30 Day Vegan Challenge...

oh, what in the hell did I get myself into...?

4 days ago I saw a post on facebook, I didn’t know at that moment it was about to change the ever loving shit out of me!

A girl I love to bits, posted about a 30 Day Vegan Challenge and asked “Who’s in?” I laughed honestly out loud. “Yeah right! Vegan my ass!” who the hell was this broad kidding? No way in hell I was giving up my cheese and jerky nuggets! Funny thing, is I rarely eat the jerky nuggets anymore…it’s just something she and I had always gone back and forth over. When I was newly single again, I lived on a super healthy diet of 5 gum and energy drinks. My sister yelled at me one day saying I needed protein in my diet…so that night at work I walked to the vending machine for my usual white can of Rockstar and saw a bag of Jerky Nuggets, and wouldn’t ya know they have 10 grams of protein in it! I quickly snapped a picture and sent it on to my sister… needless to say she was not thrilled! Least I got something in me other than drinks that made my pee odd colors!

So back to Nicole’s post… I’ve been knowing this chick for ages…honestly I think it’s in double digits now. We met ages ago on Livejournal (don’t judge) we shared countless posts on life, kids, drinking and asshole ex’s she’s even been in my dreams before! We were at a New Year’s Eve party and Prince was singing, we were wearing purple suits. (I said DON’T JUDGE) It was definitely amusing.

Anywho, she is working on her dissertation for school…and being that she’s Vegan herself she picked a subject that’s near and dear to her heart. Can’t hate the girl for tryin’. I gave it some thought… actually a lot less than I would have imagined. If she had asked this 3 weeks ago I probably just would have laughed and kept scrolling. What’s changed?

Well I went without medical insurance for some time, once when I left my old job, and now because my job doesn’t offer it. It was ok because I didn’t go unless I felt like I was dying….or I was dislocating my knee. *true story* and since I met my amazing hubby and we got married I am covered once again. I decided it was time to be seen and have a full on checkup and make sure all my bits were where they should be and in working order.

Well for the most part I had already made the decision that it was time to get back on the healthy track. I am/was not interested in getting skinny, but HEALTHY. I had been doing so so… have managed to cut my soda drinking down to 1 day and have almost completely eliminated Starbucks! That is HUGE!! Hubby is doing the same. I decided that I’d rather use the money I use to reload my Starbucks card for a “Run Fund” and make 2014 the year for RUNNING!! It’s not something I do or am used to, but there is a half marathon in October and hubby and I will be a part of it. I also discovered this overwhelming urge to play in the mud  so we have decided to do Mud Factor as well. All of which can NOT be accomplished on a shitty diet and no exercise.

Lab results came back and guess what? I have high cholesterol and my blood pressure was high…doctor already prescribed me medication for the cholesterol and I go back next week for a recheck on the BP. I made the choice to take Nicole up on her challenge. Figured if all else fails I become regular and help rid my body of all the crap it’s currently holding. Who knows maybe I’d do ok with it and could make it a permanent thing? I did wanna make sure though that I got in my “last supper” so we decided that I’d start on Monday! (that was yesterday)

I figured that the best way for me to take this challenge on was to just grab it by the horns and GO! I started on pinterest for Vegan friendly meals and sweets so I didn’t feel the urge to “cheat” I started doing as much reading as I could, and Nicole has been amazing at sending the group and I as much details and recipes to get us started. I gotta admit she is good at recruiting haha she has us all set up & ready to go day 1… which is awesome. I don’t think I would have made this choice if it wasn’t for her. I am honestly glad she is doing this. I already feel a huge difference.

I want to make it clear, I am doing this 30 Day Challenge to try and adopt a healthier lifestyle. I am NOT in any way interested in the political side of this. My husband and our kids are not doing this challenge with me and I am not going to force anything on them. I will still cook their foods in the same manner that I always have. For the sake of Nicole’s research I will stick to a full & true vegan diet and document my progress, rants, and raves…giving it a true chance. After the 30 days? Well I don’t know yet… you’re making me think too hard. I can say though, so far… I am finding that it is not as horrible as I assumed it would be. No promises though…

On my homepage you’ll find a link to {fluffy.girl.eats} which is going to be my daily journal that includes photos and recipes for my vegan journey. You’re welcome to leave comments and suggest sites and other recipes for me to try! It’s not exactly active yet…but I’m getting there  somebody has to get some work in! Also I wanted to note, that I did inform my doctor of the challenge. I asked her how she felt if I went off meds for this to see if the change in diet made any changes to my cholesterol. She said it was definitely worth a shot and added that I could go off for 3 months worth and then get rechecked. If there hasn't been a significant change, I will go on my meds. :)

Well...if you've made it this far thank you for reading, and um on with the show?! or something…

Nay