What We Did to Improve Our Lives and Feel Better Than Ever.

Welcome to our first ever Steemit post! We have somewhat recently come across this platform, and have taken quite a liking to it. We thought we would try our hand at sharing our experience in hopes of finding like-minded people, and to perhaps offer a fresh perspective to those who are open to a change.

We are two 25 year olds who, as of 6 months ago, have switched to a whole foods vegan diet. If we really think about it, it all started when we got our baby monster, Jax. About two years ago, this wonderful puppy was introduced to our lives:

As we watched him grow and got to see his individual quirks and silly behaviours manifest themselves, we slowly came to the realization that Jax was only able to grow into his personality because we gave him the freedom to do so.

While it may be comforting to know that we can provide everything he needs in order to flourish, it’s equally disheartening to now understand that countless animals with personalities just as unique and engaging as Jax’s will never have the opportunity to fully develop. One day, as this reality began weighing heavily on our conscience, we really started to think about where our food was coming from, and whether animal products were a necessary part of our diet.

Though we did not think we were eating unhealthily when we started this journey, we consumed the typical North American diet: salty, greasy foods, lots of sweets (be it from beverages or candies), and meat as the staple of every meal. As we began to watch videos and read studies to educate ourselves on the health benefits of consuming animal products, it dawned on us that there really weren’t any. There exists an abundance of alternative sources of protein which in reality are much better for our health, and any nutrients which we praise animal products for providing, can much more effectively be obtained through a plant based diet. This was the first step in our diet transformation.

Despite the fact that we had never bothered to read labels and find out what we were putting into our bodies, from then on, reading the label of each and every item we purchased became our norm. Though this may seem daunting at first, once an item was introduced into our routine, we no longer had to verify it beforehand, and so, the amount of labels we read diminished with every trip to the grocery store. As we sought to integrate into a fully plant based diet, this practice led us to notice all of the other ingredients present in our food which we had never originally thought to consider eliminating. This was an unexpected, yet very welcome outcome, and led us to discovering more about refined sugars, oils, and processed foods in general.

It was a refreshing day in our household when we rummaged through the pantry and got rid of all the sugar, corn syrup, and other processed foods. It is nice to now be able to say that we rarely use any sweeteners, and when we do, we rely solely on natural maple syrup and dates. Though we’ve successfully removed most of the oil from our cooking, we do still use small amounts on occasion for roasting vegetables, in salad dressings, and when baking. We are still working towards eliminating it entirely, but haven’t found the right substitutes quite yet. As for processed foods, cheese was the most difficult to give up, but thankfully, we’ve also had lots of success with making cheese with cashews. This is a great recipe for example, especially when we take an extra 5 minutes to “fry” it into cheese slices whenever needed. Here are a few of the meals we have regularly prepared over the course of the last six months:

Breakfast

Maple Walnut Pancakes

Oatmeal with Bananas, Walnuts, and Chia Seeds

Lunch

Pizza with Homemade Melted Cheese

Sweet Potato Curry with Rice & Cilantro

Lentil, Black Bean & Mushroom Burger

Dinner

Vegetable Pot Pie

Cauliflower & Spinach Curry

Sweet Potato, Chickpea & Spinach Curry

When looking back at these past months, the diet modifications seemed difficult at first, but ultimately, our growing understanding of sentience through our connection with Jax, coupled with the overwhelming evidence that suggests humans thrive on a whole foods vegan diet, made it easy to stay on track. We wanted to share our experience in our continued pursuit of following through with how one day we felt we could do something to improve our lives. Changing our diet has been just one of the decisions we’re working on and as we continue down this path of self-improvement, we felt that Steemit would be a great place to document our experience along the way.

We hope that by putting ourselves out there, we not only help inspire others, but also gain strength for ourselves. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our first Steemit post and we hope to hear from you in the future!

A few good sources for more information:
Articles:
Nutrient Profiles of Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian Dietary Patterns
Plant Foods Have a Complete Amino Acid Composition
Milk intake and risk of mortality and fractures in women and men
Comparative fracture risk in vegetarians and nonvegetarians

Videos:
Dr. John McDougall TEDx Presentation
Dr. Neal Barnard TEDx Presentation
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn TEDx Presentation
How to Prevent Deficiencies on a Vegan Diet
Oil: The Vegan Killer