No Excuses

I am a firm believer of this statement: If you really want to make a change in your life, there is nothing that can stand in your way. But until you want to make a change, nothing will convince you to do it. I have been on both sides of these conditions, and I can only say that each person has to have their own reason “why,” that propels them to become committed.

For years I have wanted to lose weight and gain better health. I have known the facts about healthy, plant-based eating since 2002. Wait, what? That was a lot of years ago! How come I have only just become fully committed in 2017? I believe I was finally convinced that I must take charge of my health. The perfect storm of watching my aging mother lose her mind to alzheimer’s, me entering the obesity range once again, my high cholesterol readings, fatty liver, and pre-diabetes are what convinced me to read Dr. Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. I became ready to do whatever was necessary to stick with a no oil, whole food plant-based diet. No matter what.

I often hear people tell me they wish they could do what I’m doing, but then go on to tell me multiple reasons why they think they can’t. What I’m actually hearing is: I don’t want to, or I’m not willing to commit to such a big lifestyle change as this. Anyone CAN do it. But they have to want it.

Just the other day a friend asked me how they could convince someone who just had a heart attack, to eat like this. (He had told my friend, “No way.”) You can’t force a grown adult to do anything they don’t want to do. If they would rather eat bacon and take ten medications, you have to let them make that choice, even though it’s hard to watch someone suffer.

But, if you ask me how I lost all this weight, got my cholesterol down, healed my fatty liver, and am no longer pre-diabetic, I will gladly share how I do it. If you’re reading this blog, then you have shown some interest, which is the whole reason I’ve created it. All I can do is be an example of success. I hope that I am.

So, Here’s How I Do It, No Matter What

That photo above was the state of my kitchen just a few days ago. As of this writing, I’m still washing dishes in the bathtub. It’s going to be another week of that, until the counter and sink get installed. But I keep telling myself, it’s just a temporary inconvenience.

It’s very important to me to stick with this way of eating. It’s been more than a year and I prefer it now. I love the food I eat, and I’m committed to making sure I have it, no matter what is going on in my life, how busy I get, or how difficult a situation may appear to be.

When I was in the hospital last December for back surgery, I brought my own food. I had a little cooler with containers of bean soup and some baked potatoes. The nurses kept it in their fridge and heated it up for me. I also knew I would be mobility challenged for many weeks, so about a month prior I began skimming out a meal or two from my regular cooking and froze them so I would have some of my favorites. I even froze a Thanksgiving meal, including a few pieces of pumpkin pie. I was very happy to have that later on. Friends and family also brought me whole food plant-based meals, or came over and made them for me. My husband even made me black bean brownies.

When I go on vacation I bring food. It depends on the situation, so sometimes I just make sure I take some of the ingredients that I can’t easily find in the big chain grocery stores, like my favorite nutritional yeast, or date syrup. Other times, I prepare containers of each meal I would need.

And, there are always potatoes. I eat a lot of potatoes when I’m out and about. I like to bake up batches of sweet potatoes and white potatoes and keep them in the fridge for grab-n-go food. Some people stop at the drive-thru. I grab a potato or two. These are also handy when I go out to eat with friends. Rather than being the difficult one when it comes to restaurant choices, I just sneak in some potatoes in my purse and order a salad. Or I suggest going for sushi, where I can get veggie versions; or Chinese food, where I can order steamed vegetables and brown rice.

So while our kitchen has been under construction, my husband and I have continued to eat whole food plant-based. In preparation for this event, my husband and I did a lot of veggie chopping, so we could easily throw a salad together. We also made up several meals to eat for lunches and dinners. When we ran out of those things we ate veggie sushi, fresh fruits, and bought bags of salad mix from the grocery store. While I miss being able to cook some of the regular recipes that I like to make, I know that in another week I will be able to do it again, in a new, organized, better version of my kitchen. I’m super excited about it and I’m really looking forward cooking my favorite healthy meals in there.

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