Cheers! Here’s to a New Year of Health

Those of you who know me know that I am passionate about health and wellness, especially nutrition and fitness. I find myself reading all sorts of books and magazines yearning for more and more information on things such as the nutrition content in all foods and new diet/lifestyle choices. In the beginning of the year 2008 instead of a New Years resolution I put into action a New Years ‘challenge’ to live a vegan lifestyle for a month. It was so easy! I attribute the ease at which adopting this new lifestyle was to living with my sister and her husband. My sister is a practicing vegan and she is very committed to her choice. My brother–in-law is a compliant vegan by association, and a vegetarian by definition. Well, it is now the end of the second month of veganism and I have no desire to go back to eating animal products anytime soon.  My New Year challenge so far hasn’t been very challenging. The last couple years I had begun consciously avoiding eating meat when possible, I would not opt to buy meat at the grocery store and I’d also try to choose an alternative when eating at restaurants. I neglected officially becoming vegan as I never liked to define myself by my diet, though with such strong interests in nutrition I am surprised I hadn’t done it sooner.  I feel healthy, I haven’t been sick during the time I have been vegan and I also haven’t experienced my usual year-round allergies that have always burdened me in the past. It is not just my health though, I feel so good about my decision to become vegan because, and I really feel like I am one more person standing up against animal cruelty. I refuse to contribute to the support of companies that exploit these innocent creatures. I am putting my foot down.  I am grateful for the support from my family and thoroughly love my home life as it has helped me to transition easily into my new lifestyle. But sometimes being vegan can prove to be a little uneasy outside of the home, like in social situations. For example, catered parties and eating out with friends can be far less than accommodating to vegans. It is normal to eat animals and their products and it is embedded in culture and accepted worldwide. The few who choose not to participate in the standard American diet often need to be accommodated, specially requesting their meals to be served cruelty free. As in the case of the catered party, a vegan must sometimes be content with just eating a plain piece of bread and a salad with vinegar dressing. Sometimes all it takes is you just being aware and a little creative with your food choices in some situations. Adopting this lifestyle can be challenging at times and but also a very rewarding one. As all matters in life, things are really only as difficult as you perceive them to be.  My blog was started to provide you with support in your health choices and to provide you with knowledge and insight into what being vegan is all about. I will answer some questions that I spark my interest along the way, like, is in necessary to worry about protein intake as a vegan, and what kind of effects does B12 deficiency have on the body? I also started this blog because I love cooking and I wanted to include some of my favorite recipes for those of you who need some change from the same ol’ and would like to entice their taste buds by adding some variety.