Going Vegan...

Yesterday afternoon was spent working from home with the television on for background noise. I had heard these commercials for Oprah's segment about what's in your food and figured it might be something to flip to during the 4:00 hour.

The episode featured the man behind the "Food Inc" documentary and some of what he said was total crap--ie that farmers are responsible for fresh produce costing more than processed snack cakes. He was calling upon farmers to produce more fruits and veggies and cut back on corn in order to make produce affordable...has anyone else noticed that corn gets blamed for everything lately? As I thought to myself, "Yeah, I'll have my brother and dad get started on a lettuce patch & orange grove in the middle of the Republican River Valley right away" they switched to an interview with Alicia Silverstone (most famous for her role in the movie Clueless).

Alicia was discussing how she had always suffered from severe asthma and gastrointestinal problems--she'd try a variety of meds but never really felt "good." One day, on a whim, she went vegan and claims it has drastically improved her lung problems, stomach issues and over all well-being.

As a farm girl raised on homegrown beef, I always struggled with the idea of a vegetarian diet let alone a vegan diet. Give me a flat iron steak and a chunk of colby-jack cheese and I'm the happiest girl in the world!!! However, a few months ago one of my employees was talking about her vegan diet and how it was hard at first. As she's saying this, I'm munching down on a big old piece of juicy fried chicken and thinking "ah, hell no!" but since I have so much respect for her in general, I kept my ears open! Turns out, she went vegan 19 years ago, before many people had even heard of the diet! After I finished my chicken breast, I cut into the absolutely delicious Key Lime pie she brought and turns out, it was completely vegan! At that point, I decided she might be onto something...

So after eating the pie and hearing Alicia Silverstone's testimony, I decided to order some books from Amazon about going vegan. I would love to give it a try and see how I feel. Earlier this month, I was diagnosed with adult-onset asthma and basically my asthma is as bad as it can get without having emphysema or COPD. I'm on 4 daily meds plus my rescue inhaler and they seem to help b/c I haven't had an asthma attack since starting them--however, 3 of the meds cost over $150 for a 30-day supply...I was given a Pulmicort sample for the first month so I'm terrified to find out what it will cost! At this rate, I would rather spend an extra $150 a month on a vegan lifestyle instead of being loaded up on numerous prescriptions.

Justin has already told me I'm flipping crazy for even considering a vegan diet...and my baby brother has threatened to disown me! When our Hyvee first opened up, I bought some "taco meat crumbles" that weren't meat at all; in fact, they were crumbles of plant protein and super full of protein and fiber...I snuck them into some quesadillas one day and Justin was begging for more! And quinoa, if you've never tried it, it's a perfect alternative to rice...it's full of fiber, protein AND iron--it's a miracle grain! Even though our cat would argue otherwise, I prefer soy milk over cow's milk--one, soy protein is totally awesome for a person and two, the thought of drinking something that came out of a nipple is freakin disgusting! Since I've experimented with some vegan products already, I think it's do-able.

If anyone has any advice or input, I'd love to hear it! I'm hoping to find some practical recipes and advice on what to eat when dining out...oh, and turns out Chipotle is vegan friendly so I'd have an excuse to eat there all the time :-)