Today February 1st is my first day of my 30-day 100% plant-based diet journey!
This blog is going to explain why I want to experiment and take this journey, where I am at now, including starting measurements and what this next 30 days will look like! My hope is for anyone following my journey that they may feel empowered to experiment with their own bodies. Possible start healing their own bodies with holistic nutrition. This is not to say that this is the only way, I am not even sure yet if it is the way for me, but something along the way may spark a passion or interest in you that makes you want to start investigating and experimenting!
I learned a ton about what my body needs and how to provide these nutrients to it through out the last year in school and my own research. I have heard a lot about how a plant-based diet can heal our bodies and get all the nutrients we need to thrive. I read In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma both by Michael Pollan early on in my classes and it all made since and rang true to me. A quote that stuck with me from In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan says “Eat food. Not too Much. Mostly plants.” Seemed so simple but it really sums it up. Especially “Eat Food”, when he says food, he means real God made food not Man made (produced) Fake Food! And so, it began…
I have always eaten more vegetables than anything else, for instance my dinner plate is always Half (minimum) vegetable, ¼ carb and ¼ animal protein. There are times that I would eat some sort of either man-made snack or even Fast Food (Gross I know), but I would say in the grand scheme of it all my diet has been 80 % healthy. I am also a sugar addict and have a hard time with nighttime cravings and try to keep it out of my house as much as possible. I struggle with a lot still, bad digestion, low energy, hormone imbalance and an achy body.
I want to step it up to 100% plant-based eating and challenge myself along with experimenting with what my body likes and doesn’t like! I am Eating ONLY plant-based foods for the next 30 days! I will post a blog weekly with my notes on how the journey is going, i.e., how I am feeling, what are the struggles, positives and negatives and measurements. I am pausing my supplements for these next 30 days as well, I want to see if I can heal my digestion malfunctions with this diet alone or if I may just be stuck on supplements forever. Below is a picture of the supplements I take daily:
Most of these are all for digestion issues, constipation, bloating, heartburn etc. Except for Turmeric, I take this for inflammation to help with tennis elbow symptoms, D3, well I live in Washington folks 😊 and melatonin off and on for difficulty falling asleep. The only thing that I will be continuing is Claritin and my hormone therapy prescribed by naturopath. Honestly, I do want to get off the hormones as well and may talk to doc once I get through this about blood work and weaning off to see if maybe this plant-based diet could level out my hormones as well! I do believe that we should “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” ~Hippocrates. I know that my body should and can heal itself and feel great daily, I just need to figure out what fuel and care it needs to be able to!
A few other things I wanted to note is that I have been intermittent fasting for 7 + years now. My body responds well with only eating between 1pm and 6pm. This is very controversial, and I know a lot of folks feel passionate about it on either side of the coin, but I am not here to debate this as I think it is not for everyone but can be amazing for some. I personally feel my best when I am fasted most of the day, and that is all I can speak to. During these 30 days I will listen to my body and respond with food when necessary, this may mean that I continue with fasting or I may be eating all day.
My current physical activity: I aim to work out 5 days a week which is normally fast walk on the treadmill, weights, and Yoga. I am in the office three days a week and sedentary on those days. The other 4 days a week I am active cleaning house and such. I plan to continue with my workouts and aiming for 5 days a week through this journey as well!
With all of this said the only rule I have is I will only eat plant based real food for the next 30 days. I will treat my body with grace and love and listen to what it needs every day and act according to the signals I receive!
Let’s get started!
Day 1 measurements:
BMI: 27.92 (Overweight; I should be at 24 or less)
Weight: 173 (for my BMI to be in the normal range I should be about 148)
Waist Circumference: 39 ½ inches
1st day pictures:
How does my body feel today?
My back is achy, I woke up and had to get out of bed at 3:45 am because of back pain and stiffness. I feel bloated. I already feel like it is going to be a low energy day as I am tired, and it is only 7:54 am. I did get excited when I went for my supplements while the coffee was brewing and realized that I did not have to choke down the handful of pills that I have been for years now. Fear creeped in quickly that I may be faced with chronic heartburn, bloating, constipation, tennis elbow and low energy with out them though.
Today I plan on eating some fruit once I get hungry and just a salad and prepared veggies through out the day if needed. I need to plan some plant-based dinners for the rest of the week though. I can eat salad every day and call it good but the hubs and children like a variety.
Thank you all again for being on this journey with me! If you have any specific questions about my journey that you may be curious about, please feel free to comment or email me!
I will be checking in with my next blog post next Tuesday!
Sending blessing and lots of love to you!
Tiffany