burritoes with sour cream and cheese, and my Subway chocolate chip cookies. Now, ten months later, I try hard to think what my favourite foods were before I began this phase of my journey. As I look back, I realize that it wasn't a decision that I made overnight but rather happened slowly as I learned how to make healthier choices.

I first made the conscious choice to monitor my diet last year when I learned that I was pre-diabetic. Diabetes runs in my family and I was freaked out at the thought of having to poke myself with a needle and try to monitor insulin levels if I didn't take care of my health right away. Though it takes about 5 years to move from pre-diabetes to diabetes, it was enough of a wake-up call to get me into some serious action. On the advice of my Newstart doctor, I cut out all oils and sugars for four very long months.

At first it was super hard, but when I started to see results I realized that it was the best thing I had ever done. I used to love the smell of frying onions, which is how I started every dish I made, and found it difficult to adjust to frying the onions in a small amount of water. As I began to read and research, I bought a non-stick frying pan from Ross and learned how to fry onions oil-free. I've learned how to cook without using oil now and find that I don't really notice that it's gone.

Here are some helpful tips that I've learned from my journey:

• Find fun foods you like to eat and keep a supply of those on hand. I love Dole peach bowls, Mediterranean olives, and creamy honey. What I love to eat changes, though, which also makes it fun because then I can switch it up a bit.
• Read, watch movies, or go online and research. Educate yourself as to why you are making the decisions you are making so you own your choices. Vegucate is a great documentary, Neal Barnard has informative yet easy to understand books on how to eat, diabetes, and more, and there are scores of easy tasty recipes online.
• Commit to change. I can't do portion control, so instead of buying a bag of potato chips and "portioning it out over the next week" when I know that I will finish it in three nights, I don't buy that bag of potato chips.

I'm going to be perfectly honest and say I haven't made a complete switch to veganism yet. At home it's easy to be vegan; I do the food shopping and I cook lunch. When I go out to eat, though, I am probably about 70% vegan and 30% vegetarian. It's a pain to have to ask if something has dairy in it, so I try to pick the options that look the healthiest. But I'm making good choices for myself and I feel good about it. I've lost almost 24 pounds, my bloodwork looks much better, I've cut my thyroid medication in less than half, and I feel healthier than I have in the last couple of years!

It's not easy to make a switch and go against the grain of what you've done all your life. I've had many battles with myself where I wanted to just give in and eat the food I was craving, rather than make a healthy choice. And there were times when I couldn't remain true to principle, or there were times I forgot. But I didn't beat myself over the head with those trip-ups. Instead, I tried to learn and I determined to move on, and it has all been worth it. Because I'm worth it. . .and so are you!