Be coming Vegan- Sudden Changes, Sudden Consequences

Yes, I was THAT person

Our family's switch from Omni eating to Vegan eating was quite sudden- I mean whiplash sudden.  Vegan-ism hadn't even been discussed prior to the moment I told my husband I was making the switch.  To be honest making the change didn't even make sense logically- I didn't eat or like many veggies to begin with, I was a HUUUGE meat eater- called myself a carnivore and asked for my steaks "still moo-ing", had a huge obsession with all things dairy (especially the cheese format), and often said "I'm sorry" and mourned a little bit when anyone told me they were vegetarian.  No lie!  

Wakey Wakey

 So when I woke up the last day of October- I had no plans to change my lifestyle, or my family's.  It wasn't even a spec of a thought in my mind.  I started my day normally and then just had the thought- "I wonder if my sister stopped smoking yet, I should harass her."  Now- I do not, out of the blue, harass people for their lifestyle choices in general, but my sister had been saying she was quitting "for real" for about 2 months and if I could help I wanted to.  As I was having this thought, I happened to be passing by my bathroom mirror and  as I was dialing her digits- I glanced over at my reflection and felt like I hit a wall stopping suddenly (for the record there was no literally wall, though that does happen from time to time).  Why was I so willing to help save my sister's life, so willing to push her toward change, to be a bully for her- but willing to ignore my own issues?  I stood there staring at my 5 foot 3.5 inch (yes the half inch matters) 211 pound self and felt incredibly hypocritical, unhealthy, and self deprecating. I was throwing my life away with food, and laziness (what exercise?) the way she was with cigarettes.  I needed to change myself before I could help someone else with such a serious change.  So I sat down with my friend Google and tried to figure out what to do.

Foiled!

I've dieted before- I've never been a fad dieter, I don't tend to take foods away since I know generally that just makes me want them more so I'm not a person with any experience with Atkins or any of those give something up diets.  Prior I had limited my portions and eaten 5-6 small meals a day and daily exercise and had great success- I had lost 55lbs over the course of a year.  The only problem being- suddenly migraines became a factor of my daily life.  Migraines came from no where.  Prior to them entering my life so vehemently I had maybe one during my visits from "aunt flo" each month and that was it.  But suddenly I was stuck in them 6-7 days a week.  I became a guinea pig for medications of all types- and in my first month of still eating well (and mostly not keeping it down) but not being able to exercise I gained 24lbs back.  I never got out of this 4 years later not much had changed- except I was on 17 medications taking my migraine frequency down to 2-3 a week.  When I get a migraine my blood pressure goes from very low to "oh my god you could have a stroke high" so those 2-3 days a week with the migraine I was on both a narcotic and a barbiturate and often had to go to my doctor to get a shot to stop vomiting and break the migraine.  I missed out on a LOT.  I was a "part time" player in my life and my kid's life for that time period and I will never get that time back.  My excuse for not going back to my healthier lifestyle was that "it was a waste I worked for a year and migraines took it all away in less then 3 months".  How do you motivate yourself to do it again knowing you still have the problem that broke you in the first place.  You try something new.  I hated the medications both in prevention of and during the migraines and it seemed like my collection grew every time I went to the doctor.  So I started looking for another way to get rid of the migraine- I didn't care what it was if I found something non medical with strong results form a decent portion of the population I would try it.  

We're going to do, what now?? 

While researching natural ways to alleviate migraines I found an answer that seemed crazy but if it could work potentially could take care of both problems.  There was a huge number of people saying they saw incredible results with weight loss, better health, and migraine relief by becoming Vegan.  Oh boy.  Vegan?  I only weighed the thought for a second- the meat, the cheese, the ice cream- could I never have a french dip again?   How would I survive- I don't like or eat most veggies!?  Would I get enough protein? (yes that god awful ignorant question).  Then I started planning.  For me it started with the facts- I skipped all of the animal cruelty stuff because I needed try this for me. I made a list of all of the health reasons to go vegan, started collecting recipes ( a week's worth) and went to talk to my husband.  My plan- I was going vegan, but I'd still happily cook for them.  I was going to try it for a month and if it helped and seemed like something I could live with it would continue. My hubby threw a wrench in the plan that I did not expect- he said "okay, but we're all doing it too".  Wait, what?  ::blink::  ::blink::  

At that moment I knew I had to alter the plan a bit.  I knew I was adventurous and could try new things and be fine, all of the new ethnic recipes I had chosen would be fine for me and my husband, but not so much for the kids.  In order for this to work for my family- we had to first eat more of a variety of veggies, and expand our taste horizons with new recipes- but we also had to have notes of the old and familiar and break them into this slower then my own personal pace would have been.  I am very much an all or nothing girl though- so the trick was to go instantly vegan but not make them aware of it by keeping some of their familiar foods. September 1st 2012 my family went vegan.  Within 2 weeks I decided this was it for me- I am a Vegan.  I was happy with the new foods I was making, the fake meats were more then edible- they were pretty darn good (mmmm chikin), oh and I hadn't had a migraine in over a week. My husband was on board too- he was happy with the food, and feeling better.  He felt he could use a little more encouragement to stick with it because it terrified him as to how he would eat on his business trips (he travels a TON) and he didn't know how he would stick to his guns without me cooking for him.  So we watched everything we could find.  Forks over knives, "Sick, Fat, and Nearly Dead", etc and all of the other videos we could find, including the awful factory farm ones.  I will never eat another animal product again.  Ignorance was bliss and now that is gone and I literally gag as I pass the meat section in the grocery.  After a month of eating vegan we finally told the kids- who never had a clue.  Our 9 year old daughter asked a lot of questions- and we told her it was for our health, AND for the animals and a better planet, but we did not go into details.  We will someday if she asks when she's a bit older, but see no reason to scare her.  

Consequesnces

I will not lie- that first month was hard.  VERY HARD.  But very doable, and very worth it.  We had issues with our friends who were very angry at first and thought we went insane (I was the cook of the group and they always ate with us- I say was but I still am) it just took them a while to get use to the idea (about 2 months). It's been 5 months now and I still get 1-2 migraines a month- they're back in sync with "aunt flo", but I am ecstatic with that result.  I am off ALL of my medications. I did not have the support of my doctor for getting off my meds- I had to work with a pharmacist to work out a plan- my doctor was not a believer that a food change would get rid of migraines, she figured we finally just got the right mix of meds.  She was wrong!  We survived the big food holidays- and we didn't just survive them- we enjoyed them and all of our food.  The kids are happy, healthy and on board- my daughter is quick to ask about the content of food and refuse non Vegan items.  Our tastes are changing- we now crave things we use to think we hated, and we're to the point that we don't have to rely on fake meat products too much- though we still enjoy them from time to time.  The hubby has no issue on his business trips finding food to eat and is completely happy and thanks me constantly for making this change.  We both started exercising- he's lost over 30lbs and I've lost about 21.  We feel better.  

Why Blog? 

My intent for this blog is to help those thinking about making the switch for their family, though I think the info could help any vegan out there too!  I will be discussing the meals that helped us make the switch- some I made up on my own, some recipes from the internet, some from cookbooks.  I will not be posting the recipes that belong to other people, but I will link to them when possible.  I will just be talking about how long it takes to make, how easy it is to make, and how my family felt about the dish- recipe reviews.  I cook daily and experiment all of the time and want to share what worked and didn't work for us.  There are a ton of recipes out there to weed through and I've thought one was good but later found one even better for the family so if I can help make things easier.....