18 Down more to go.

 A month ago I was at my doctor's appointment. I had come to the realization that despite my best efforts I was going back and fort with my weight. One minute I was losing the next minute I was up. I have a scale at home and most people tell me I should keep up with it there. I choose not to because I don't have much patience when it comes to results. I want to see a large change rather than 20 small one. Especially along the way your going to have this set back days. It might be motivational for someone to see that and double down their efforts. Me, I wouldn't see it that way. 

So my doctor and I talked about both of us doing vegan for 4 weeks. I'm always willing to try things. I already tried being a vegetarian witch lasted about as long as this challenge is going to be. So I agreed. 

Walking out of the office I thought aww its easy. No meat, no dairy, I didn't no meat before, I don't currently drink milk because I discovered it bloated me. So I started with a little assistance via Hello Fresh. It would allow me to have 3, 2 portioned meals a week. which would help me start out easier. 

Week 1 was good but by the end of the week I had an issue. Breakfast. I noticed that the majority of things I did centered around eggs. Second I started to have stomach discomfort which in the past I would eat yogurt. Can't do that now. So I stuck it out over the weekend. 

By Monday I was just crazy, I had to make this discomfort stop. I did have some Yogurt in the fridge that I could eat but that would end the challenge, I stuck it out another day. Tuesday I gave in and ate some Yogurt with some strawberries and bananas. Stomach was great but I can't act like I didn't just end the challenge. At the same time that doesn't mean I go back to the old way. So I told myself I just be a vegetarian for the rest of the time. 

Wednesday, I said I'd fix an omelet. I'm not doing the vegan thing anymore. Nice omelet. I actually forgot to put cheese on it somehow, but it was good still. 

Later in the afternoon. I felt like my foot might be swollen. I look down and the tops of my feet are swollen for the first time since before I started the challenge. The eggs? So I researched, while i was doing that I ran across a guys post on Instagram talking about how egg yokes can promote swelling. At first I was like ok another food is bad for you commentary. I listened and it kind of made sense. We know that "things" are given to chickens to promote growth. So those "things" get into the eggs. And I expanded on that, the yoke is a concentration thus everything is concentrated within it. 

 With this understood egg are on this short list of things I won't eat anymore. So with this understood I rethought what I was going to do.

I had gotten tired of eating the same things. But I can't just reintroduce meat without thought.

So I after thinking I made these changes. When making meals I think vegetables and fruits first.  If after that I want to add a meat I can't  but as a side not as the main part of the dish. This finally fixes the portioning problem I always faces. I looked back at my granny. Who would slave over a stove to cook for us. Fixing greens, fried chicken, cornbread, etc, etc. But when it was time for her to eat. She at vegetable first. Giving us most of the meat. It was something that made me realize why my mother and I were such carnivores. She never pushed the veggies at us, if we didn't eat them she ate them. I'm sure she didn't understand what she was creating cause she was doing it out of love and unselfishness. 

With all this knowledge I continued to build. So now I'm doing veggies first, fruits then as an options a meat. Now what meat? Well pork and beef were limited in my diet anyway from changes I made before. Now they are gone. I talked about "things" in the chicken but  I felt eating some limited amount of chicken is ok. Especially if I source it correctly. Turkey was another option, also correctly sourced. Last is seafood, shrimp and what ever kind of fish I wanted. I've been know to eat Whitefish, swai, Tilapia, Red snapper, cod and tuna. So with that in mind I began to make weekly menus based on my new process. 

I'm currently in week two of this lifestyle change and its working great. This isn't the last change I will make as life is a progression. When I began my journey I was a meat eater supreme. I've worked down to where meat is an option. Later I might be a full true vegan. Why did I say "true", along the way I've met people that said they were vegans but I would see them with bags of potato chips and other things that just were unhealthy. I don't see this as being true. I think you also have to be healthy or what is the purpose. 

My journey continues.....