The Journey Begins!

I feel like I've always had one toe in the vegetarian pool.  The water has always felt great and why I have waited so long to jump in, I have no idea. I think, if I were to be totally honest, the main reason is that I have a husband and kids and the idea of changing over to a vegetarian diet doesn't appeal to them in the least. So, in an effort to keep from cooking 3-4 meals a night, I never made the switch.  Kinda lazy.  But for the last two years, I have watched my father suffer from cancer.  It's been an awful experience.  The helplessness you feel is not something I can even begin to describe.  All I can do is research.  Any bit of information about his illness and anything that could possibly help. During this time, I came across The China Study by Colin Campbell, PHD.  It has totally changed my life.  The idea that animal protein could actually feed cancer was shocking to me.  I wont go into great detail about the book but I highly recommend it.  Also, the companion movie, Forks Over Knives and book of the same title are excellent at putting all the scientific information from the book into a manageable format you can really digest.

My decision to make a change as big as this is purely for health reasons.  That's not to say that I don't love animals and am not totally disgusted when I read about how they are treated and killed to get to our table, but for me, this decision is about my personal health.  If you've ever read my blog before, you know that I've spent a lot of time trying to self-diagnose my stomach problems, along with a general "I feel like crap on most days" kind of feeling.  I cut out gluten although never went full on gluten free.  I did notice a lot of positive changes when I took the gluten out - felt less "puffy", my skin started to clear up and more improtantly, the antacids that I was popping daily like candy were a thing of the past.  But I still didn't feel as good as I had hoped.  I decided to cut dairy and see what effect that would have.  Talk about a change!  Incredible!!  I went dairy free about 2 months ago and haven't looked back.  I still have gluten every now and again but avoid it as much as possible.  I don't miss dairy at all, I've found several dairy-free options to keep me happy.  The removal of dairy and my research about my father were happening at the same time and the idea that food could be medicine collided for my own personal health as well as his health.  Four weeks ago today, I stopped drinking coffee cold turkey (no pun intended) and took out meat.  In the four weeks that followed, I had fish 4 times and those times that I consumed fish, were times that I felt like I had to....dinner at my mother-in-law's for example.  I haven't actually spoken up and said, "You know what, I am making this change for me. I don't expect anyone to bend over backwards to accommodate me, I just don't want to feel like I have to eat what everyone else is having without a barrage of questions and skepticism."  I know, I need to say those things.  On October 1st, I decided to cut the fish out along with other animal proteins that I had already cut.  And so it begins.  My journey into a completely new lifestyle.  I'm not sure what to expect.  I know it's going to be hard at times but I know, I can feel it through my entire being, that I'm making the right decision. 

Along with general health, it will be interesting to note how my new diet effects my training.  I'm currently training for the Richmond Half Marathon (November 12th) and then the National Half (March 17th).  I'm excited to see how my training is effected, my recovery from long runs, and my feeling during those long runs.  Let the adventure begin!