I will for the record say that Father Foodie thought I had lost my mind when I came to him with this. Eight weeks later, it’s a game changer.

It all started when a friend came to me and said they were going to attempt to change their diet to a vegan lifestyle. I laughed and said good luck, that’s hard in Texas where beef, pork and all things BBQ reign supreme. He encouraged me to watch a documentary so later I did….it made me start researching what information they presented (I love to research). Y’all, I couldn’t find anything wrong with what the documentary presented…what I did find is where I had been taught wrongly for a very long time as part of a much bigger machine. I won’t dive deeply into that as I believe we all need to gather our own information and make decisions for ourselves.

During this time I was just regaining my strength after riding the couch for 7 weeks with a fractured tibia. I had worked up an addiction to working out since December 2019 and then was abruptly sidelined for 7 weeks, my only workout being crutches, I felt like I lost much of my fitness in that time period. I went from running 3 miles in 30 minutes to the couch. So this documentary showed me that there are better ways to eat to provide my body the energy and strength to rebuild after my injury.

Of course the first worry of everyone is whether or not we’re getting enough protein…I assure you we are. Watching even one of these documentaries or doing some research it’s easy enough to see that the animals we eat are the middle-men for protein. Have you ask yourself where some of the largest and most powerful animals get their protein? Think about how many muscular and large animals are herbivores: cows, pigs, gorillas, elephants, chickens, deer, horses, hippos, etc….all have large muscle groups and exist purely on plants.

So, we’re moving more and more towards a whole food, plant based diet. On other sites you’ll see this referenced as WFPB diet.

Now, how do we feel? Eight weeks later I can say that I have more energy, sleep better and am losing inches as my body rids itself of some fat and gains muscle….

Father Foodie is seeing a lot of the same effects I am and is continuing to lose pounds, about 10-12 pounds so far. He went for bloodwork on October 19th and there are big changes since he started losing weight and even since him summer checkup.

Remember that in April his A1C had come down dramatically from 11.6 to under 6 so he was removed from insulin and other diabetic injectables. Now his A1C is reading well under the limits to show that he’s no longer diabetic. Also, his cholesterol and blood pressure look better than it ever has. It’s very possible that he’s removed from much or all of his medications by January.

We’re striving to eat a whole food plant based diet. We both have “sticky” points that are a little hard to give up. Mine is sushi, Father Foodie’s is cheese and chocolate. Our goal is to really aim for 95% of what we eat to be plant based. There are so many alternatives, recipes and variations on food available now that it’s become pretty easy. I will say it helps that we LOVE our vegetables…if either of us were picky I don’t think we’d be as successful. But reality is to gain some healthiness eating this way you can start very slow and go for meatless Monday’s.

I’m going to continue to provide recipes that are adaptable for both styles of eating…so always watch the notes on substitutes and remember that I’m southern in my cooking so my touch and sight does a lot of the work to say it’s just right.

Here are some resources I’ve gathered for any that may want to look into this or think about limiting your animal protein. Do you research, talk to your doctor if you have concerns and just remember to take it easy and not stress it too much.

Documentaries:
The Game Changers – currently on Netflix. https://gamechangersmovie.com/
What The Health – currently on Netflix. https://www.whatthehealthfilm.com/
Forks Over Knives – a bit dry to watch but very informative – rent on iTunes, Amazon or another service. https://www.forksoverknives.com/

Websites:
Pinterest – honestly everyone’s resource for recipes….but I do have a vegan board for what we’ve been cooking. https://pin.it/1SBsOoA
The Green Loot: https://thegreenloot.com/going-vegan-guide-beginners/
I Love Plants: https://iloveplants.org/going-vegan-in-2020-the-ultimate-guide-for-beginners/