It’s a question several of you have asked me in different ways, and I’d love to share.

FIRST, this did not happen overnight. Much of it was the result of spending my summer in Switzerland and eating excessive amounts of dairy and fish. I almost gave up being vegetarian this summer. When I came home, I had gained weight, felt lethargic, had no energy, and was struggling with bad allergies. I was so badly in need of a detox that I decided to go vegan for a while to reset my diet to truly plant-based. I started with a fruit and vegetable smoothie fast for 2 days. During this time off of school and work, I began reading several vegan blogs for tips on healthy, whole foods eating.

SECOND, I learned through reading all of these blogs and watching an excessive number of documentaries about something known generally as WHOLE BODY HEALTH. I learned about people who have successfully cured cancer, diabetes, allergies, and countless other diseases by altering their nutrition. I became enthralled by this idea that God designed our bodies as one smooth machine, and did not intend for us to fix just our blood pressure or just our cholesterol level with medication. When something is wrong with your body, something is wrong with all of your body – not just one part. 

THIRD, I learned even more about the processed food industry. Every day people are consuming things that are definitively known to cause cancer and other diseases, not to mention make them fat. All of this led to a complete revamp of our kitchen where, over the course of 2 weeks, we got rid of all our processed food in exchange for REAL FOOD. Now, my number one goal is NOT to avoid cancer. Honestly, I couldn’t care less how I die or if I die young. I do, however, have some insane part of me that wants to pursue being an ultra-athlete, and I was so fascinated by this idea of completely aligning my food intake with my body’s true needs.

I promise you, I did not just wake up one day and start eating barley for breakfast. I hate that I even come close to identifying as a crunchy granola hippie right now. BUT, after a few weeks of detox, I saw incredible changes in my body.

• I NEVER feel bloated anymore. Ladies, anyone with me? You heard me. Never.
• I lost 5 lbs. quickly, but more importantly I lost fat.
• I get a horrible stomachache if I eat anything with high fructose corn syrup in it. Guess what?!? That’s the body’s natural reaction. We have just become numb to it.
• I do NOT miss meat or dairy in the slightest, despite having tried to go vegan before and feeling completely deprived. 

Sizzling up tofu with worcestershire sauce and Bragg’s liquid aminos. I do this the night before for an awesome salad the next day!

The finished product: raw kale, grape tomatoes, bell pepper, shredded carrot, sprouts, tofu, and Trader Joes’ soy ginger vinaigrette.

 Today’s mantra: Find what makes you healthy and whole. Don’t accept the status quo. 

Hi all,
I hope the last few days have been filled with love, laughter, and lots of lovely COSTUMES! I had a fantastic Halloween this past weekend with my super creative husband.

Me as Raggedy Ann(ie) and my husband as “50 Shades of Grey”! You can’t quite see his whole costume here, but he had handcuffs on his other belt loop. Everyone thought it was super creative and I was just proud to be with him :)

Let me tell you, clean eating and drinking went out the window a little bit this weekend. And you know what? That’s ok. The best part of it was that I was conscious the entire time to remind myself: This is not a splurge. This is not “cheating.” This is not something I have to make up for later. This is just part of life. It was a great part of life and after all the fun food and drinks and a few days paying no attention to calories whatsoever (but still making conscious choices), I’m actually excited to get back to my routine! Adults are just like little children – we now have the right to recklessly break our own rules, yet deep down inside, we want some boundaries. So, today’s mantra: “Cheers to life.”

Now, on to the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival!! The amazing vegan desserts my husband brought home from the festival yesterday were amazing: pumpkin whoopie pie and carrot cake with ‘cream cheese’ frosting. I sadly couldn’t attend the festival because I had law school calling my name :/ But I’m a lucky lady! My husband went, scoped out all the cool new products, and even picked up some new ones for us to try.

I’m 100% obsessed with putting pumpkin in everything right now, but this hummus even weirds me out a little bit. Reviews to come. I have high hopes that Cedar’s knows what it’s doing.

This dark chocolate will be making a nightly appearance this week in my effort to wean myself off of hearty desserts. I’ve always been a dessert person. Even when I was hardcore dieting, I would force myself to eat way less than I should have to save room for a big bowl of low fat ice cream at the end of the day. I’ve noticed now that I’m completely focused on fueling my body properly, and since I have cut out all refined flour and sugar from my diet, I do not crave sweets nearly as much as I used to. While I still enjoy a great dessert, usually a few pieces of dark chocolate will do the trick for me after dinner. I’ve never had the chili kind, and I can’t wait to try it! Again, I have faith that Theo knows what it’s doing.

We also got a coupon for Nevita’s Naturals (eeeeeek!) – how will I possibly choose what to get?! We just recently got Goji Berries, which I can’t wait to start using in everything. Can you say SUPERFOOD people? I’ll let you know what I pick up next.

Cheers!