A personal choice.

I've thought of a million ways to start this post. I've stayed awake late at night running this post through my head. I've spaced out while driving to work while thinking about this post. I've agonized about this post. Now it's time to stop the madness and just post already.

This is not even an earth shattering post. But it kind of is. At least in my head, it is.

I decided recently to give Veganism a chance. This means that I will not consume any animal products at all. No meat, no milk, no butter, no ice cream, no eggs, nothing. It sounds extreme I know and it sort of is. Except that I have decided that my health is too important to continue to eat the 'normal' way I've eaten all my life.

To date I've read 4 books about the subject, researched online, taken a vegan cooking class, signed up for another cooking class, joined message boards and stocked my kitchen. And I think this is the best choice I've ever made. I feel energized and alert and healthier than I ever have in my entire life.

It's so overwhelming to make such changes in your own life. And I know it's been just as overwhelming, if not more so, to my family and friends. I know it's hard to understand for most people and even harder to accept. I've been asked so many questions, "what do you eat?", "don't you have to have milk to have strong bones?", "how are you going to get your protein?", "where can you eat out at?", "aren't you going to alienate yourself?". The list goes on and on. I have answers to every single question. More importantly I have educated, science proven answers for most of these questions.

I've worked hard to learn as much as I can and cook as many new things that I can to be a better vegan cook. It's like I'm learning all over again. The first time I cooked with tofu I hated it and promptly threw it out. The second time it was much better. I actually am looking forward to the third time I cook with tofu.

I have all the ingredients to make my own 'fake meat' and I'm actually really excited to try it. It's a good thing I love to cook and try new things otherwise I'd be living off of pasta and jarred tomato sauce all the time. Not that pasta and tomato sauce is bad, on the contrary, I have a new tomato sauce recipe that's simple and so good.

What I want most from this life change is a healthy body and a healthy relationship with food that's good for the body. I want to save a few innocent animals and maybe teach some people about what they are eating. I want my children to have knowledge and information so they they can make their own choices. I want to always keep learning and growing and evolving.

My grandma told me recently, while we were talking about me being a vegetarian, that once I stopped learning new things that you stop living. And she's right. This is my way of learning something new, something that will be beneficial to my health and well being. Something I hope people will support and encourage and be curious about. Something I think is right for me.

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I've closed comments on this post because I don't want people to feel obligated to comment. On the flip side I don't want to see a lack of posts and worry that you all think I'm a total nut. If you'd like to discuss this further, I'd love to....you can e-mail me at sunflower99@swbell.net