About Me

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Clarksville, Tennessee, United States
I have been an Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian for a few years and am considering making the switch to a full Vegan diet. I decided to become a vegetarian because I could no longer disassociate the meat on my plate from the loving, kind and peaceful animal it had once been. I have always been an animal lover, so I guess this was a natural progression. I am not a diet or nutrition expert by any means, I am just a woman on a mission to eat better, feel better and live better.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Where I'm Aware

I find that the further I travel along the road to becoming fully vegan, the easier and easier it gets.  I become more aware of everything I use, and what ingredients they contain.  I have been noticing a lot of ingredients listed with vague titles such as "caramel color" and "natural and/or artificial flavoring".  What ARE those?  Because caramel color could certainly contain meat products, and so could flavoring.  I realize that I have a LOT of research and education ahead of me.  

I am trying to think of a way to tackle learning and memorizing all the "tools" I will need moving forward, and what will be the best way to do this.  One approach I was considering is making a project out of it.  I will research and learn one new tidbit of knowledge each week about the vegan lifestyle and diet, and share them here with you.  Then I will spend that week making sure I follow and adapt it into my daily routine.  I will post about my successes and failures, and what I find to be the easiest way to incorporate it into real life.  Hopefully we'll be able to increase our awareness together, and assist each other in ways we can be more successful in our choices.  

Have any of you done a lot of research?  Have you been a vegan for a while now?  Do you have any helpful hints you'd like to share with us?  We're all in this together.  If we're already eating a vegetarian or vegan diet, or just considering it, we're all on the same path.  We're just at different points along the road.  It's not a contest, there is no prize for making progress faster than anyone else.  There is no "finish line" to cross.  This is a lifestyle change, which means it is something you have to commit to each and every day of your life.  So if you're making progress slower than someone else you know, don't become discouraged.  It's not about being perfect, it's about being aware and making choices.  If you stumble one day, don't beat yourself up.  Just get back up, dust yourself off, and begin again.  If you truly want to make the change, you'll succeed.  But you'll do it in your own time, at your own pace.

When I first decided to become a vegetarian, I would really beat myself up when I made a mistake and had something that contained some sort of meat product.  Even if it was completely unintentional.  Then I realized that there is no scoring system, I'm not being graded here.  I'm just making decisions and choices for myself and my life.  I actually had a moment of weakness a while back and thought I would eat some buffalo chicken wings, because I used to eat them all the time.  I just had this overwhelming urge to eat a few of them, so I did.  And you know what happened?  My body did NOT like it.  I didn't feel good for a day and half after eating them.  But you know what DIDN'T happen?  The vegetarian police didn't show up at my door to take away my veg badge either!  The world didn't stop spinning or come to an end.  It was just a stumble, that's all.  So I moved on.  

I hope you're becoming more aware of the choices you make each day regarding your body and your diet, and I hope that you'll be successful in making the necessary changes so that you'll be happy and at peace with yourself.  Have a great Wednesday everyone!

P.S.  I know I'm late posting this week's recipe, but with all the Thanksgiving leftovers and a couple days of eating lighter meals to recover from the "feast of days", I haven't really cooked anything worth posting, but I will be this week.  I may just post a new recipe on Sunday, and begin weekly again from there.  Hope you don't mind. ;) 

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