Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

This is significant to me. If anyone were to have told me six years ago that I would have lost the weight... and would manage to keep it off for 5 years, I never would have believed them. You see, I was one of those yo-yo dieters, but could never mange to lose the weight. So what exactly changed that caused me to lose the weight?

I think I was honestly getting sick of the bad foods. I don't know if psychologically, my mind was telling me those foods weren't good for me anymore, but I no longer enjoyed eating them. I used to lose Reese's, but suddenly, it didn't taste good to me anymore. The nearly half gallon of ice cream I would consume daily didn't have the same appeal. I think my desire to get healthy and my drive to finally succeed played a role in the way the food tasted back then.

Lasy year during Thanksgiving, I was only a few months into being plant based. I was worried about what foods to eat for Thanksgiving and wondered if family would not care for the way I ate or if they would have any objections.

This year, not only am I plant based, but I'm also vegan. Yes, it's still about eating healthy foods, but now it's about not harming animals. There are over 46,000,000 turkeys slaughtered in this country on Thanksgiving alone. I couldn't imagine eating turkey or any kind of meat, just for the sake of a holiday.

I often read a lot of misinformation about plant based eating. Many studies come out that are biased and often paint a picture that may not be accurate for those who are plant based. Then there's chatter at gyms from members who suddenly act like nutrition experts when they hear you are plant based. I'd like to go over some of these myths and how they are not true, based on my experience and from what I've researched.

Myth #10. Plant based people have more depression. If that's true, how come the number of antidepressants prescribed total more than the amount of vegans in the country? The majority of depressed people in fact are those that eat SAD (standard American diet). There is a large amount of vitamin C in fruits and veggies, and vitamin C has been shown to decrease depression. If anything, plant based eating can help cure depression.

It's exactly one year since I went completely plant based (well to be precise, September 6th). After losing 150 pounds almost 5 years ago, I didn't need to lose more weight. I had what many considered to be a healthy diet. I was eating poultry, eggs and dairy a few times a week and did get my blood pressure down and avoid medication. But I had other goals...

It's always been about health, back when I first lost weight. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables based on different articles I've read and from reading books by Dr. Fuhrman and others. I was getting more information on how animal products were not healthy. But this wasn't enough to convert me to a plant based diet. I tried vegan diets a week or two on and off for a couple years but always went back to animal products.

I was thinking how long it's been since I had heartburn, stomach aches or indigestion. It's virtually nonexistent since I gave up dairy (and all animal products). But I wanted to focus on dairy for this article.

I've seen many videos showing the benefits of giving up dairy... the most popular seems to be how it clears the skin, gets rid of eczema, etc. I haven't gotten any acne of any kind since giving up dairy, so there must be something to it.