Why Vegan All The Sudden?

It's been about a month since I cut out meat and dairy. It all started with an episode of Oprah about conscious eating, featuring clips from the documentary Food Inc. and Alicia Silverstone talking about her Kind Diet.

I had seen shows like this before, but for some reason this time it got in my head. The next day, I kept thinking about those overcrowded chicken coops and how happy and glowy Alicia was from her vegan diet. I was about 3 weeks into my 30-day Bikram Challenge and I really wanted to feel as good as possible after all of that hard work and sweating.

I figured I'd ease into it, but once I decided to do it, I got kind of excited about it and just went for it. Aside from a few mistakes in the first few days (there's dairy in places you'd never expect it!) and a superbowl party where I went nuts and splurged on non-vegan chocolate chip cookies, I've managed to stay on track. I don't know if I'll do this forever, but I'd like to give a good solid try.

I got started by researching online. I read Alicia's book cover to cover. I also found some really cool vegan blogs like Oh She Glows. I started incorporating lots of whole grains, tons of veggies and more soy products. I've really enjoyed all the cooking. I've made some delicious soul-warming soups, fun stir frys and yummy pasta dishes (and one really bad one...).

I've discovered some great new foods and some not so great ones...  I even joined a community supported agriculture group so I now get a box of organic veggies every other week. It's been a fun challenge trying to figure out what to do with all this green stuff.

And there have also been some challenges - there is a lot of conflicting information out there, which is really confusing. Also - there aren't very many vegan-friendly restaurants in San Diego, so eating out has been tricky!

I'll talk more about this later and share my favorite finds, the best recipes, and how it all goes! Stay tuned!