once upon a time, what seems like a million years ago, i ate meat. and cheese. and eggs. but mostly cheese. everything i ate had cheese on it. in fact, almost every meal was a combination of white flour (pasta, pizza crust, bagels, bread), spinach, tomato and cheese. it was all delicious. every last cheesy bite of it. then i read a book, or watched a video, or something my mom said made me realize that eating meat was equal to killing the animal. and worse than killing the animal, is the torture they must endure in their life at the factory farm. so i stopped. i read more, and watched more and thought more.
that was twelve years ago and i didn’t want to be a part of the problem, so i did what i could. i stopped eating animal flesh and eventually all animal products. i did it for the animals. not to lose weight, or to be healthier, or to improve my athletic endurance. sure, i lost a couple pounds and sure, i felt a little better, and while i made a difference in the lives of many farm animals i only made a small difference in my life and in my health. i don’t eat meat anymore, or cheese, or eggs.
i am a vegan. i am a junk-food vegan. i love pasta, i love pancakes and i buy more earth balance in a week than i care to admit. and while i am healthy by american standards; i feel pretty good, i can run a few miles and i am not fat; i know that i am not my healthiest, most attractive, or my leanest, strongest self. now i am a thirty seven year old mother of three who wants to live forever. so i will begin my transition from junk food vegan to whole food vegan. i will kick start my journey with a juice fast (fat, sick and nearly dead style). after that i will avoid sugar at all costs (i am a sugar addict, got to stay off that train) and stick to fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds. i will also track my athletic/endurance performance, as i started running this past summer, completed my first half marathon in december, and will pick up again during or after the juice fast.
i am having a minor surgery the first week of march, so i will wait until mid-march to begin my fast. in the meantime i will gather juice recipes, dust off my running shoes, and pack up my fat jeans to send to good-will.
Annie Eats Apples 