OK. I didn't start the Master Cleanse as planned. But I did read a book that I think will change my life. I ordered "Skinny Bitch" and "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch" from Amazon last week and they arrived today. I read "Skinny Bitch" cover to cover without putting it down. It's a pretty easy read and it completely drew me in. From the foul-mouthed, sarcastic style to the extremely well researched information - it presents a very compelling case for eating Vegan.

None of the content was new information for me. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I was a vegetarian for 10 years or so until a boyfriend I was living with turned me back to the dark side about 7 years ago. But even when I wasn't eating meat or chicken I was never able to take the final step and become VEGAN. Eliminating ALL animal products just seemed a bit extreme. I mean, I *really* like my cheese and lattes. ;)) But after reading this book I think I've finally reformed. I am going to try my best to live 90%+ vegan.

I hesitate to put 100% because I know that situations will arise when I'll eat items that might contain animal products from time to time like a piece of bread or a cookie someone else has made. But my goal is to avoid these instances as much as humanly possible with a goal of eating about 50% raw/living foods to boot.

I am ready to embrace a cruelty-free lifestyle. I just cannot imagine the horrendous suffering billions of farm animals endure every year to satisfy human taste for flesh. That and the enormous environmental impact agribusiness has on our poor planet. I read that the average American eats the equivalent of about 35 animals per year - so that's 35 lives I am sparing with my food choices. Not to mention the gallons and gallons of water needed to raise those animals that can be diverted to other purposes. Pretty substantial.

I am also hoping that my improved health and appearance will cause the people in my life to take notice. This will give me the opportunity to prostheletize for a karmic-free diet. I can be a powerful example to everyone I come in contact with.

At some point I probably still want to do a juice feast but I think that I need to lay a better foundation rather than use it as a quick fix. I need to instill better eating habits and lose most of my weight slowly. This is really difficult for me because I always want to take shortcuts. But there are none when we're talking about health. And so I will get better day by day, bite by bite from the inside out. That's my quest.

Today's Weight: 215.5 lbs
Today's BMI: 31.9


Breakfast:
1 large vanilla iced coffee from McDonalds
Sausage & Egg McGriddle Sandwich
2 hash browns
(this was before my epiphany)


Lunch:
Vegan Lasagna
Brown Rice
Lentil soup
Tofu Curry
Salad w/ sunflower dressing
(from Govindaji's)

Dinner:
1 cup Kashi GoLean Crunch dry cereal
2 medium mangoes
mixture of Green & Peppermint Tea

Snack:
2 fresh-baked chocolate chip & walnut cookies
(these were not vegan but homemade
from scratch by my roommate)

I have not had a single soda today and I have a bit of a headache, which could be caffeine withdrawal or just from ingesting less sugar than I'm used to. But all in all I feel good. No yoga tonight but I plan to practice 5-6 days a week. I'm just not up to it tonight cause of the headache.

I am pretty proud of myself. Not a bad day aside from the Mickey-D's at the start. And that was my last meal of that sort at McDonalds EVER. With god as my witness I will make it so.

Aloha and goodnight,

Ellen