Feeling Fantastic

Now that I have finished 5 days of a Vegan diet and I am mostly finished with day 6, I can honestly say that I feel fantastic, or at least as good as possible for a person carrying around an extra 100+ pounds. I feel like I have conquered the eating issue that I had been battling daily for the past year which ultimately led me to reduce my meals to only two per day with no snacks. That got me started on addressing what my real issue was (overeating, binging), but it only offered a partial solution. Could I have lost the weight with that approach? I think so. But now, I don't have to worry about it anymore. It was not until I watched the movie, "Forks Over Knives" that I truly had the will to change my life.

You see, this past week, I have lost all urges to binge. When I start eating, I am happy to stop when I feel full. There is no desire to raid the cupboards and see what else I can find. I do get hungrier more often, but I can snack on healthy food with the confidence that when I am done, I won't be tempted to keep going. It is a wonderful and empowering feeling. I feel like I have control of my life back.

I credit this newfound control to the elimination of all dairy products in my diet. I was mostly a vegetarian before, so it wasn't the meat that controlled me, but rather the cheese. I have done quite a bit of reading and research and have learned that a cheese addiction is one of the most powerful urges. I have read from one person that giving up cheese was harder than quitting smoking. I think for some people, this may be true. Since I have never smoked, I cannot make the comparison myself. I can say that for me, it wasn't easy, and I didn't even experience some of the more common symptoms (tired, bloating, skin breakouts, water retention, etc).

Now you may be thinking that with all these vegetables and beans and grains, no wonder I am not tempted. Who wants to eat too much of that? It must taste like cardboard and I must be miserable giving up all the "good" stuff. Well, I do have to say, that I have never enjoyed my food as much as I have been enjoying it these past couple of days. It is definitely tasty enough to binge on; I am just missing the urge. I am not addicted to these foods, so even though I find them immensely satisfying, I still have my control.

Going on a vegan diet or even a low-fat vegan diet doesn't ensure you won't gain weight. I have been carefully logging my food intake and watching my calories. There were days when I was tempted to go over, but stopped myself. The experts say you don't have to count calories, but I can clearly see that I do. My body is still used to consuming large quantities of food. And surprisingly enough, there are hundreds of junk food vegan items in a regular grocery store. I know because I just printed out a list of "accidentally vegan comfort foods" on line. I don't intend to eat these foods (Oreos, Cracker Jacks, etc) but I may incorporate them modestly into my children's school lunches. I want to make sure they don't feel deprived and as long as they stay a healthy weight, I will allow them some treats. I know this will also help keep my husband from feeling deprived as he continues mourning the loss of meat.

So now I have a new love affair with healthy food and my pains from days 3 and 4 are gone. I am attributing them (unscientifically) to the increase in fiber in my diet, which has more than doubled. My body is adjusting to the changes quite well and now I am looking through rose-colored glasses, or is it vegetable green glasses?