April 20, 2012

A Little Bit About Me

Hey guys! I'm so sorry I disappeared for a while. School got really crazy and I realized that this was a very bad time to start a blog. I also realized that you all don't know anything about me and I want you guys to feel like you know! So I have a little time to today and I want to use it to let you get to know me.

I am a college student living with my amazing boyfriend who is also vegan. We cook all of our meals together from scratch every day! 

I stopped wanting to eat meat around the age of ten because of animal cruelty. My parents wouldn't let me because of the belief that we need meat for protein (I am proud to say that it took many years of convincing, but today both of my parents are vegan!). By the age of eleven or twelve, I was refusing to eat meat and for the next eight or so years I was vegetarian. As I grew older, vegetarianism became more than just for animal cruelty. I became really interested in good eating habits for my health and for a better environment. I am not sure how long ago I switched to a vegan diet, but I have been vegan for over a year at least. The movies, books, and magazines that I listed in one of my first posts are what made me make the switch.

My health has been a constant struggle my entire life. I have a condition called vasovagal syncope (google it!). Certain triggers such as standing too long or standing up too quickly cause my heart rate and blood pressure to get messed up. My blood drains to my legs and away from my heart. I become extremely light-headed, hot, dizzy, disoriented and confused, and I eventually faint. I have very low blood pressure and low blood sugar. I have always had digestion problems and stomachaches. I have severe generalized anxiety disorder. Depression and OCD also affect me. Lastly, I suffer from acne.

These physical and mental problems have brought a lot of stress into my life. I struggled with pretty bad depression when I was younger. Even though I had eliminated meat from my diet, as a teen, I was a junk food vegetarian. I did not eat that healthy. I wanted to, but I don't think I really knew how. I lived off of mostly frozen dinners and side dishes like mashed potatoes and peas. I have the only vegetarian that I knew and no one in my family was vegetarian. It was not until I was living on my own that I got really into eating healthy. Cooking for myself got me really into educating myself about healthy eating, and soon I was obsessed!

Now I am a vegan-gluten-free cookbook junkie. I absolutely love cooking and having a plant-based diet. I feel better than I ever have. I live a meat/animal-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, mostly processed foods-free, mostly alcohol-free, and mostly sugar-free life! I do not eat a raw diet, though I love eating raw. I do not eat tofu/seitan/tempeh and other meat substitutes. I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, gluten-free grains such as rice and quinoa, and beans, nuts, and seeds. I also consume a small amount of olive oil. With these simple ingredients, I love to create delicious recipes. With this blog, I hope to inspire others to take up this lifestyle and to show everyone just how wonderful and rewarding these eating habits can be. This blog is not just recipes, but the story of my journey to a healthier lifestyle and to alleviating my many health problems.

I am sorry to say that I have a week and a half left of school finals and so I will be disappearing for that week and a half. When I return though, I have a lot of fabulous recipes to share and I am so excited to share them with you all. My next post will probably be two weeks from today. I will be sharing with you my "famous" raw brownies. They are the most delish thing that will ever enter your mouth. I promise you will never have to go back to those nasty unhealthy brownies that take 45 minutes to bake again! These have three ingredients and take about 15 minutes to make. But enough! I can't tell you anymore, you will just have to wait until May 4th!

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