This page started back in 2011 as a blog about my transition into Minimalist Running shoes, aka Vibram Five Fingers aka, My Monkey Toes. My posts will still continue to touch on my running journeys as well as my love of Yoga and Pilates. But for now I think the most important thing to open with, is how to get you body running on high octane fuel by changing the way you view the food at the end of your fork!
So, I've only been Vegan for a little over two months now. I went Vegetarian back in March of 2013 after watching a couple different documenataries on Netflix. One of which was Forks over Knives. This is a wonderful gateway documentary that explains benefits of eating a better diet, consisting of nutrient rich foods, as opposed to what has become the "typical Western diet". The other documentary that I watched about a month later was Vegucated. This film touched on some of the same topics as FOK but also discussed the environmental aspect of eating an animal based diet. Now I am a huge animal lover. I don't have any human children but I do share my home with two, four legged, feline children. And they are treated with the same care, love and respect. Vegucated, educated me about how horribly animals that are seen as "food" are treated and it put me into tears. I was appalled by what I had learned and felt very deceived. Watching that, was my "ah ha" moment. It was the moment that, as an animal lover, I could never look back and I could only call myself a hypocrite if I chose to just look the other way. So I change my diet from that day forward.
So being Vegan for me, started mostly as a healthy life style change and then became a personal way to protest all and any animal cruelty. Along with watching these films (as well as many others that will pop up as a recommendation on Netflix), I have also read many books on being Vegan, or what some people refer to as a "raw diet". And let me say right now that I hate the word "diet". I am not on a diet. I have never really dieted in my life before. I have alway been in decent shape and have never had any serious health concerns. I chose to make a "lifestyle change" to better myself and my future. So if you are looking for a quick fix or a way to lose a couple pounds for bikini season, then being Vegan, or eating raw, is not for you. I think becoming a Vegan is more of a psychological choice and the health and environmental benefits are a nice addition.
So, as I was beginning to say, (before I had to take my stand about "diets") I have read many books on these types of lifestyle changes as well. A great one that really backed up was the FOK documentary spoke about is Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman. Many others are, The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefight's 28-day..... by Rip Esselstyn, who is also featured in the FOK documentary and a fellow Austinite. Rip also has a new book out called "My Beef with Meat" but I have yet to read it. Currently I am reading a book called Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to optimal Performance in Sports and Life by Brendan Brazier. I will post and talk about some more titles on my page as I get this blog moving again.
I am very excited about this new journey I am on. I hope to share those things here with you in the future. You only get one life and one body and I think everyone needs to learn more about how to embrace them, in a happy, healthy way. Until later, Namaste.
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