Vegans, Eating Disorders, Clean Eaters oh my!

eabiss9

Hello!

This feed is for anyone and everyone who may be vegan, green, clean diet focus, or like me, all three! Share tips, ideas, motivation, recipes, news...just be nice (although by nature most veg heads are!)

Personally a HUGE part of my success in the vegan culinary world has been Pinterest. I have found some incredible (and not so incredible) recipes through the years and have created a "success" board. Feel free to check it out! http://pinterest.com/erikab2006/recipes/

Also, I use Pinterest for fitness tips, work outs, motivation, and general fitness education. Check out my "Time to Lose That Flab" board...and pardon the blunt title.
http://pinterest.com/erikab2006/time-to-lose-that-flab/

The last time I consumed meat was in May of 2008 after watching Joaquin Phoenix's "Earthlings" (HIGHLY recommended documentary if you're looking for some serious elightenment...be sure to grab a box of tissues). I was a strict vegan for two solid years and in 2010 I said yes to pizza. I got super duper sick after one slice but even still, I decided to start consuming dairy again after a health decline.

Now let me get on my soap box for a moment. You CAN be vegan and you CAN be VERY healthy, if not more so than meat eaters. However, I strongly warn against becoming a "Junkaterian" like I was. I got lazy with cooking and blamed it on a financial strain (being a healthy vegan DOES NOT have to be expensive!). I ate junk, vegan junk, but junk just the same; And I looked and felt like junk.

By age 26, I had lost my mother and weight 95lbs (I'm 5'5). I took care of her until her passing and was so focused on her, I forgot about myself. After she died, put on an alarming amount of weight FAST, had serious IBS, mood swings, and hellish acne. After much research and countless specialist appointments for various new medical issues, I realized that most if not all of my physical suffering was diet related.

From June 2014-October 2014 I went from roughly 20% body fat to around 13%, 124lbs to a very healthy 108 (all of my doctors were very supportive as I was NOT restricting calories or even counting them for that matter). I began cooking vegan dinners and cut out dairy and eggs entirely. I frequented my local Golds Gym 5-6 days a week. I focused on strength training with free weights only. No cardio, shame on me!

Unfortunately due to a medication change and minor surgery in mid October 2014, I started eating diary again and went from 5 day a week gym sessions, to virtually zero. I sunk back into depressive binge eating habits and gained nearly 20lbs by February 2015.

I felt unhealthy, fat, slow, exhausted at all hours, depressed, and emotionally out of control. Every night I got into bed after an evening of binging, bloated, ashamed, and sick to my stomach and I would swear a promise to myself that tomorrow would be different. I wouldn't continue to treat my body so horribly. The next day Id walk in from work and eat from 6-9PM until I could barely move. I justified my actions by telling myself that "at least I'm binging on healthy food". I may have stayed away from processed food and junk food, but what I was doing was toxic none the less.

After a LOT of self help books, meditation apps, therapy appointments, doctor visits to discuss medication, and countless articles, I decided to go back on a medication I had been taking over the summer of 2014 to help me with my life long attention struggle. Although I feel like I failed myself and copped out, I have been able to stay motivated and have been back on a 98% vegan diet since the beginning of February.

I found MFP in February along with "Waterlogged" which I HIGHLY suggest. It is an app which involves recording water intake and is proven to make you 3 times more likely to drink a LOT more water. I went from 16-24 oz a day (at most) to well over 100oz EVERYDAY! It even synces with MFP. Side note...you'll be peeing a LOT.

Alway, that's my story! Three weeks ago I weighed in at 128. Today I am at 122.6. I eat roughly 1300 calories per day and fight my addiction to food daily. I eat complex carbs, my sugar intake is 100% naturally occurring (unless called for in cooking in which case I use agave, maple syrup, or honey...a vegan no-no, I know!), I seek out protein in beans & legumes, I eat a LOT of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lots of naturally occurring fiber, I take vitamin supplements (for good measure, although I know my body very likely does not need them), and have been going to the gym ALMOST a daily for the past week. I even added dreaded cardio to my routines! I am no where near as strong as I was last summer/fall and have lost a LOT of muscle mass. However, I know where my body was, and I know what I am mentally and physically capable of.

I have learned that like with any addictive substance, I cannot just have one bite, handful, sip, taste...for me it is all or nothing. I know that I need this app to keep me mindful of what I put into my body. I will never be "free" of my food obsession, but I know that taking life moment by moment will bring me more successful days than not.

So that's it! My guts have been spilt! So what's your story? Do you have similar...or very different struggles?

Keep the positivity flowing friends!

✌️