My health journey to clean eating and hoping one day, completely vegan.

Beginning in college, I made the decision to try to eat as organic as I could afford, since my mother’s side of the family had so much cancer. In 2009, my mother was diagnosed with an unknown hepatobiliary cancer at the age of 47 which rocked my world. It was during this time, when she began seeing a holistic doctor in conjunction with her oncologist that I started really integrating a more holistic approach to my health. Seeing her go through round after round of chemotherapy and being able to tolerate it and thrive while taking her herbal supplements, living her life to the fullest, completely changed my view on holistic medicine and eventually influenced my medical practice as a practitioner.

Since then, I have gradually changed my lifestyle in terms of health, nutrition, mindset and just overall wellness which has made a huge impact on how I feel physically, mentally and spiritually.

It started in my early thirties when I just could not get those stubborn 10+ lbs off after trying different diets and workouts. The weight would go up and down, each time coming back with an extra pound or inch here and there. Aside from this, I just felt tired, bloated, and suffered from indigestion and other gastrointestinal issues. So I started by doing an allergy blood test to see if I was really allergic to the things I thought I might have sensitivities to, and guess what? I was. My biggest love and also worst nightmare, dairy was the main culprit. I had been doing whey shakes, lattes, and yogurt pretty much every day as well as calorie counting, trying to feel better and get in shape, while going to the gym for an hour 6 days a week.

Time to Change

I made a decision that this needed to change. I began with an elimination diet which eventually led to me cutting out dairy completely. About 4-5 months later, I came across intermittent fasting and decided to give it a try. AMAZING! I was eating roughly 8-9 hours a day and fasting the rest, moving my schedule around in order for it to work with my lifestyle of working shift work, but I ended up losing 15 lbs and kept it off! Many people do this on their own but I joined Faster Way after I was inspired by their owner, Amanda Tress during her 3rd pregnancy journey and have been doing it since. I even did this through my pregnancy and managed to only gain 30 lbs, but more importantly felt amazing during the entire pregnancy (weeks 10-37)- no bloating, lots of energy, and decent sleep (until the last few weeks) AND I bounced back afterwards and am almost back to where I started.

In November, after both my husband and I had read, “How Not to Die” by Dr. Michael Greger and watched multiple documentaries including “Forks over Knives”, and most recently, “Gamechangers”, my husband decided to give Vegan eating a shot. He told me, “I am going to do this with no meal planning and preparing for 60 days” and started in November 2019. So, since I tend to be the meal planning and ‘prepper’ in our household, I started making more vegan dishes, but was still eating some meat, however started eating less and less and then stopped with the exception of seafood. Needless to say, we have been eating primarily a plant-based lifestyle with seafood 1-2X a week since and love it. We have tried steak once and both of us felt sick afterwards and decided that it was not worth it. My hubby has lost 15 lbs just eating vegan. I had a bit of a rough start getting my Macros to balance since I just love carbs and protein for me is the hardest to conquer on a plant-based diet, but I think I finally have gotten into a groove, so I am excited to see what this spring and summer bring.

PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION”