Sadie, this may sound like the impossible, but believe me, it isn't - it's the best way to get yourself healthy. Five years ago, on 10-10-10, I decided to do something momentous in honor of the memorable date. I had been reading a book that a friend recommended, The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, and thought that a plant-based diet made sense for a lot of reasons. So I started eating vegan. Just like that. I went from a typical omnivore diet to 'no meat, no eggs, no dairy.' It was the smartest/luckiest/best thing I have ever done for myself. It helped me feel energetic enough to start moving, and I dropped twenty pounds the first six weeks and felt great doing it. (The last ten pounds I would like to lose are still hanging in there, but those first twenty never came back!) The premise is simple.
Your new food groups are: Beans, Greens, Grains, Veggies, Fruit, Nuts, Seeds, Sprouts, Spices, Herbs, Oils and Butters. The first four - beans, greens, grains and veggies - are your big building blocks, the base of your pyramid. The rest eat less of, with oils and butters at the very tip, to eat sparingly. But don't starve yourself. Eat until you are full, but only healthy plant stuff.
Try substituting a plant product for each animal product you currently eat. (Your desire for animal products will lessen as you find interesting whole plant foods to eat instead.)
Milk - soy, almond, cashew, or coconut milk. (I like Silk Original Organic Soy Milk. It's creamy and has the added calcium I need.)
Butter - buttery spread. (My favorite is earth balance organic whipped).
Eggs - Applesauce, smashed bananas, soft tofu - depends on the recipe.
Hamburger - TVP, textured vegetable protein, works just like hamburger without the cholesterol
Chicken or turkey - firm tofu can replace these in many recipes
Steak or roast - seitan, a wheat gluten product, can work for these
Lunch meats and bacon - check out the fake meat products (Gardein is a good brand)
There are a ton of great resources on line to help you get started. Just google 'vegan' and start learning. There are some good Facebook groups for support as well. The main thing is, start thinking of yourself as a vegan, even if you find yourself in situations where you end up eating something nonvegan on occassion. Every non-animal product you eat helps you get healthy. I promise you will not regret passing up a single greasy, gross, antibiotic-infected, toxin-laden, cholesterol/calorie-filled, heart attack-waiting-to-happen serving of meat/eggs/dairy. You will wonder why you ever ate that stuff, and you will have a hard time keeping yourself from trying to help your friends see the light! Good luck, Sadie!
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