Hey all! I will be surprised if anyone still reads this blog, since I so rarely update it. I really have no excuse or explanation other than the fact that I just haven’t felt led to update here or talk about food.

Until now…

So, I’m back on a vegan diet. I’m actually on day 5.

Before I go into the diet thing, here’s a general update… I have gone through a lot of changes in the past few months. I know, I always post that. It seems life is a never-ending journey of change and growth! It hasn’t all been fun and much of it was downright miserable to go through. Thankfully however, I can see productive changes in myself. The main one being the way I think of myself and others. That change is pretty darn amazing and I’m still working through it.

Basically, I’ve learned not to judge anyone (including myself) anymore. No matter what. As soon as I notice I am (or someone else is) making a so-called ‘mistake’ or have unpleasant thoughts or emotions, I look at it head on with honesty. This change started a couple of weeks ago – literally in the middle of the night one night when I had terrible insomnia. (Unfortunately my Sedona house is not very conductive to sleeping. More on that some other time!) That night, I was posting on a forum and arguing with some people I considered very ignorant. After a while of that I went back to bed and started wondering why on earth I cared so much about trying to ‘correct’ their thinking.

I can’t remember the exact process, but suddenly I was realizing the real truth of why I cared so much. And it had to do with me needing to be right, and me having to be the one to have the answers, among other things. That realization led to another one, and I saw a huge part of myself and my ego start to unravel. And for ONCE, I didn’t freak out and judge myself or get mad. I simply watched it and accepted it. It was very interesting and later led to some very enlightening experiences.

I wish I would have known sooner that in order to truly understand something about ourselves or someone else, we just have to look at it – head on – without judgment or fear.

Anyway, I could post more about this, and perhaps I will sometime later.

So, back to my diet… I have decided that once and for all, it is time to stop making excuses and just get my body (and mind) into shape and health. Seriously. I have the time and resources and now finally the inner drive! I’ve been dieting on and off for years and years, and I’ve had enough. So about seven days ago, (after a sort-of spiritual awakening), I developed a very strong inner certainty that what I was about to embark on was serious and would produce the changes I have so long wanted.

There is one change with this new project compared to all the times I went on diets before. First off, my diet has been AWFUL. My past month or so on and off the road has led me into eating tons of cheese, dairy and even fast food. Candy, etc. (I would have a few days here or there where I ate well, but they were few and far between). However, since I began this project (on March 26th), I have done just a little in the right direction each day, instead of just trying to do it all at once. The first day, I allowed myself to eat and drink whatever I wanted. But I paid close attention to what I was eating, how it made me feel and why. The second day, I cut back just a little on the unhealthy stuff. The third day, I switched over to vegan eating but allowed myself any amount of vegan ‘junk’ food I wanted.

And this slow improvement has continued! Each day I have cleaned up my diet just a little bit more, adding more water, fruits, veggies, etc. (I even stopped drinking enough water over the past couple of months!) I’m slowly getting my portions back to normal and trying different foods I normally wouldn’t eat. I have also started exercising again.

So far it has been a very interesting process, one that I am keeping track of with a diary! Every day gets me a little closer to the very ‘clean’ and healthy vegan diet I want to be on indefinitely. I have some serious detoxing to do, so I’m taking it slow.

Today’s intake has been:

• Green smoothie with orange slices, mango, banana, kiwi, spinach, a dash of flaxseed, spoonful of peanut butter and a strawberry
• Boca meatless chicken nuggets with steamed cauliflower and grilled portobello mushrooms (one of my new favorite meals!)
• 1 cup dandelion root/peppermint tea; 1 cup of honey green lemon tea
• 1 gala apple
• 1 peanut butter sandwich made with organic peanut butter (no palm oil!) and Rudi’s organic 14 Grain bread (seriously my favorite bread ever)

I’m making some brown rice and beans now. I know, this list probably seems like a lot of food, but trust me, it is SO much better than what I was eating in the past few weeks. I’m also back to taking a daily multi-vitamin and digestive enzymes.

Anyway, I have promised countless times to keep this blog better updated, so I’m not going to promise that this time. So I will say instead, I hope you all have had a great weekend! Be back soon!