Category: VEganism

Why oh Why do I make myself CrY?

So I’ve been feeling like I should share my journey here. My journey into veganism. And I’ll admit first off that I’m not perfectly vegan. I try so hard! But I’m also gluten free because of severe intolerance and sometimes I’ll buy a gluten free pizza crust and it’ll have egg in it. Or I’ll get the gluten free toast at breakfast and it probably has eggs in it or comes covered in butter. I do my best at the time. And I am going to be even better from now on. My kid and I made a pact that we will from now on no longer buy anything without checking the label, and we are also going to be making our own bread, buns, pizza crusts, etc. Recently my friend recommended an amazing Gluten free vegan bread company, Happy Campers, from Portland, so I will be reviewing that on YouTube as soon as we receive it. Hopefully today. 🙂

On to my story.

It started for me in high school. I went to a Depeche Mode concert and I was handed a PETA flyer and I was seriously dumbfounded. I had no idea about the cruelty! And all those products that test on animals…! What?!? So I immediately went vegetarian and that lasted for 3 years. But I still ate cheese, which along with peanut butter, was pretty much all I ate. Not healthy or good for animals, but I didn’t know that at the time. I don’t know how I missed the cheese/dairy connection, but I did. I did end up going back to meat after awhile because I allowed myself to be shamed into it. I hated it and rarely ate it.

I was extremely unhealthy for a long time. I was all about trying to destroy myself. I smoked, I drank heavily, I would drink at least a six pack of coke a day, I’d eat only pretzels for lunch. I don’t know how I made it this far. At one point, i woke up. I looked at myself and realized I’d been trying to destroy myself and that I should choose joy and life.  I realized that I had to make a change. I started with smoking and cut that out of my life. Then the soda. I added in more veggies and less processed foods and less meat. Then in my thirties, I got pregnant. This time I was determined to be healthy and help this baby be healthy. That’s when I started researching health and nutrition and natural healing. I came across this book, “Eating Animals,” by Jonathan safran Foer,

 and it changed my life. No more meat. And I started reading about the health of plant-based diets and I was hooked.

I can now look at someone and tell if they are dairy intolerant. I can see people and tell if they are clogged up with meat. I was about to enter a Naturopathic Doctorate program and I got to see inside a person who had died of COPD. I saw their veins blocked, their intestines stretched and blocked and their toxic liver and lungs. Amazing!

It’s really surprising when you learn how important diet is to health. As in THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do for yourself. Wow!

I didn’t enter that program, as I got pregnant again and then moved across the country. But I am determined to find a way to become a healer and an advocate for the vegan way of life. Both for healing physically as well as mentally. We are what we eat. Literally. And I find the corporate ownership of animals to be disgusting. These companies want to find a cheap way to make the most money that they can and they use animals like slaves to do so. We need to stop this. There aro many reasons that veganism is good for us and the planet and the other organisms that exist here with us. So many reasons!

So that’s my story. Why not share yours? We could write a compilation book of shared stories. We need to get the word out.

Vegan cooking is super fun! No joke. seriously. Not joking.  It is!!

Good god I love a meringue. I used to buy those dang tubs of meringue cookies from trader joe’s and I literally couldn’t stop until I’d polished off the whole dang thing. And then I’d puke. But still want more.

I don’t eat eggs anymore. So.

But I no longer have to cry internally when I see those damn tubs of meringues!! I can make vegan meringues!! What what?!!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/06/10/aquafaba_baking_with_chickpea_liquid_for_vegan_meringues.html

I am soooo tryin this. If the baby will get off my leg and stop cryin, I will definitely be making these. I don’t usually use canned beans, but I will for these.

Yes I’m still trying to not eat sugar. I gotta have it every once in awhile, though.  Don’t judge.

Every Little Thing She does is Magic

mwah. Kisses to you. I’ve been away so long and totally missed this blog, but never touched it. I don’t know why. I think my negative word vomit from those last posts really turned me off from writing anymore. Which is stupid, since I could’ve just erased them. They were my dang words after all. I annoy myself sometimes.

So what’s been happening with me? I had a baby over a year ago and she is super clingy, super attached to mom baby. I can’t leave the room. But I’ll get into that later. Tryin to stay positive here.
We also moved halfway across the country. I had never been to colorado before, but now I find myself here and loving it. It’s a little more hippie than I would like, I think, but that also means I find crunchy types that understand that side of me. And that’s awesome. It was so frickin hard being in the Midwest and trying to maintain that chem-free lifestyle. I was like that crazy stinky homeless hippie that people try to ignore on the street. People just assumed that I was batshit crazy and ignored me. (You saw the old blog posts!) I had a constant anger issue with my kid’s school because they just kept feeding her junk even though I asked them countless times to knock it off. It caused me many sweaty, angry, sleepless nights. BUT here I am in kinda crunchy colorado and I’m ok. People get it here. They love local. They love gluten free. They love, well no, they don’t love vegans, but they offer them sustenance and leave them alone.   And the mountains are amazing. Every single day. Wow!! And there are chiropractors and acupuncturists and TCM practitioners crawling out of the woodwork. I love that. And everyone here has tattoos. It’s actually kinda crazy because I’m not expecting it. Love it.

But mostly I’m just getting by. Not sleeping because the lil wingnut won’t sleep at night. Not doing much because the lil wingnut won’t let me. I think I’ve showered alone 3 times since she’s been born. Yikes. Any other moms out there?? I just try to keep in mind that it’ll get better. It’s my mantra. It’ll get better and I need to appreciate this baby time while it’s here, because I WILL miss it. Someday. She is super cute! But sooo hard. Zzzzzzz I’m falling asleep on myself. Good night, sleep tight. Hope you all get more than two hours at a stretch, unlike me.