Today is a pretty important milestone in my life (well so far). I have been 4 weeks as a vegan…which is a form of a vegetarian. Basically, I don’t eat meat, fish, or dairy (I have a few exceptions which you will see below), and I rarely use any oil or salt on anything. Now that I say that I want to be honest that in the last four weeks, I have had a little meat, and I mean a little…maybe 5 oz total spread over the last 28 days. The one time it made me feel not so good. The other was a special date night for Jon and I while we were attending the Family Life marriage conference (which I will try to cover in a different post in the near future).
In the last 4 weeks, I have lost fifteen pounds which makes me happy. I am hoping to lose another fifteen pounds, but I’m not going to stress about it. Now that I have a decent food plan established, I am going to start adding exercise back in. Not sure when yet with summer school literally swallowing my entire life right now, but this too shall pass (13 school days left before the next session starts which shouldn’t be as busy), and I will be three classes away from finishing, and hopefully thirty pounds lighter.
Some think I am crazy, but there is a lot of bad food out there, and creating a meal centered around unprocessed foods is so healthy and refreshing. It has taken a little bit of work to be creative, but that’s basically because I’m a picky eater. I have made a goal of trying something new or a new recipe each week. This week’s recipe was Mediterranean Eggplant and Beans. Let me tell you for my first attempt at Eggplant and Garbanzo beans…..SUCCESS. Matter-of-fact, I’m eating some leftovers right now and just loving it, and my gracious husband (who still eats “normal” stuff) has tried every experimental meal including my black bean burgers and has approved of each meal….which is nice because the next round that I make the stuff, he could eat it too saving us from cooking two meals.
The dairy exceptions that I have are limited to egg-white omelets (which turn out like scrambled eggs) and skim milk in my cereal. Someday, I’ll probably switch to almond milk or soy milk, but I haven’t really had the time to research why one is better than the other.
Mom Sutter would be proud though….green peppers are now a staple in the Southern Sutter’s household. You can load them on the salads now. 😉 We even planted some in the garden to try to save some money since they are so expensive. Well, not that you asked, but there’s a small update on an interesting change in my life. Many tell me that I’m crazy, and maybe I am, but I feel better, I have more energy, and I’m losing unnecessary weight and inches. I’ll randomly update you on the progress, and don’t forget to eat your veggies!
The Swiss Bliss 