my vegan explanation.

Last February, I went vegan. I was already a vegetarian, and after reading some articles involving the way they treat the animals, I decided to make the switch. I thought it would be a lot harder than it actually turned out to be. I used to be a milk drinking fiend, and I loved cheese. But after a lot of thought, and some words from my mama, I decided to switch. My mom had some really insightful things to say about it. For example, who's idea was it to drink the milk from another mammal in the first place?

fact: grown humans aren't made to digest milk or really any other dairy product.

fact: humans are the only mammals to drink another animal's milk.

Anyways, I was vegan for about seven or eight months, and then I had foot surgery. I decided to revert to just being a vegetarian during this time, because I thought the lack of dairy in my diet would hinder the healing process. I stand by that decision. What I didn't realize was that after I was all healed it would be really hard to switch back to vegan. I tried a few times, but I just couldn't do it. Pressure not to do it from important people in my life, and my own lack of control made it really hard.
Here are some things I've noticed since switching from vegan to vegetarian:
1. I feel bloated and gross and sluggish ALL of the time. When I was vegan, I was just a big ball of energy.

2. my skin glowed when I was vegan. I'm serious, my skin was beautiful and so clear. Since adding dairy products back to my diet, it's so incredibly hard to keep the blemishes under control.

3. My hair has lost it's luster. I know that sounds silly, but it's true. I noticed that when I was vegan, my hair was shiny, soft, and not as frizzy as usual. Now, it's not as shiny and it's frizzier than ever.

Story time... back at the end of December/ beginning of January, I had a personal struggle where I completely stopped eating. There were quite a few days where I didn't eat anything at all. This lasted for about 2-ish weeks. In that time, I lost about 13 pounds. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but that kind of weight loss is the worst kind. When you gain it back, you gain back double the amount you lost, basically. So when I did start eating again, I couldn't regulate. And now, I've gained that weight back, and then some. This is something that I've been really self-conscious about lately, and I've been trying to lose the extra weight in the healthy way, but it's just so hard. Weight is something I've never had to worry about before, so this is completely new territory to me. I'm hoping by being vegan again, this will help in that area. Did you know that weight loss is 80% diet?

Anyways, these slight changes may not be THAT noticeable to other people, but it has been extremely noticeable to me. While I was in Pella over the weekend, Amanda and her lovely friend from South Africa completely inspired me to take up veganism again. I want to have my energy back, and I want to feel good about myself again. Yesterday, I was completely dairy-free, today I slipped up a few times, but I dub tomorrow my first official day as a born-again vegan. I will most definitely be keeping you lovely readers up to date on this journey. I'll share recipes with you, and tales of being a vegan in a small town where not many people understand my reasoning.

xoxo, Sophie

also, I recommend you read this post. It's my go to page when I need motivation.

2 comments:

  1. I feel the same way. Yesterday I decided to be a born again vegan too...well after lunch (I accidently used ranch dressing on my bocca burger). But after that I was fully off the animal product wagon, and once again walking besides my four legged friends (I say that because I don't believe real vegans would ride in a wagon...they probably believe it's cruel to the animal). Anyways, I loved this blog, and I fully support this decision. And I look forward to swapping some recipes with you! XXOO

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  2. Hooray for born again vegans! Oh, that's hilarious! And a very good point.I'm so glad you're vegan again too, we can be each other's support system! I look forward to swapping recipes too. I'll definitely have to share recipes from my vegan cupcake cookbook with you! Chelsey gave it to me for Christmas... it's so wonderful.

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