Poetic License

Since I started changing my eating habits about a month ago, I think it’s time for an update. Notice I didn’t say diet. This is not a diet. I’m down a few pounds, but that hasn’t been the goal. The goal is to feel better and be healthier.

Going into this, I was coming off of a headache (that reached migraine levels at times) that had lasted almost three weeks. Every day was a struggle, starting with getting out of bed. My brain felt foggy. I was trying to figure out how I could set myself up for retirement. In fact a year ago, I was thinking I might need to retire at 62, the absolute earliest I could do it. I was in pain all the time. Nothing really changed from day to day except that some things felt worse. Saturdays were mostly spent with me in bed or lying on the couch, just kind of miserable and trying to get through the day. Some days required multiple naps. After my last doctor appointment with my PCP and that last echocardiogram, which showed that the elevated blood pressure was impacting the left side of my heart, I’d had enough.

While I haven’t gone completely vegan, I’m getting there. I’m eating about six servings of fruit and vegetables a day. I’m learning ways to incorporate healthy protein into my meals. I’m adapting recipes or finding new ones. My taste buds are changing.

A typical breakfast is made up of grains and fruit. For example, a bowl of cooked oats with cranberries or a bowl of whole grain cereal with blueberries and almond milk. A mid-morning snack is an apple or banana, sometimes with some almonds. Lunch is either an Amy’s vegetarian meal, vegetarian soup, or a salad with several types of vegetables and slivered almonds. Dinner might be a healthy stir fry with tofu and quinoa or brown rice. Sometimes I have a late snack of fruit or non-milk yogurt. I still have some changes to make, but that’s month one, done.

Yesterday, I was up early, getting up at pretty much the same time I do during the work week. I had my coffee and my breakfast, did some laundry, and made my list of errands and things I needed from the grocery store. I do have to make more trips to the grocery store now, because I go through the produce and need to keep a fresh stock. Often it is more than my single produce drawer can hold in the fridge.

And off I went – to the Verizon store to turn in my trade-in phone, to the pharmacy to pick up a refill, and then to the farmers market to meet my son and grab some local produce. I wasn’t even tempted by the stands that offered baked goods. What tempted me were the beautiful tomatoes, kale, lettuces, and broccoli. Sean and I wandered around the market a bit and then took a walk of several blocks to go to the Shelby Cafe for breakfast. I had some blueberry pancakes and coffee. Like I said, not quite vegan yet.

After breakfast, we walked back to our cars and said goodbye. I went off to do another errand, followed by a trip to the local grocery store to get more produce and a couple of staples I needed. I’m finding I spend a long time in the produce section now, rather than just getting some bananas and a bag of salad. I no longer refer to my produce drawer as a place perfectly good produce goes to die, haha!

This takes some effort. It takes shopping and cooking and paying attention to the right things. But it isn’t as hard as you might think. And the payoff has been incredible. Over breakfast, Sean said to me, “Mom, I’m so glad you have so much more energy.” To be honest, any energy is more than I had before. Life felt heavy and impossible to me before. Yes, a month of different eating habits has made such a change that I feel like I am a different person. I feel younger. I feel healthier, not so focused on what’s wrong with me. I’m focused on what I want to do today!

Many people have questions about being vegetarian or vegan but it turns into snark. Frankly, it doesn’t bother me if you want to poke fun at my new lifestyle. Yes, I know I’m having an impact on the planet, just by not eating beef. I know I’m having an impact on the lives of farm animals by not eating chicken or pork. I’m reducing the demand by one person. Two, if you count my son, who is also eating this way now. One of the things I learned from Buddhist thought is that I can’t change the world with anger or rhetoric, but I can change myself and my way of thinking and being in the world. Peace spreads. Right thinking spreads. Maybe eating right spreads, too.

While I’m not asking you to completely change your life as I am, I put forth this challenge. Change to a plant-based style of eating for just one month. Watch some documentaries about plant-based diets and their impact on your health and the health of our planet. Cattle ranching produces more greenhouse gases every year than all forms of transportation combined. Imagine how much healthier we could make our planet if no one ever had beef again! We might even reverse the warming of our climate.

I offer this challenge especially to those of you who deal with chronic illness. My health was in a steep decline. I deal with multiple autoimmune conditions. In just one month, I’m feeling better than I have in two decades. I almost can’t wait for my next bloodwork results. Already my blood pressure is back in the normal range, and I have a goal of coming off of the medication I’m on (which wasn’t completely controlling my blood pressure anyway).

In my area, we are in the mid-50 to 60-degree range outside already. My walks with my dog will be more frequent. I actually have the energy for our walks now, and hopefully my lungs will get stronger. It’s truly unbelievable how much of a difference one month has made in my life. I can’t wait to see how I am after a year of doing this, but really, I’m not planning to ever go back to eating meat. Why would I ever go back to feeling as lousy as I’ve felt for the last decade, especially the last couple of years?

Sean is heading over shortly so we can do some rearranging of my house. I have a new rug for the living room and some stuff to put in my storage closet. It might be a tad chilly for some of the outdoor work I need to do (after all, it’s still February), but after a lunch of a big salad, we will go for a walk in the plentiful sunshine with Adele (my pup). I’ve got to get her back in shape, too. She’s no longer staring at me from the doorway of my bedroom. She’s happy that I’m engaged and energetic. We’re having the best time.

Namaste, Jude