I am excited to start this new blog. I have abandoned a lot of blogs over the years, but I am committed to this "vegformation" absolutely 100% from January 1, 2015 - July 4, 2015. Why those dates? Last summer I attended the first gathering of Plant Pure Nation and was so inspired by what Dr. Colin Campbell, his son, and team did with their Plant Pure Nation documentary. When Dr. Campbell came out on stage, I got goosebumps. In that moment, I felt what it must be like for a swooning teenager to go a concert of their favorite musician, or for people to meet A list movie stars or royalty. I have so much respect for Dr. Campbell and what he has done for the plant based movement despite all the obstacles he has had to overcome. So, I decided that day last summer that I was going to do the plant based challenge from the beginning of the year until the premiere of Plant Pure Nation which they said will be July 4, 2015. I can't wait to see the results of eating a whole food plant based diet for seven months. I have been working up to this moment for three years. I am ready!
Three years ago, I became a vegetarian after going through a horrific illness and one of the most painful events of my life when I got abscessed diverticulitis (which I had never heard of until it happened to me). I had to have 18 inches of my colon removed and spend a year recovering. After that I started researching the cause of diverticulitis and the inflammation that had invaded my body and discovered that it is diet related. That led me to learn about the vegetarian diet and opened up a whole world to me. I was on the fence about becoming a vegetarian until I watched Earthlings, which has been called "The Vegan Maker." I can see why! That documentary affected me deeply. How will be reserved for another post, but the vegetarian lifestyle suddenly became the only option for me.
I remember thinking that I would lose all my weight just by becoming a vegetarian. I asked my friends if they had ever seen an overweight vegetarian? I think back now at how naive I was about the vegetarian lifestyle. I lost and gained the same 15-20 pounds over the past three years because even though I stopped eating meat, I was still eating junk food. Fries, chips, ice cream, pizza, macaroni & cheese, cookies, root beer, sweet tea... The list of processed foods I put in my body was endless and I have paid a high price for it aside from the extra 165 pounds on my 5' 6" frame, lethargy, foggy thinking and forgetfulness, aching joints, inflammation, urinary track infections, the list goes on and on in addition to the symptoms getting progressively worse.
Through it all, I keep studying, researching and making more connections that all point to processed foods as a DRUG that is poisoning my body! I have learned that I can't eat a "little" processed food. I have to abstain because most of the processed foods trigger binge eating and before I realize it, I have eaten a bag of chips or all the cookies or whatever item is before me that is saturated in sugar or salt (mostly sugar for me).
So here I am at the beginning of this journey. I am starting this blog to track my progress. I will also post what I eat on Myfitnesspal. I plan to learn lots of new recipes so I don't get bored with the food and get tempted to eat the processed poison.
I have some favorite vegan chefs and educators that I follow and will share information that I learn from them with you starting with Chef AJ. She offers a weekly teleclass where you can ask questions and listen to her interview experts in the plant-based nutrition field. Her next interview is going to be with my hero, Dr. Colin Campbell. I can't wait for that one.
FullyRawKristina is also offering a 21-Day Fully Raw Challenge where she challenges us to eat ONE raw meal a day. That's easy breezy, just drink a smoothie for breakfast or eat a salad for lunch or dinner and it's done!
Vegformation is part information and part transformation. I am doing this to learn and to share with others who want to get healthy and maybe do their own vegformation!
I am looking forward to this journey. Happy New Year. Let's get healthy and dare to dream in 2015!
Kathy G
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