Knowing that I can stop eating meat and it is healthier for me is a freeing idea. Several months ago I tried the Paleo diet which is basically lots of meat and vegetables and some fruit and no sugar. I lost 15 pounds and felt pretty good, but it was really hard for me not to eat grains and I was still feeling a bit tired and a little sad for all the animals I was consuming. Come holiday season I gave up on eating "healthy" and gave into my gluttony, eating whatever I want, whenever I want, which is my current and most usual state. I have cheese-its in my cupboard, sour cream and onion chips, I had cheese pizza for dinner, leftover Enchiladas covered with cheese for lunch, coffee with creamer.... I'm a fan of the dairy. I consume a lot of dairy. And I consume a lot of meat. And processed sugar.
I am about 30 pounds overweight, I suffer from anxiety and depression, and fatigue. Can anyone relate with me here? Forks over Knives promotes a plant based diet. With all the evidence and testimony provided in the movie, and what I have heard elsewhere, I would be an idiot not to at least give it a try. People lose weight and reverse disease on this diet.
As much as I like to eat a good steak, ground beef tacos on taco night, pepperoni pizza on our movie nights, etc. if I stop and actually think about where this meat is coming from it makes it a little harder for me to eat it. If I had to raise my own meat and butcher it myself.... it just wouldn't happen. I had a friend with a small farm growing up and they had a few cows on their property, I had familiarized myself with these cows and pet these cows, they had names. One night eating dinner at that friends house we were having steak and it came out in conversation that I was eating poor Bessie, my cow friend. A traumatizing experience for a girl not raised on a farm. Now think about this, pigs are scientifically proven more intelligent than dogs. Yet I eat them. They are delicious. But I would not eat my dog....never ever.... so why would I eat a creature even more intelligent? As I think about these things a plant based diet sounds so good and my conscience feels free. And would you ever go up and suck the milk from an animals teat? Maybe for a dare, maybe for a reality show... but everyday? Disgusting. But we might as well be with all the dairy we are eating on this western diet. (Pictured is my dog Hazel, whom I could never ever eat!)
My mother has had breast cancer a few times and this last year white blood cell count was going up, which is a bad sign that cancer may be returning. A friend of hers told her the evils of cheese and dairy and the link to cancer, so my mom stopped eating dairy for a month and guess what? Her white blood cell count went back to normal. Intriguing, eh?
Also, a shout out to my friend Vanessa from middle school who has been posting about her plant based diet success on Facebook. It's from her suggestion that I ended up watching Forks over Knives over something else when I was browsing Netflix tonight.
I literally just finished the film 20 minutes ago and I'm making this online "journal" to keep myself accountable and so in the future I can look back at the beginnings of my new journey of a plant based diet. Wish me luck! And go watch the movie!!!
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