WFPB

Earlier this week I ran into a coworker who also happens to be a Facebook friend.  He mentioned my post about vegan lasagna and said something to the effect that I had become a vegan.  I immediately defended that term and said "I'm just trying this for awhile".  The term vegan carries all kinds of negative baggage.  I am not ready to label myself as a vegan (it has been 5 days and I'm pretty sure there is a hint of dairy in my supposed non-dairy creamer) rather I am making a lifestyle change to focus on a whole foods plant based diet.

I started reading the book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell.  He may be better known for his book The China Study which I picked up from the library today.  In his book he discusses the Whole Foods Plant Based (WFPB) diet.  A WFPB diet includes eating a lot of plant foods in their whole, unprocessed form.  This includes vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.  It does not include meat, poultry, fish, dairy, or eggs.  It also does not include sweets or highly processed foods.

I look at the past years of my life.  What has my diet consisted of?  Meat, eggs, highly processed foods, and some fruits and vegetables (and carbs, don't forget about the carbs!).  Every few months I'd say to myself, "you need to start eating more fruits and vegetables and cut down on the cake". And then I would.  For a week.  Then it was back to the same old diet.  This time it will be different.

It isn't going to be easy.  I work full time and am also a full time graduate student (but will be done next May!).  I have a husband and two dogs.  It will be easy to give up and go back to the status quo.  Luckily, my husband is 100% on board with this (although not willing to remove meat/dairy/eggs from his diet, he IS willing to significantly decrease his intake of those items).  If he wasn't, this would be more difficult.

The Plan:

• Focus on WFPB menu items.  There are a bazillion blogs out there on vegan cooking.  I've been perusing and many also have gluten free options (for all you GF people out there)
• Plan.  This has been my weakest part of eating well.  I don't feel like doing the work and end up eating peanut butter sandwiches.  Planning includes 1) finding recipes 2) going grocery shopping, and 3) prepping meals on Saturday or Sunday for the following week.
• Timeline.  Six months.  That means reevaluation around February 1st.
• Updates.  
• Rosacea:  As a teenager, I rarely had acne.  Then, I turn 30 and wa-la.  There it is.  I suffer from mild rosacea on my cheeks.  This causes redness and little puss filled bumps.  Awesome when you are in your early 30s.  I've done a lot of reading on rosacea and currently use a topical Metronidazole cream.  I know that sometimes the symptoms can be exacerbated by diet choices.  I'm curious to see if a WFPB diet changes my symptoms and if I can stop using the cream.  (I've tried essential oils and they a) dried out my face and b) cause more bumps)
• Digestion:  My mom and I joke about our digestive systems.  We often aren't as effective as we should be.  I've felt for the last year or two that dairy is to blame but have never been tested.  I went to the state fair this past Saturday and ate a bunch of (delicious) junk, including cheese curds.  I felt like shit (digestively) on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Now that I'm completely removing dairy from my diet, I'm curious to see if this makes a change.
• Weight: I don't need to lose weight.  I'm not doing this to lose weight.  I am interested to see if I do lose weight through this process.  I weighed 166 on Monday morning.
• General, Overall Feeling: We'll see.