One Year Vegan-versary!!!

July 9, 2011 marked my first year adopting to a vegan diet. A vegan diet means that you don't consume anything thing that came from an animal. Eggs, dairy, honey, and especially meat. Although this is exactly what the diet consist of, I adjusted the "rules" to suit what I would actually have success in.

Let me back up, and explain why I wanted to do this. Ok, since my senior year in high school through my college years I struggled a lot with my weight. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Very frustrating. I had a lot of stress going on and, looking back, I was an emotional eater. Food was my sedative. If everything was going wrong I knew that a hamburger or ice-cream, pizza or whatever would taste alot better that how I was feeling. But the relief was temporary. It was a cycle of feeling sad, good, then guilty. I've tried different "diets" and of course, those will disappoint you even more. Anything that tells you that you can lose weight, "feel great" and not have to change a thing IS LYING TO YOU! and taking your money! tisk tisk tisk. Trust me, if you can lose 30 pounds in 30 days your probably gain twice as much the minute you stop there "program" or taking their magic pills.

I have come to realize that I was placing my trust in everything and everybody else but God. I realize that my lack of self control when it came to food was an outward expression of my disobedience to Christ. Instead of turning and trusting that Christ will help me, I turned my back to Him and trusted in the Fast food industry and junk food. (anything quick and microwavable or free was my target) That dollar menu is where I placed my faith. It sounds silly but it's true. I've always believed that Satan's job was to steal, kill, and destroy Christians. But I never thought that food would be used as a tool to destroy me. I looked around at our society and how everything is in excess. Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure. What do all of these illness have in common? We have too much. Really? "Would you like to Biggie Size that? Would you like JUMBO fries with that?" You know how it is. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves "Why is this food so cheap?" BECAUSE IT'S NOT GOOD FOR YOU!
Ok, enough about that.

So, I decided with the help of a friend of mine, to walk away from the noisy fast food industry. Not just that, but actually eat food that was in its original condition. I don't have anything against eating meat, but I am against that way it's prepared and how tempting it is to just get the cheap stuff so I left it all together. If you feel that you can never give up meat, that's fine, more power to you, but I advise that you get the organic meat and poultry. It's so much healthier and not pumped with hormones and the animals are raised in a cleaner environment. Rent the movie "Food Inc." it's awesome!

I learned so many recipes and learned alot about the benefits of a vegan diet. I personally feel sooooo much healthier. I used to feel so heavy and tired. Out of breath walking up only 3 flights of stairs. Always sleepy and not motivated to do anything. I thank God for the self-discipline and control not to be a slave to food. I feel free. Occasionally if there is a special treat I want, I don't feel guilty about eating it, because I'm living in the freedom God has given me.

This past year I have lost 44.5 pounds!!!!!! I work out consistently, which is a miracle within itself. I love to dance and Zumba has worked for me very well. I recently became a Certified Zumba Fitness Instructor! Dance has also been in my life but with my weight issues it was very hard to accomplish want I wanted in that field. Zumba gives me a dance outlet and a fitness workout! Zumba will be a whole other blog topic :)

So with all that being said, "HAPPY 1 Year VEGAN-Versary!!!" Here's to good health!