I never thought I'd say this but I don't think I'll ever eat meat again. I'm on Day 26 of my 30-day Vegan Cleanse and after watching the documentary Forks Over Knives, I am certain that I can sustain perfect radiant health by maintaing a plant-based diet. My cleanse was completely vegan along with no gluten, no caffeine, and no alcohol. This meant no delectable pastries, no comforting soy chai lattes, and no more relaxing glasses of wine!! On day 2 of this cleanse, while nursing my dull caffeine-withdrawl headache with a full-body massage, I asked myself why I would go to such extreme measures for a cleanse. I couldn't articulate it at the time but I knew that the way we eat is a major vehicle for defining ourselves in life. Every time you put food in your mouth, you are making a statement. As I rise in consciousness through my applied studies of Spiritual Psychology, I recognize my need to pay close and loving attention to my physicality along with an acute awareness to my contribution to the highly industrialized and often times abusive food chain.
Yet, I digress! I really just want to share all the positive results I've experienced with this cleanse because it's truly been a pleasant surprise to come to the conclusions I've come to. First, I can't remember a time when I've felt so light and full of energy. Yes, I've lost a few lbs which is awesome, but more importantly I'm energized all day long. I used to get tired in the afternoon and by 9:30pm I would want to go to sleep. Now I'm up early and feel great all day until 10:30pm or later. I sleep fantastically well and throughout the day I experience acute mental clarity. In the beginning of the cleanse I stuck to a lot of the foods I knew were vegan friendly like almond butter, beans, brown rice, veggies, plus I was intimidated by all the choices at Whole Foods. But once I started to venture out and buy other items like tempeh and GF breads and new types of veggies, I realized there's a whole glorious array of vegan friendly foods I can choose from and yes, love eating. I now crave healthy food! Our cleanse leader, Melissa Costello from Karma Chow, explained that it takes 30 days to change a habit and then our bodies would start to want the healthy stuff and she was right! Now, not trying to gross anyone out, but certain bodily movements have seen major improvement as well. Now who wouldn't be happy with all these results?
Plus, after watching Forks Over Knives and understanding that there is proven, irrefutable evidence that there is a correlation between eating animal meat and cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, I really see no reason to continue eating red meat. Not to mention there's a whole world of cruelty to farm animals happening.
So, I went from eating lots of meat, sugar, caffeine and alcohol to none at all overnight. Was it easy at first? Certainly not. But look where I'm at today: totally conscious of how I'm treating my body. It's a declaration of commitment to self and commitment to my values. The inner reward I receive from this commitment has been invaluable. And it's shown me that if I'm willing to look closer at my life and make changes, wonderfully amazing things can happen.
www.karmachow.com
www.forksoverknives.com
