Eating Now For Your Future Self

This post is being written partially out of guilt and partially as motivation to myself to get back on track. This past week has been ROUGH over at our household. First of all, we only have 3 weeks until graduation, and motivation levels are plummeting at a speed faster than imaginable. Secondly, I have had so many tests this week that I cant even think straight anymore. ;) Needless to say, we definitely ate out 2 or 3 times this week, and my body was NOT happy with me for it. We still avoided anything fast-food (I don't know if I'll ever go back to it again), but I was amazed just how much my body has changed since I've been eating better over the past 3 months....and it has changed enough that it was NOT happy with me and my eating patterns this week. So, here's to getting back on track! Before you read any further, PLEASE tell me you've gone and watched the documentary Forks over Knives that I mentioned in this post on either Netflix or Amazon! This documentary was life-changing for me, and still continues to be. It not, WATCH IT THIS WEEKEND! Secondly, have any of you discovered some good vegetarian/vegan recipes you want to share? I'm still discovering new ones, but I always really love hearing what other people have done/discovered, too! Post them in the comments below!!
Now, I want to share some more helpful/motivational tips with you that I've learned (and remind myself of them!) as we have been eating a more plant-based diet. First of all, meat was not the hard thing to remove from our diets. Think about it, if you just steam a piece of chicken with zero spices/flavorings, what does it taste like? Well, not something that tastes good, that's for sure. The thing you REALLY have to make up for in recipes when you omit meat is the texture of meat. That was really difficult at first, but it's getting easier for me. I have discovered that adding a grain (like barley, lentils, brown rice, quinoa, etc) to most things helps make up for the texture immensely! You can also help make up for texture by adding hearty vegetables that maintain their texture well (like broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, etc) to a recipe.
The thing that has been more difficult than omitting meat for us has been omitting dairy. This was trickier than I thought! I didn't realize how many dairy products I used until I actually started paying attention. Milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, sour cream, etc. We started out simply by replacing our milk with almond milk, and both of us actually like it so much better now! We still haven't completely omitted cheese, but we have cut WAY back on that. A great way to help yourself cut back on cheese is by using nutritional yeast. This stuff is SO easy to find, so that's not a good excuse! You can buy it at any major grocery store, and it's available in numerous forms and varieties on Amazon. As far as yogurt goes, we haven't completely omitted that either. However, I know that some stores carry dairy-free yogurt (made out of coconut milk or other things), I just haven't been able to find it here so far. Butter was very easy to cut out, as was sour cream. I just use coconut oil and olive oil in place of butter, and I just choose to not use sour cream!
The other thing that I have heard from a lot of people (women), is that, "I could definitely be vegetarian, I just could never convince my husband to do it!" Well, I was one of those women at first, and my husband was not super easily convinced, but I was AMAZED at his transformation. I genuinely didn't believe I'd ever really get him on board. I really eased him into it at first. Instead of cooking big pieces of meat as the main dish, I started making recipes where I would just use a little bit of meat and spread it throughout the whole dish. Then I slowly just started taking the meat out of things, and finally started removing dairy, too. My husband is now completely on-board with our new diet, and he is a total believer. He loves the way he feels, how he sleeps better, and how his cravings for unhealthy stuff have almost completely disappeared. Don't try to do it cold turkey! They really will dislike you for that, but I am a pretty firm believer that anyone can be converted to this way of eating. Again, WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY WITH YOUR SPOUSE, TOO!! :)

Did I mention you should watch that documentary?

Oh, yeah, btw,  you should watch that Forks Over Knives documentary.

Anyhow, after you watch the documentary, get going! You CAN do it. It seems overwhelming and difficult at first, but it's really not as hard as you think. Yes, it does require you to spend more time actually cooking your own food instead of going out to eat or buying pre-packaged things, but you will realize (after you watch the documentary!!) that it really is an incredibly important investment into your future health, and your health right now! That guy in the picture above knows whats up! We pay good money to go to the doctors and take time to do that...why don't we take time to stay healthy in the first place by cooking and eating right? Quality of life is EVERYTHING, and I think health is the number one contributor to that. So, gear up, look up some vegan recipes on pinterest, go to the grocery store and buy some veggies, and spend some time in the kitchen! You can do it!!!!

Photo Cred: Google Images