My Vegan Experiment is Working!

Farmers' Market Haul

I have posted several times on social media about my vegan journey. Several people have asked what works for me and I thought I would try to blog a few times a week about what I am doing. For this post I thought I would share WHY I am doing this and show you how it is working. I will post again soon showing how I make it work. First of all, I am 37 years old and have had four pregnancies and 3 children in the last 10 years. With each full term pregnancy I can show you the part of my body that was destroyed. I am in love with my children and would never have my life any other way but there have been some negative effects on my health. 
I don't come from perfect stock and I seem to have inherited some of the same health issues as my mother and grandmothers. While blood pressure is perfect my cholesterol is high and has been for years. With my second pregnancy I developed high blood sugar and was treated for gestational diabetes. Though my sugars returned to normal after her birth I had the same problem with my 3rd pregnancy. In addition I had hypertension during the pregnancy as well. This was crazy and has never been a problem since. 
So fast forward 3 years since my last child was born....I didn't feel great or even good for that matter. My sleep was horrible, my joints hurt, and my blood sugar would bottom out at about 10:30 am. My mother was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when she was 35 so I knew that I could easily be headed down the same path. I had blood work run at the beginning of 2016 and it confirmed that my cholesterol was higher and my A1C was now just in diabetic range. This was a little surprising to me because those of you who know us know that we eat a clean diet. We eat VERY little highly processed food and all meats, dairy, and veggies are organic and without antibiotics and hormones. I felt that I ate very balanced. But clearly this was not enough for me. I began to research. I started with documentaries and then branched out from there. I found the documentary Plant Pure Nation and really felt that this would be the best course of action for me. Watch it if you have not already! The basis of the film and all of the books is the health benefits of a whole food/plant based diet. You can be vegan and be unhealthy. Heck...Oreos are technically vegan. The focus has to be on whole foods. So this is what I chose to do. I bought their book and ordered some of their frozen meals to have on hand and I got started. I continued to shop mostly out our local farmers' market and supplement with sprouted grains, beans, and fruit. Because I was use to a clean diet the transition really wasn't that hard for me. 
So the results are in and my experiment is working! Keep in mind I am not finished but I am heading in the right direction. Since April 27th I have lost 15 pounds, my cholesterol is down 14 points and my A1C is no longer in diabetic range. I sleep! Can I scream it from Mt. Mitchell???? I sleep!!!! This is HUGE for me. I know that I will struggle with the cards that genetics have dealt me, but I can win! Since I know that this is working I will continue and now I will start to share what we are doing so that it might help others as well.