Advice to newbies

This is adapted from an email I sent to a friend trying to be vegan who asked for some advice:

Feel free to eat as much fruit and veggies as you want. Eating a piece of fruit or two first thing in the morning is a good thing to do to boost your energy, I do that pretty much everyday on the way to work with my coffee, its good to eat fruit before heavier carbs like bread because you digest fruit much quicker. Then I'll eat a 10 o'clock snack of like pistachios or peanut butter crackers, or even an English muffin with grape jelly. I used to get an English muffin with jelly and home fries from dunk all the time.

Vegans can sometimes eat more calories than they used to and still lose weight. Because you are eating better food, your body processes it more efficiently, and you expel more energy.

Don't know if you drink any soda, you shouldn't, its probably the most unhealthy stuff on earth. especially diet soda.

Me and Shannon slipped many times, especially with dairy, if you do just reread the section about dairy in skinny bitch, or watch some you tube videos to remind yourself why you are doing it. Dairy takes about a month to leave you body but once it does you'll have far less "colds" and "sinus infections." I used to get them all the time year round and I haven't had one in for ever.

Some days you'll feel crappy, but most of the time in the beginning this is because the toxins are leaving you body in the form of , runny nose, diarrhea, headaches, etc... but once you're off dairy and meat for like a month you'll start to feel great almost everyday.

Also keep in mind you'll prob drop some weight in the first couple months especially with exercise, but eventually your body just sort of levels out and the weight loss happens slower (again depending on how much you exercise) so don't get discouraged if you plateau for a while, the good news is if you stick with the healthy diet you'll never go back up, always down until you reach your natural body weight.

You give vegan moms a bad name

I recently read an article on "Natural Parenting" (a page I like on facebook) about a vegan couple who starved their baby because mom wouldn't breastfeed because of her vegan beliefs. You can read the article HERE. This was absurd and not an issue of veganism, but just stupidity; however, the average reader is obviously going to think vegan = bad. Then today I read THIS ARTICLE about another baby dying at the hands of the evil vegans. When I researched this case a little more, it becomes apparent that this again has nothing to do with being vegan. This baby died of an infection that the parents refused to get medical attention for. The fact that the baby had some vitamin deficiencies was essentially unrelated to the diet of the mom since all nursing moms are supposed to continue use of prenatals which contain all vitamins baby needs. So again, diet was the scapegoat to bad parenting. The whole point of these nonsensical "news" pieces seems to be discouraging vegan mommas and to make them feel like they are being bad moms because of their dietary choices. This blog will be used to dispel vegan myths (like my favorite about the elusive protein deficiency) but putting this one to rest is so important to me. Being vegan means you care about the world, animals, and perhaps most importantly your health. Breast milk is perfect food for baby whether you are vegan or not. To put your mind at ease check out THIS PDF which gives you explicit dietary advice about what to eat while breastfeeding and vegan. Most importantly, be a good mom. Take your prenatals and take care of your self as this all helps babies grow big and strong. My little one gained well over a pound in her first week despite my nefarious vegan diet. Don't let trash like those articles dissuade you from making good choices for your family!

P.S. Happy world breastfeeding week!!!

Meals

Hello folks, it seems that everyone keeps asking me the same question, "What do I make for dinner?" I'll be posting simple meal options that I use every week myself. From Mexican beans and rice to veggie lasagna, these are dishes that taste great, and are incredibly healthy. Also, I'll list which products I use in the recipes because they won't contain any meat, dairy, eggs, or MSG. More on MSG and it's effects later.

Yummy chocolate chip cookies

This is the recipe Alex used to make his yummy cookies. One note, to make them truly vegan, you need to read the label on the chocolate chips. We used fair trade chocolate chips which were a little expensive at $5.99 from Shaws, but they were the only vegan ones they had. I would follow the recipe exactly because the second time we made them we used regular sugar and they weren't as good. The dough should have a thickish consistency. Enjoy!

Cookies!!!!!!!!

Level 5 status...

We've been talking about having a blog for awhile now and are finally getting around to it. Since around February, Alex and I have been full-time vegans. We really committed fully to the diet after the cheese massacre that was our Disney vacation; we both felt like crap after that trip. I have to say, I've never felt better! I managed to become vegan during pregnancy which meant no ice cream (which I ate daily when pregnant with Zoe.) I had no complications during the pregnancy and have already lost all the weight I gained not even two weeks after having Lea. I'm looking forward to seeing my continued weight loss since I never lost all the weight I gained with Zoe. I never thought I could be vegan since cheese and dairy were my comfort foods, but I managed, and so can you. We hope to use this blog to share recipes and information with our friends. Here's hoping to convert the world to level 5 status:)