Project Vegformation

It's amazing how fast an idea can come together. Just yesterday, I decided to document my journey transitioning from a junk food vegetarian to a whole food plant based vegan, and now here I am writing! I tried lots of different domain names and finally settled on vegformation.com to link to this blog. I like that name. I see the big vision of it becoming a transformation community using the
vegetarian lifestyle. I like to dream big and believe that we should all dare to dream big! That's my theme for the year, DARE TO DREAM 2015.

My next step is to create a website and write an ebook to get subscribers. I want to help as many people as I can along the way. The only thing I picture "selling" is a book or two and being an
affiliate for products that are helping me make my vegformation. I just ordered an Excalibur dehydrator and can't wait to learn how to use it to make healthy snacks.

I also like the name because it will be easy to hashtag. #vegformation. I also need to create a Facebook page, set up my email, and twitter. I may have the Facebook page direct to my Twitter feed instead of creating a new Twitter account. I don't really want to change my Twitter name either, but I may if it becomes something of enough interest. This is how my mind always works when I get a new idea. The first thing I do is find a domain name, then start putting things in place to make it
happen.

Transforming my life and helping others get healthy and live their best life is something I'm truly passionate about. I believe God has led me on this path. I believe it's the reason I have been so overweight all my life and struggled so much to lose the weight. It seems to all be leading to this moment in time.

My only regret is that it didn't happen sooner so I could have enjoyed life more. I feel like I have sat on the sidelines of life for most of my life, observing instead of participating in life. It has still been a mostly beautiful journey simply because I choose to focus on the good things and let the bad things go, not let them have a grip on my soul. I have managed to do this through faith and writing.

Now, I believe it's time to make a transformation and I will do that by getting good information and surrounding myself with positive people who want to help me or join me on my journey. I see Vegformation becoming this safe haven for people who are looking to transform their life in a gentle way, one step at a time, in a supportive environment with resources in the form of people, places and things (thanks to Bruce Fowler and his daily vlog that reaffirms positives message every day
including the surround yourself with positive people, places, things concept) that will help us cut through the clutter and confusion that permeates the "diet" industry.

But, first I must walk my talk. I have at least a hundred reasons for doing this vegformation. I may write a post listing them all someday! Aside from wanting to get healthy myself and be an example to myself, my family and others, especially the over 50 crowd that it's never too late to transform your life, I have always wanted to make a positive difference in people's lives. It has been my mission for as long as I can remember. I believe Vegformation will fill this mission in ways I cannot yet imagine. I am excited to take the journey. I hope people who want to get healthy and who are curious about the whole food, plant-based lifestyle join me. I have a feeling that this idea has been a long time coming and will extend beyond the seven months I have committed to. We will see.

I like writing first thing in the morning when there are no distractions. It helps me stay focused. I still hear the TV in the background, but I can usually tune it out. I just heard someone on TV say people can sit at a computer and support their family. That is what I want to do, but I don't want to make money online by selling information about making money online, that just doesn't feel authentic to me. I have always steered away from doing that because I have always felt like God has something much bigger in mind for me to do. I know it involves writing and getting out of my comfort zone by sharing my vulnerabilities.

My weight has always been a vulnerability to me. I have always been self-conscious about it for as long as I can remember, even when I was a teenager and would love to now be the size I was when I was a teenager. I cannot wait for the day I say, "I haven't been this size since I was 18!" I was in a size 16 when I was 18 and weighed about 175 lbs. I think that's when I first started weighing myself.

I have thought a lot about the "weight" thing. I have gotten bogged down by that so many times on my weight loss and wellness journeys. I wasn't going to weigh in but twice during this vegformation challenge, but I think I may weigh in and measure once a month and it is what it is. I will also use other forms of measurement with the main ones being how much ENERGY I have and how my clothes fit me. Right now my energy is a 2, up from a 1 on a scale of 10 and most of my clothes are very snug, no wiggle room. Granted most of the clothes I'm wearing were donated to me after the
fire last August where I lost all my belongings, so it wasn't clothes I tried on to begin with, but it's still the size I'm in which is 24-26. I weighed in a couple days ago at 315.

I am not focused on "losing weight" with this challenge. I am focused on ENERGY! Energy is my word of the year. I always like to create a word of the year to focus on. It's sort of like when you get a new car and start seeing the same make and model everywhere. The word ENERGY is already showing up in places and ways I could not have imagined. Everything I do, I ask myself if it will make me have more energy or help energize others. If the answer is no, I don't do it. If the answer is yes, I want to do it consistently!

Words in past years have included FAITH, BELIEVE, TRANSFORMATION and CONSISTENCY. Consistency was my word last year and it was one of my toughest words to live up to. I felt like I was consistently inconsistent. But now I see I was consistent at a couple things, faith being one and this mission to transform my life being the other one. I didn't feel like I was making much progress in the moment, but now I see that a lot was happening on the inside to prepare me for this vegformation, this leap of faith.

I have so much to say on this topic. I can't wait to share what helps me on this journey. But, for now, I must focus on my other priority which is EXERCISE. I am committed to moving my body every day. Ideally, I would like to go for a walk if the weather permits. I ordered a coat online and once it arrives, I will start walking outside. I got one that is long and extra warm so I won't be using the "it's too cold to walk" excuse. The only time I will workout inside is when the walkway is covered in ice or if it is storming. In that case, I will just use an exercise DVD. I am using the mantra that Chef AJ and John Pierre reiterate in their 30 Day Unprocess Challenge DVD which is "Eat Your Greens and Move Your Body". That is what will drive my vegformation! I believe repetition is a vital key to transformation, especially if it is something short and catchy that you can repeat to yourself even after you hear it several times. "Surround yourself with positive resources in the form of people places and things" and "Eat your greens, move your body" is something I say to myself all the time in addition to hearing it over and over again. You have to do something simple like this to flip the mental switch on so your brain receptors can make the connections necessary for positive change and transformation.

"If you really want to find the time to do something, you will find the time to do it." I just heard Joyce Meyer say that on the TV playing in the background. She is talking about a 3030 Challenge to study the word of God for 30 minutes every day for 30 days. I think I'll make that part of my vegformation too.

Here I go, taking a leap of faith off of the cliff of mediocrity to soar with eagles in the clear sky of infinite possibilities. Will I fall to the ground for the gazillionth time or spread my wings and fly? Time will tell. Stay tuned!

My Vegformation Journey Begins

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