Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

It just occurred to me the other day that I have been officially vegan for over 8 years now. On September 6, 2016, I had my final meal with family and friends. It was Chicken Marsala. It was the beginning of what I thought would be a 13 week challenge, where my original intention was to go back to my old diet. I never went back to the old diet as I became an ethical vegan in the process.

I have learned a lot over the years of being vegan and would never choose to knowingly have animal products. There are so many plant based products out there that there is no reason in our society to not be vegan.

Firstly, there's no such thing as perfection in any lifestyle. Personally, I do the best I can to avoid knowingly consuming anything with animal products. However, does that mean my dining experiences are always 100% compliant when I eat out? Unfortunately, no one can guarantee that unless we're in the kitchen overseeing food preparation ourselves.

I was reflecting on this while listening to Robert Cheeke’s latest interview on the PlantStrong podcast. Robert discussed how some people can become overly concerned about ensuring everything is vegan—I was in that phase a few years ago. I remember a specific incident at a New York City salad bar where the server, who didn't speak English well, used tongs that had touched chicken to make my salad. Despite my efforts to explain my veganism and concerns about cross-contamination, it took the manager intervening to clarify.

When a started my weightloss journey almost 12 years ago, I never imagined I would end up coaching others. As I strived to reverse my hypertension, I was doing what felt best for my health. I researched the best and worst foods to eat and began an exercise routine. This would help me lose 150+ pounds, reverse my hypertension and pre-diabetes and be in the best shape of my life.

Along the way, people would ask me what I did to lose weight. I also had friends or family that wanted to know how they too can get off their meds for good. I would always share what I learned. When I saw that other people were rsponding to my advice, that’s when I realized I should consider becoming a coach.

Today marks my 7th anniversary as a vegan. Yes, I was plant based since 2012, but I ate minimal animal products like turkey or yogurt up until September of 2016.

I credit my vegan brother Robert Cheeke for helping me transition. The 13 week workout journal did the trick. After the 13 weeks, I never wanted to go back to animal products.

Back in August of 2016, I had plateaued. I had already lost 150 pounds eating a mostly plant based diet, but I was left with a lof of loose skin, especially around my belly. I wanted to shift things into high gear, try other methods to build more muscle to hide the excess skin. That’s when I turned to the internet, the same thing I turned to when I initially lost the weight in the first place.

I had been trying for a few years to pack on muscle but it wasn’t working that well for me at the time. My personal trainer told me to up my protein intake to a whopping 200 grams a day. He wanted me to start having whey shakes. Two things happened that caused my personal trainer’s plan to fail: first, the whey protein shake did not agree with me. It didn’t digest well and there’s no way I could continue. Second, my primary doctor told me that I could damage my liver or kidneys with such a high amount of protein. Both of those instances caused me to rethink what my personal trainer was advising.