Imperfect Veganism

The start of this year marked my 4th vegan year. Isn’t it funny how time seems to just slip through your fingers?

I can’t recall if I’ve touched on my decision to opt for the vegan lifestyle so I’ll go ahead and tell you about this journey now. About 4 1/2 years ago, I decided to take full advantage of my insurance coverage by having labs done. I wanted to know if I was healthy for my age and what I would need to improve on if I wasn’t. (My father is diabetic, and my mother had issues with high blood pressure.) I wanted to be sure that I was on the road to a healthy future and not a disease ridden one. Who has time for meds right?? Certainly, no one chooses to be a slave to the prescription bottles. So believe me when I say that my face probably looked like I had just seen a ghost when the doctor read me my results. High triglycerides and borderline cholesterol issues.

I kept thinking to myself that this surely couldn’t be the case. I tried diet after diet in attempts to stay healthy but I was showing cholesterol issues? Ugh. Frustration kicked in and I needed to to dig deeper into my health options. My change came when I bumped into “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. I purchased the audio book and listened to it on a lonely 4 hour road trip. By the time I reached the end of the book, I was convinced to give this lifestyle a try. What was the worst that could happen? I fail? I go back to what I was eating before? No biggie.

So I began the journey into veganism in hopes of improving my health. Well I waited about 3 months before going back for new labs and it’s fair to say my doctor was shocked at my new numbers. She just HAD to know what I had done to improve on everything! I lost about 20 lbs in the first three months and I was so motivated to keep working towards a healthy future. I decided to stick out this lifestyle as long as I could, always knowing that I wouldn’t judge myself if I failed or if I wanted to give up. I think keeping the mind set of being in control of my decision without pressure was the best thing I could do. I wasn’t hard on myself if I tried cheese (which I later learned was the trigger to my recurring migraines.) I didn’t give up if I wanted to try to eat pork again (because bacon was my weakness.) If I fell, I got back up and learned from it. That first year was rough but I learned what foods were causing me pain and what foods kept my energy levels up. It was so empowering to learn about my body through my diet.

4 years later, I consider myself an imperfect vegan. I think that for the most part, I’ve learned to keep this lifestyle going without too many hiccups but there’s the occasional cheat moment. My boys still very much each cheese, eggs, and on occasion: MEATS 😮   So if they bring home a slice of decadent chocolate cake, I may dig in with them. I try to limit my non-vegan intake to a minimum. Eggs are really the only thing I consider to fall into my cheat moments because dairy is just not Norma-friendly. Even though we have the occasional non-vegan item here and there, we still very much plan our life around vegan meals and a vegan lifestyle. I can’t say that I plan to change that. With so many kiddos depending on me, I’d like to think that I’m making my best effort at staying healthy to keep up with them. I’d like to be here for them for as long as I can be here. I want to be able to chase grandkids some day so I need to be conscious of how I treat this body  of mine. It may not be perfect, but I’m working hard to keep it running smoothly. 🙂

~Norm