The Alkaline Vegan

We have been on a ride. Apparently as soon as 2021 began, my body decided it was OVER the whole eating regular food thing. I fasted on the first Sunday of the month and broke my fast with tomato soup and a sourdough grilled cheese and then felt like DEATH. This continued for the next 10 days. For the next 4, I barely ate anything. Whenever I would eat, I felt a sensation similar to a fire in my stomach that seemed to go all the way up my esophagus. Basically, the bile in my stomach thought it was a ridiculous idea that it was supposed to stay in my stomach, so it was sending itself back up my throat. I had to sleep at an incline. I felt very miserable. 

After lots of research, I determined I was suffering from acid reflux. The cause was likely anxiety, and the solution was to calm myself down and eat an alkaline diet. So when food enters your body, it is either alkaline or acidic. All meat, dairy, and most grains are acidic, while most fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds are not (with the sad exception of peanut butter 😭). My game plan was to take probiotics, eat this alkaline vegan diet, use essential oils, and try to calm down my life. 

Because I tend to be a bit hippy about this kind of stuff, I genuinely believe that the primary cause was a lack of my typical artistic outlets. For the past 7 years of my life, I've always had piano and acting as a regular source of therapy for me. Both of those went away almost completely when I moved to NY. I think the lack of these combined with the excess stress from living in an expensive city without much of a support group was what did it. 

Anyway, I have always said that I could live vegetarian if I needed to, but not vegan. I love cheese too much. Also, having to cut out almost all breads and oats is just not simple. That being said, I've always been a bit curious about vegans. I've wondered if I could do it. I started out as a complete alkaline vegan, which is more restrictive because you can't have most grains or any sugar, and there's a bunch of other little restrictions (chocolate, vinegar, black beans, canned tomato, etc - like you know where that's going lol).  After about 3 weeks of that, I started moving a bit towards just a regular vegan. That being said, any attempts at the acidic grains have gone absolutely terribly, so really I just added sugar and chocolate back into the game. 

I also cheat on my vegan identity in two major ways: collagen and honey. Collagen has been AMAZING for my body when it comes to healing and digesting, but it is super super not a vegan thing. I still think honey is a bit of a grey area, but vegans do not. I love honey and I am grateful for the bees that create it for me. It's obviously very clear I'm a vegan for health reasons and not for moral. But look at the good I'm doing! 😉 

NOW TO THE RESULTS: 

- I have lost (at least) 5 lbs; I don't weigh myself (or didn't in the past), so I don't know exactly where I started, but I know a general weight. I will add that I did not think I needed to lose weight at all. I was super happy with my body shape, but I don't mind the missing 5. I just look just a bit tighter everywhere. 

- I have loved all of the new recipes! My primary sources are Rachel Mansfield (not vegan, but makes a lot of vegan recipes) and VeggieKins (super vegan). There have been other great Pinterest finds too (thank you, Dr. Sebi). It's been super fun to make sweet potato vegan nachos and vegan Levaine cookies, etc. Most of the recipes I've tried are very delicious, and you feel amazing after eating. 

- I still refuse to look at the total of how much I spent on groceries that first month. I think it was around double what I typically spend. I had to buy a lot of new things all at once, so now that I'm in a bit more of a routine, I think it will be a consistent $30 more per week. (Just look at grain-free flour options, and you will begin to understand.) 

- My skin looks amazing, and I really do feel better. It was a slow journey and there have been plenty of relapses–where I ate something I thought would be fine, and then I felt like death for the next 24-48 hours. BUT on the whole, I do feel better. It's hard to compare to my former life (pre-trauma), but definitely compared to those painful 10 days, I am doing way better. 

- I do have considerably fewer cravings than I did in my former life. 

- I had a fairly regular lump in my throat for all of December, and that is now gone. 

- I have plenty of energy and can still work out at the same intensity. I'm just adding this because I know a lot of people think vegans don't get enough protein, and you totally can. 

- Before I used to eat things thinking they were "not that bad," but now pretty much everything I eat is super good for me. 

- I am SO grateful that I live in NY. It has made eating out still an option even with all of these restrictions, and Whole Foods has all of the obscure ingredients this little vegan desires.  

I don't know how long this is going to last. I don't plan on doing this for my entire life, but I do plan on incorporating more plant-based recipes into my life even when this is over. I accidentally had mozzarella last week, and it was delicious and I did not feel sick. So that happy accident will be making a careful and intentional reappearance.

Vegan sushi that was AMAZING

I had a horrific experience with the spiralizer, because it is designed for right-handed individuals, and it took me 30 minutes and a Facetime call with my sister to figure out I was turning the handle the WRONG way. 🤦

Grain-free granola that is SO delicious. 

My true love. A real game changer for me. I spent $24 on this product in the last month. 😶

Paleo grain-free bagels! I made these for myself for my birthday. 

They have eggs in them. 

I was going to have to cheat with grains or cheat with eggs, and because grains are still rough for me, the chickens had to take the hit. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to eat my vegan feta tomato pasta.