Fooding Q and A

Hello again!  Haven't seen you in a while.  I gave myself a week off during Spring Break, and then had a long, difficult few days coming back.   I think posting this will make me feel a little better, even if it's not quite the length of my normal articles.  Still informative, none the less.

I managed to pull this little bug together in my post-Spring Break I-can't-remember-how-to-function state.  I compiled a list of questions from readers (people I begged to come up with questions), and answered them! Hooray.  There were lots of questions, all of which I hope to answer in the near future, but for now I picked my four favorites.

What kind of diet did you have for most of your life?

Before becoming vegan, I ate whatever I wanted, but I have always been at least a little careful about what I was eating.  I exercised really frequently and had an active lifestyle.  I paid attention to what I ate, and I very rarely ate fast food, drank soda, or prepared meals (like Hot Pockets and Ramen).  I was never that impressed by meat, and when I was in charge of what I ate, I rarely ate it.  With that said, I was a big fan of dairy.  Ice cream, cheese, big glasses of milk, baked goods - I indulged in all of them fairly frequently.  I have always been one of those "I could be vegetarian but I don't think I could ever be vegan" people.  It wasn't until my health slapped me in the face and told me to change that I even considered being vegan.  Now that I am, though, I keep finding more and more incentives to do so.

Is anyone in your family vegan, and do they support your decision?

I love this question.  First of all, no.  No one else in my family is vegan.  But everyone in my immediate family (we don't have time for my extended family) is conscious of what they eat and informed about their nutritional needs.  They also have very strong opinions about the optimal diet; some of which are similar to mine, and some of which are quite contrasting.

Each one of my four brothers has given me their uncensored opinion about what they think of my diet as only an older brother can.  I mean, there were very few significant decisions I made growing up that from which I didn't receive their uncensored opinions.  Needless to say, I have become quite good at defending my positions on things.  While it can be pretty tiring to have four geniuses giving input on the entirety of your childhood, it has made me very confident and motivated to be informed about what I do.  They agree with me on varying levels, but make sure to give me a hard time anyways.  :)

It was more important to me to make sure that my parents supported my decision, and I think they do.  They didn't jump on board immediately, and they still have hesitations, but I've done what I can to make sure they don't think I'm crazy or dying.  When the whole family is home for dinner, my mother accommodates both me and my Paleo brother, which is quite a feat!  She's very nice and also very good at cooking.  And both of my parents have began incorporating more plant based meals into their diet (which makes me so happy).  They're really supportive of what I do, as long as I assure them I'm thinking carefully and that it's making me happy.

I think I'm going to write another blog going into more detail about what I did to make sure they were on board, because I think it is a problem many people face.

Is it hard going to restaurants?

Is it hard going to the mall if you don't wear jeans?

Of course, it's not quite as simple as that; some restaurants are more accommodating than others.  I went to Chili's once, for example, and had one option: a salad ("with no chicken, please").  I had to eat again when I got home, and it wasn't that good.  (Off the record, why are you going to Chili's anyways?)  I have gone to sooooo many other restaurants and had a lot of options that were really good.  It all depends on the type of restaurant.  Really nice restaurants usually have plant based options because plants are delicious, and a lot of unspecialized places will have vegan and vegetarian options because they try to appeal to a large audience.  I have basically no problem in Florence, because every authentic restaurant has Ribolita (vegetable soup) and other vegan recipes that are always awesome.  It's the really specialized restaurants that are hardest; obviously there are not many options for me at a steak house.  However, there are many new restaurants that specialize in vegetarian and vegan food, so it can even out if you have an open mind.

The only times I feel limited in my options at restaurant are when I am traveling (and can't read the menu because I don't speak the language), or when I am with friends.  People get really touchy on this subject, but let's use the mall metaphor again.  If you don't wear jeans, you never have to go into a jeans store (let's pretend that jeans stores are a thing).  But if you're at the mall with your friends and they want to go to the jeans store, you don't protest.  You follow along, maybe check out the keychains, and you buy your things elsewhere.  If you are with your friends and they all want to go to a steak house, you can follow along, eat the free bread, get a drink, and eat somewhere else.  It doesn't sound convenient or fun, but it works.  Hopefully your friends won't make you go to the jeans store too often.

I love going to restaurants more now as a vegan than I did before.  If you have food that I want to eat, you are impressing me.  Though being more selective may seem like extra work, it also raises your standards.

Do you also not eat gluten?  Did you ever try going gluten-free to cure your migraines?

I still eat gluten.  I mean, sheesh, the craziness has to end somewhere, right?  It really wouldn't be that difficult to go without gluten, but it wouldn't be particularly fun.  And I feel really good about where I'm at with my diet/health without eliminating it completely.

I do, however, try to keep the amounts of gluten in check; it's really easy to overdo it when you don't eat animal products, and I definitely feel better after eating other cereals/starches/grains than I do after eating wheat.  It's also easy to overdo it in Italy.  It's so good here.  I have a lot of self control: I don't eat meat, dairy, eggs, or any other animal products.  But when the grocery store smells like fresh bread and a baguette is eighty cents, I have no choice.

If you are experiencing health issues, I would encourage you to try giving up gluten as an experiment.  It's easier than you think.  But I never did that for my migraines, because my first test worked so well! :)


Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for some interviews, recipes, and healthy habits, and as always, share your thoughts in the comments!

Vegan Challenge #2: No more Dairy! + My Weekend in Zurich

The inspiration to write this blog came from my visit to Zurich, where dairy is really a big deal.  It was an interesting opportunity to observe how even something that is considered a staple can be avoided completely if you have the drive and the knowledge necessary.

Now, I am no expert on travel in Zurich.  The language is insanely difficult for me to grasp, the economic inflation hard for me to accept, and I had little knowledge about the culture before arriving.  This made it a little difficult to me to be as carefree in my eating as I would have liked to be, but I had an amazing time, and also got to eat some delicious food.

Unlike in Zurich, though, I have very little trouble living without dairy in America.  There are so many resources out there, and I was reminded of this when they were taken away from me.  So I thought I would give you a few guidelines on how to live without dairy.  If you have already decided to eliminate dairy from your diet and would just like to know how, keep reading.  If you'd like to know why I think experimenting with your dairy intake is important, click here.

Vegan Challenge #2: 14 Days Without Dairy
How much dairy do you consume in fourteen days?  From your morning coffee to your midnight snack, it might be a staple to your standard diet.  Fortunately for us, it is so easy to replace and eliminate!  Here are the rules:

1. Eliminate the dairy products that aren't necessary.  For the next two weeks, avoid pizza, ice cream, and other foods that are inherently high in dairy.  Try some healthier options based on whole foods wherever you can.  Remember that getting rid of dairy means including something else; often people fail to achieve their health goals because they get rid of one thing and don't find something else to eat instead.  Your body needs food, and I will never suggest calorie restriction as a way to go.  I only suggest the things that I can do, and there's just no way to get me to stop eating. 
2. Break down your cravings.  But Katherine, I just can't live without cheese.  Wrong.  You can and you will.  :)  Dairy products are among the foods we often crave, for many reasons.  Firstly, they are convenient, nicely packaged, well-advertised and flavorful products that we are accustomed to.  They are also often calorie dense and high in simple carbs, so they make us feel satisfied quickly.  As with any food group, I think it's important to break down your dairy cravings and decide whether they are legitimate instinctual desires for fuel, or if they are motivated by other things.  Try to be more specific about what you are craving: instead of craving cheese, you may be craving something salty, creamy, and warm.  The good news is you can have things that are salty, creamy, and warm without consuming dairy products. 
3. Where you can't remove, replace.  I ask you to do this only where the first two steps were insufficient, because often the things we use to replace dairy and meat are just as unhealthy as the original.  However, there are so many options out there that as long as you continue to focus on whole foods and variation, I don't think they will do a huge amount of harm to your body.  Read up and decide what your nutritional needs are, and make your choices accordingly.

This chart can be used as a basic guideline in how to replace dairy in your diet, based on your culinary, craving, and nutritional needs.  The main time to implement the rules of the challenge are at the grocery store, so consider the following before you hit the aisles. 

You want:	You actually want:	You can have:
Milk	Something creamy and refreshing.   Something to add liquid to a recipe.   Calcium and Vitamin D.	Rice Milk, Nut Milk, Coconut Milk, and Soy Milk are found in many normal grocery stores and your local health food store, and will blend seamlessly with many recipes.  They’re also good on their own.  I will be writing about the different options in more detail soon. Get your calcium and Vitamin D right from the sources, and eat your leafy greens and get out in the sun.
Cheese	Something salty, creamy, and warm.   Another layer of flavor in a recipe.   Protein and Calcium.	There are many brands of vegan cheese that taste very similar.  They are often nut-based or soy-based, and will melt, grate, and spread just like the cow stuff.  And again, go to the sources for Calcium and Vitamin D.
Butter	Something salty. A means of cooking another food. Fat.	Earth Balance makes a very convincing vegan butter and can be found at Trader Joe’s and other health food stores.  Wherever you can, though, try to use fats that are plant-based for cooking, or avoid using fats altogether by steaming, boiling, and baking.
Cream	Something really creamy. Liquid and fat to bring form to a recipe. Fat.	Coconut milk and soy milk seem to be the thickest of the milk replacements, in my opinion, so try those if you need to.  Also, refrigerated coconut milk will whip up just like cream does, and you’ll need less added sugar.*

*Trader Joe's also sells this amazing coconut-based ice cream that will really help you out.  Give it to your friends and don't tell them it's dairy free - they'll never notice.

And that's it!  Take advantage of the resources available to you and add some variety to your diet.  Even eliminating the smallest things can have an impact on the health of your body, some cute little farm animals, and the planet.  Remember that planning ahead and keeping the calorie count up will keep you from caving in, whenever you're dealing with dietary restrictions, and that the best diet is one based on whole foods.

Let me know your thoughts on this idea.  How difficult would it be for you to get rid of dairy?  Do you think this would be the hardest part of going vegan, or would it be something else?  What kind of meals do you make without dairy?

* * * * * 

For those of you interested in my travels, my weekend in Zurich was amazing!  I had very few expectations and few plans, but I had a really good time there.  It was a very interesting change of pace, and contrasted the culture of Florence pretty drastically.

Being in that city felt like visiting an amusement park for three days: everything was clean, every person fit, happy, and beautiful, and every location easily accessible.  I felt extremely safe there, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a place to travel to alone.

With that said, I can barely afford to breathe there.  There was no spontaneous spending, but I managed to have a nice time in an affordable manner.  I had packed many of my meals ahead and then visited the grocery store for food so that I could splurge on a really good meal once or twice.  I paid for a Zurich Card, which gave me unlimited access to public transportation and many museums and attractions in the city.  At twenty four francs for twenty four hours, it was definitely a good investment.

I hiked on Mount Uetliberg, did a boat tour of the lake, visited many of the parks, saw the university, and went into a lot of posh clothing and furniture stores.  It was such a beautiful place and had so much to offer to travelers; I'm quite happy with my first out-of-Italy destination.  Check back next week for what happens to me in London.

Dairy Facts

If you've read my blog or been updated on my current life in any other form, you know that dairy is not my friend.  I used to consume it daily without any immediate negative side effects, but my tolerance for it has plummeted to a point where even small quantities have me feeling sick.  No matter how much I wanted it to be, dairy is not good for me.  But I have a secret: dairy isn't really that good for you either.

I always try to make it clear that while I believe that a vegan diet is the healthiest for my body, other choices are acceptable too.  I didn't create this blog to publicize why I have made my choices or rope other people into a vegan diet.  With that said, I feel pretty strongly that the amount of dairy consumed in the standard American diet is not good for us.  If you're interested in the nutrition facts about dairy, I encourage you to do your own research and to click here for my opinions on it.  But for now, I'll just give you my two cents.

1. Consuming dairy is weird.  When you get to the end of The Grapes of Wrath, nobody is sitting there thinking, "yeah that would really hit the spot right now."  So we agree that drinking human breast milk after infancy is strange, right? But it's okay, because we get it not from our mothers, but from other people's mothers.  Nope, still weird.  Well, the mothers we get it from are animal mothers.  Yeah, that's cool, right? That's definitely not weird.
   
   I think that many people are very detached from the primary sources of their food, so that argument may not really get you on board.  Even though you know where dairy comes from, when you see it packaged up all nicely in a bottle of low fat milk or a block of cheese, it doesn't really bother you.  But what really got me thinking was when I learned that the human body naturally stops producing lactate, the enzyme that digests lactose, after infancy (because that's when we're supposed to be done with it).  When someone develops lactose intolerance, their body is just functioning naturally.  The abnormality is actually the lactate persistence that many people develop by continuing to consume dairy through adulthood (Patrick-Goudreau).  Fascinating.  So it's weird to consume dairy, but people do a lot of other weird things.  There's a lot more going against dairy, though.
2. Diary consumption is linked to a variety of health issues, like mine.
   Migraines, acne, and asthma are three health issues that I did not have to research to link to dairy consumption; in my own body, these three things nearly disappeared after I stopped consuming dairy.  However, in eliminating dairy from my diet, according to the Physician's Committee of Responsible Medicine, I have also lowered my risk of Osteoporosis, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, and types of cancer, and eliminated sources of contaminants (Understanding the Problems with Dairy Products).  Other side effects people have claimed to be related to dairy include constipation, arthritis, and insomnia, but I have no sources that provide scientific proof.
   
   So unless you sleep like a baby, have beautiful clear skin, poop twice a day, and don't get any of the other health issues I've mentioned, it might be fun to try out a dairy-free diet.  I am a firm believer that the best way to find out if something works is to try it yourself.
3. The benefits do not outweigh the risks.  What are the benefits of dairy products?  The one that they are most known for is Calcium.  Let's break that down: Calcium is a mineral that comes from the ground.  When cows eat grass that is grown on calcium-rich soil, the calcium is processed and excreted in their milk, along with whatever else they have consumed.  Some argue that our bodies cannot process the calcium once it has been processed by the cow.  But when cows don't eat grass, their feed must be artificially supplemented with calcium (Patrick-Goudreau).  Therefore, most of the calcium consumed in dairy products is hard to digest and unnatural.
    
4. It's really easy to stop consuming dairy.  Nutritionally, there are many other sources from which to get the benefits of dairy products.  Beyond that, there are so many substitutes and resources out there for you.  Just try it, and you will surprise yourself.  

Works Cited

Patrick-Goudreau, Colleen. "From Excuse-itarian to Vegan." YouTube. YouTube, 07 Oct. 2011. Web.        1 Mar. 2014. 
"Understanding the Problems with Dairy Products." NutritionMD.org ::. Physician's Committee for              Responsible Medicine, n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.                                     

Thank you for Reading + One Day Vegan Challenge

Hello everyone!  I have a lot of pieces on the way: vegan gelato in Florence, where to find the health food stores here, healthy travel food, etc.  But I have been pretty busy lately and I wanted to take a second to thank everyone for either beginning to read or continuing to read my blog.

Google Blogger gives me pretty limited information about who reads my blogs; there is no subscription necessary, which makes it more easily-accessible but more difficult to keep track of audiences.  One thing it does show me, though, is the location (by country) of people who access my blog.  On the left, you'll see that people have been reading (or at least opening the link and then becoming immediately disinterested) from all over the world, and that's awesome!

I know that there are people from all walks of life who at least occasionally read, but I would like to know more so that I can continue to be helpful to my audience.  If there is anything you would like to see more of, or if you have any questions to ask me, please let me know.  You can comment below (you do not need a Google+ account to comment), or contact me elsewhere.  I would love to know what you think!

In order to avoid making a blog that is totally pointless, I have one health proposition for you: use one of your weekends or even your vacation days to be really healthy.  Whatever that means to you is fine.  Take one day to give yourself no excuses, and live in a way that will give you optimal health.

Easier said than done, I know.  But I thought I would just plant the seed in your heads so that you can eventually try it out.  You'll find that many of the excuses you gave yourself are not as valid as you thought.  I initially committed to a short-term experiment with veganism and I realized that it was much easier than I thought it would be, and I think the same will be true for you.

So if my compelling charm was enough to get you to agree to this, you can try my very own Vegan for a Day Challenge.  Does that sound catchy enough? It'll have to do for now.

Vegan for a Day Challenge:

1. Pick your favorite breakfast with no meat, dairy, or eggs.  Lacking inspiration?  Try one of these.  When you eat the right things, you can and should eat until you're full.  
2. If the weather's good, head outside for at least 45 minutes in the morning.  Our body makes vitamin D from the sun.  Don't you think that is so cool?  No, just me? okay well I think it's cool and this is my challenge so just do it.  Exercising would be great at this time, but we can go simpler than that.  Eat your breakfast on the porch, take your dog for a walk, do something.  Even if you're literally laying on the ground for 45 minutes.  I don't care if you drag your flat screen to you living room window to watch whatever awful thing is on TV from outside, just do it. 
3. Eat a wonderful and delicious plant-based lunch.  If you're looking for a real challenge, go low-fat, too!  Whoever decided that deli meats were a requirement for sandwiches did not have enough appreciation for the avocado sandwich.  Whole grain bread, vegan spread of whatever kind, avocado, tomato: amazing.  If that doesn't just get you going, you can also try one of these.  And again, eat as much as you want.
4. Use all that extra plant-based energy to get a project done or do something really, really fun.  If you want to be healthy, you have to be happy.  If it's going to please you to be productive, you should do that.  But I'm not forgetting that it's your vacation day, so you don't have to.  As long as you're consciously choosing to do something because it is fun, I'd say that's still productive. 
5. For a snack, eat some raw fruits and veggies.  You can even put them on whole grain (or gluten-free if you're really going crazy) bread.  This can be repeated as many times as you want.  You shouldn't be hungry for a minute of this day.
6. Go back outside, but this time, you really should exercise.  Not in a "wow... you really could use a jog" kind of way.  But in a "I'm telling you what to do to be healthy so just listen to me and stop looking for reasons to be offended," kind of way.  You know? Swim, jog, walk, run, whatever.  Just do something. 
7. For dinner, try something new.  Keep it plant based, of course.  Like one of these.  There may be some weirdo ingredients that you don't have, but try it anyways.  You'll see that vegan diets don't have to be bland or boring.  Eat until you are full.
8. Treat yourself to an awesome vegan dessert.  There are so many that are amazing.  These are just some examples of the choices that are out there, so pick your favorite.  Share it with some family and friends, but don't tell them it's vegan until after they eat it... it's more fun that way. 
9. When you feel like you're done with food for the day, head over to cronometer.com and input all the food you ate.  Set some health goals for the day, and see if you've met your expectations. 
10. Spend an hour before bed away from your phone and your computer.  The next step up would be away from the TV, too, but I still like to watch a good movie before bed sometimes. 

Weeeeoooooeeeeooooo you've completed the one day vegan challenge.  Imagine flashing lights and confetti.  Was that so bad? No.

So, half of you are reading this and saying, "This is cute, Katherine, but I don't have time or energy or motivation for this."  I know the feeling.  But it's just one day, so you can handle it.  I mean, I can't motivate you to do something, but I can tell you that it's easier and more fun than you think.  To make it easier, get a friend or family member to do it with you.  Also, the more research you do ahead of time, the easier it will be.  Take ten minutes out of each weekday to pick out recipes and track down ingredients.  Then, the healthy things will be at your disposal.  You really can do this, and you should!  Even if you feel good about your health now, it's good to be challenged every once in a while. 

The other half of you are saying, "Are you even a real vegan?  You should be suggesting low fat and non GMO and organic and way more exercise and less fun"  (Okay, I may be exaggerating with the less fun thing).  I agree.  Simply being vegan is not the point of optimal health - there are a lot of unhealthy vegans, and I wouldn't want to suggest otherwise.  But this challenge is for people who think being vegan alone is too difficult or too extreme to handle.  I'm just trying to show everyone that it's not. 

Let me know what you think of the challenge!  I'm thinking of making this the first in a series of challenges that will include longer durations and stricter, more specific diets, etc.  But not if this is a really lame idea and I just don't realize it because I'm from Generation Y and I assume I'm destined for great things.  I'd also love to hear about your results.  Keep me updated. 

Eating Florence - My International Fooding Adventure

Here's the thing about my time in Florence: if I had known that I wouldn't be able to eat gelato or cheese when I got here, I probably would have gone somewhere else.

So when one small cup of gelato made me feel horrible, I was pretty disappointed.  I had hypothesized that it was not dairy that made me sick, but the way dairy is processed.  In America, we do a lot to our milk.  Perhaps the closer-to-source dairy found in Florentine gelato would be better for me.  Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I had to test it out.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  No matter how you spin it, dairy and I will never be friends.

Back in November, when I started this blog, I planned to experiment with different diets and tell you how they went.  I started with a vegan diet and planned to move on to a "Mediterranean" diet when I came to Italy.  The vegan thing worked really really well for me.  There is no doubt in my mind that eating vegan is the solution to many of society's mild to severe health issues.  It helped me so much that I don't think I will ever go back to the way I was eating before this; but while I am traveling, I must have an open mind about the way people eat around the world.  One solution is good, but many solutions is better.  The milk processing theory, for example, was important for me to try out.

For the next three months, I hope to explore two things: first, how the standard Italian diet affects life, and how standard Italian life affects diet.  Then, how to experience a culture completely while dealing with dietary restrictions.  I will eat, write, and be healthy, finding a balance between adopting the characteristics of a culture and maintaining optimum health.

***

For those of you looking for an update that goes beyond my dietary health, I am all settled in and doing very well!  My apartment is spacious and in a lively neighborhood - the Piazza Santo Spirito.  I wake up to the sounds of an Open Air Market and go to sleep to the sounds of locals socializing in restaurants and bars.  I wasn't prepared for the jet lag or the extent at which the language barrier has affected me, but I am quickly adjusting.

I've been exploring both on my own and with friends, and I can't avoid the beauty of the city.  That sounds cliche and awful, but no matter where you turn there is something ancient and amazing. I still stumble ungracefully through Italian, but I can see myself progressing already.  I'll be taking Italian this semester and getting extra help from friendly locals; the woman who sells vegetables outside my door, for example, has been helping me along quite a bit.

There is no such thing as personal space here - not between people, not between cars, not between people and cars.  Because of this, everyone constantly clutches their belongings in every public place. Whenever I make the slightest bit of eye contact with anyone, they greet me with buongiorno, buonasera or ciao, especially in the morning.  Though nothing (and I mean NOTHING) happens before 8:30AM here, after that time my neighborhood is a lively place.

So far, it seems like the customs are much more widely accepted here.  No one is working before eight thirty, everyone is out shortly after.  No business is open in the afternoon, and if you're out on Sunday morning in any place that isn't a church, you're definitely just visiting.

It was hard for me to say goodbye to everything I have in America, but I can already tell that this is going to be a really rad experience, and I'm really grateful.


If you have questions, comments, an Italian-English Dictionary, or advise for traveling through Europe, comment or email me.

I Like Food Just as Much as You Do.

Not many people reading my blog are vegans (yet), which is definitely okay and possibly ideal.  I didn't start this blog to communicate with people who had already made choices about their diet and lifestyle.  This blog is for smart, forward-thinking, openminded and attractive people like you.  From the beginning, I have hoped to provide people with honest, unbiased, and comprehensible information about how food can affect people's lives by means of experimentation.  For that reason, I want to make sure to write from the perspective of a human, not a vegan.

I used to look at people with strict diets and simply assume they didn't like food as much as I did.  So when I found out that my health problems were possibly caused by food, I was defiant.  The information was too varied, the instructions too vague, and the proposed changes too extreme.  If I was going to have to change my diet to stop having migraines, I was going to have migraines forever.

It wasn't all defiance; a large part of it was hopelessness.  When I looked at the influence food had on my life, it just didn't seem possible to alter.  Food wasn't about nutrition, it was about social interaction, culture, creativity, and entertainment.  I wasn't going to give all that up to get rid of some headaches.

Here's the good news: I didn't.  I still use food as a means of social interaction.  I continue to learn more about the culinary practices of different cultures.  Through vegan cooking, I am more creative with my food than ever, and I am definitely still entertained by food.  But I have gone through a huge transition.  My relationship with food has changed.

It didn't happen overnight, but it did require what some people would consider an extreme adjustment to my diet.  I started out reluctant, had a difficult time in the beginning, and then one day I realized that healthful behavior was making me really, really happy.  So what, specifically, am I doing differently that caused that change?

• I read ingredients:  I first had to do it to make sure that my food didn't contain animal products, but after the habit was formed, I started noticing a lot of other things.  I would read some things and find no animal products, but also no other ingredients that I recognized.  I would notice how some ingredients (like sodium or wheat and corn products) would sneak into food where I never would have expected it.  I used to read ingredients and either immediately decide not to care or care for a second and then get discouraged by the surplus of negative information.  But when you read the ingredients of everything you buy, you will find some things that are good for you, and the gnarly ingredients will start to be less and less appealing.
• I notice when I'm hungry and then I eat:  I wish that was an obvious thing to do but it's just not.  From the three-year-olds I babysit to my adult brothers, people spend too much of their time hungry and angry for no reason.  Ever heard of "hangry?" Let me tell you, it is a real thing.  Some people don't realize that a lack of food is causing them to be angry.  Some people intentionally limit their calories.  Some people don't realize how much they're supposed to eat.  I never told myself to stop eating, but I accidentally let myself go hungry a lot.  Now that I'm eating the right food, I notice being hungry and thirsty and I finally recognize the importance of changing that immediately.  I don't care how great your people skills are.  You're better at being a human after you've eaten.  Before you take a test: eat.  Before you go to an interview: eat.  Before you watch an ASPCA commercial: eat.  Before you argumentatively comment on this blog about how I used the wrong "your":  eat.  
• I don't eat for fun, I indulge:  I love food.  Sometimes food benefits me in ways separate from nutrition.  There are definitely some people out there who do not have this feeling about food, but I will never be one of them.  However, I'm not tied to these unhealthy foods.  I've had one pint of Soy Creamy Cherry Chocolate Chip ice cream in my freezer for weeks!  Eating foods like this is now a conscious decision to indulge, rather than an impulse to consume.  I have trouble writing about this because I never thought this would happen and I'm not really sure how it did, but I thought it was definitely something to take note of. 
• I am attracted to healthy things:  This is the big one, and the only way I can think to explain it is through example, so listen.  My hypothesis thus far is that my migraines are caused by dairy products.  This was an extra difficult pill to swallow because I used to drink around three glasses of milk a day.  Now when I look at a glass of milk, I see myself losing vision and vomiting and laying in bed under twelve blankets for the next three days.  And I don't want to drink it.  I changed my mind about milk through its relationship with my health.  It's not as fun to eat something when you know it's poison (like not the fun kind of poison).  This transcended into things that wouldn't cause me direct pain, but would increase my likelihood of health issues in the long term.  The important thing to note here is that it was a voluntary and conscious effort.  It is a decision I make every day to adjust my focus, when dealing with food, to the nutritional benefits, rather than the more superficial advantages.  I don't do it always, of course, but it has become a potent influence on my day to day choices.  

In the future, I can go into more detail about how I made all of this happen; for now, though, the most important thing to take away from this is that I never thought I would.  So if you're looking to change the way you eat, trust in your body and your mind's ability to adapt.  These changes have made me happier, healthier, prettier (I know, you didn't think it was possible), and given me more energy and motivation to continue with a healthier lifestyle.  Do your research, make realistic goals, and stick to them.  It will be easier than you think.

The Initial Effects of a Vegan Diet

      One of my major motivators for creating a blog was to give people an honest and accurate account of my experiences with making diet changes, so I thought I'd take a break from my more intellectually-driven ideas to give a report of how things are going for me.  Overall, it has been an extremely positive experience that I would highly recommend to anyone feeling discontented.  What I've noticed is that even if it isn't the source of your problems, knowing that you have control to change something and the drive to commit to the change can give you a new perspective that is really motivating.  It definitely hasn't been easy, though, and I plan to be completely honest about that.  Here's what has challenged me throughout the process:

1.  Cravings:
      In an interview by KD Traenger, Anne Hathaway stated, "The moment I learned, I evolved.  I have never, not once, craved a single non-vegan food."
...
     Now, maybe Anne Hathaway didn't have roommates who brought Frosties back to her room late at night.  Maybe she doesn't have a Pinterest account to scroll through grilled cheese after grilled cheese at any given moment in the day.  Maybe she's just one of those weirds who doesn't actually like ice cream that much.   Or it could be that she really did just poof her cravings away with magic.  Whatever she did, I haven't figured it out.  Throughout this experiment, I have wanted to eat so many things that I shouldn't eat.  When I started, it was milk, ice cream, and other non-vegan desserts.  I realized, though, that I was never craving the animal products in these things; I was craving the sugar.  And sugar, for all it's other possible flaws, is vegan friendly.
     I've always heard people say "well if you crave sugar, eat an apple!" and laughed at them.  'You obviously don't understand,' I would think.  'I don't want sugar, I want pure white refined sugar in heavy cream.  An apple isn't going to do it for me.'  And I was right.  But the thing is, though I thought I was craving the heavy cream and other things in the recipes, I really just wanted a large amount of sugar.  It takes a lot of apples to get to the amount of sugar in a Frosty.  The good news is, eating lots of apples is okay!  Way more okay than a Frosty.
     Once I adopted this new idea, I didn't have cravings anymore.  What I did have a few weeks in, was a craving for meat.  Really weird.  I've been a casual vegetarian a few times in my life, and never actually craved meat.  But after I eliminated milk, cheese, etc., I actually wanted meat.  These ended after about a week, though.

2.  Quantities:
     "Enough," I have learned, is a relative term and will change when you change your diet.  Animal products are much richer than their plant based alternatives.  If you make the switch to plant-based foods, you'll find yourself eating Cheesecake Factory-style heaping plates of food for almost every meal.  That's just what your body wants, and it's not over eating.  I know this now, but I grossly underestimated my caloric needs at the grocery store, and I basically ran out of food half way through the week.

3.  Being that guy who has to ask if there's cheese on the pasta:
       It's really easy to be a vegan when you already went grocery shopping and all the food in your house is vegan food.  But food is a social thing and I am a social person.  I'm not a picky eater so I'm not used to having difficult food preferences, and it feels weird to ask people questions about the free food they put in front of me.  Again, it helps to have eaten enough at home.  But I've found that it's more than just being full.  It's being comfortable with your choices about food to discuss them without feeling pretentious or needy.  Because I do feel confident in my choices, I've been able to get over the initial weirdness.

4.  My body was like "What are you doing?"
     This was a pretty major change for me and my body responded to it as such.  I don't want to go into details here, for the sake of the general body of readers, but if you really REALLY want to know you can contact me elsewhere and I'll probably tell you?  I don't know.

    The major drawbacks have been, for the most part, physical.  But the major advantages of this switch surpass the needs of my body.  I know that there is one element of my life I am consciously making changes to.  To feel like you have enough knowledge, skill, and commitment to successfully change even the smallest aspect of your life is really empowering.  I urge anyone reading this to find one thing about their life that they're not happy with, and consider changing it.  Baby steps.

Doctors are great but this is just silly.

       I went to the doctor today and it brought up a lot of issues I have with the way the health care system.  Oooo that sounds controversial.  It's really not.  It's just one girl's struggle with having migraines and having doctors not help.  

My first migraine happened this summer.  I was at a dance class and all of the sudden I could only spot half of my face.  That is, I could only see half of my face. I sat in my car after class ended for a few minutes, trying to understand what was going on and how I was going to get home.  I drove home on all the backroads going fifteen miles an hour like a big douche-bag, using the median to guide me because most things to the right of it were covered by a silvery blob. I arrived home and burst into tears, to the extreme confusion of my dad and brother.  I composed myself enough to described to them what was happening and while my dad tried frantically to get me to stop crying, Kevin looked up my symptoms.  He came back with the verdict that it was probably a migraine. Shortly after that, the severe pain kicked in.  I spent the rest of the night in bed with the exception of when I got up to vomit. I fell asleep around 4:00AM and woke up at 8:00AM.  That morning, we went straight to Urgent Care.

I described my symptoms and they confirmed the migraine diagnosis.  Then they gave me a shot of Imitrex, a commonly used migraine medication.  “This should make you feel better,” they said.  The nurse left, turning the lights off and practically tucking me in - she was really nice.  Then, it felt like the bottom of my brain was on fire.  It spread to the rest of my head, then to my lungs and stomach, until it was all over my body.  If you have ever cut a thousand jalapeno peppers and breathed in their gas, that’s basically what it felt like, but all throughout my body.  My dad went out and asked the nurse if she knew what was happening.

“She’s in there and she feels like her insides are burning, do you know what’s going on?”

“No, I don’t.  Doctor!  Do you know why her insides are on fire?”

“Nope, sorry!”

The nurse got out some kind of nurse’s encyclopedia and said, “well look at that, it’s an uncommon side effect!”  They performed an MRI Scan which came back normal, eliminating tumors as a cause.  Hooray!  They said I could follow up with a neurologist, but advised me to wait and see if it was an isolated incident.  

It wasn’t!  I got my second migraine a few weeks into the semester.  It started while I was waiting for a train after going away for the weekend.  I didn’t want to deal with another doctor, and didn’t have a private physician at school, let alone a neurologist.  But by the eleventh day of the migraine, I thought maybe I should find out if I was dying.  I went to my university’s infirmary on a Friday afternoon, hoping to get some advil for free or something.

“Are you on Birth Control??”

“Yes.”

“Oh, well then it might be a blood clot.  Yeah, Birth Control causes blood clots.”

“Oh… What do we do about that?”
“We’ll have to get you a blood test right away because it might be a BLOOD CLOT.”

Clearly, what the doctor was saying here was, “you might have a blood clot.”  But what my anxious irrational migraine mind was hearing was something closer to, BLOOD CLOT BLOOD CLOT DEATH YOU’RE DYING YOU’RE ACTUALLY ALREADY DEAD THIS IS HELL HELL IS A DOCTOR’S OFFICE.  This made me stressed out and, since I already had a migraine, nauseated.

“Um, I’m sorry… I’m listening but I think I’m going to throw up.”

She sent me to the Emergency Room.  In an ambulance.  They put me on a STRETCHER.  I waited in the Emergency room for three hours, so that a doctor could come in and be very condescending.

“I can’t really do anything for you except give you migraine medication.”

“I had an adverse reaction to migraine medication.”

“Well I can pump you full of glucose?”
“Oh okay, yeah…  Oh, but the doctor at the infirmary said I might have a blood clot.”

“Pft… A blood clot where??”

I DON’T KNOW SIR YOU’RE THE DOCTOR I JUST WANT TO GO HOME I DIDN’T CHOOSE THIS PLEASE DON’T BE ANGRY.  They gave me an IV of glucose which was rad, then we waited for three hours for them to discharge.  Oh, and I didn’t have my insurance card because I don’t need it at the infirmary and DIDN’T EXPECT TO GO TO THE ER, so they charged me $900.  :)

After this, they referred me to a neurologist.  I won’t go into the details of how difficult it was to get an appointment - that’s a whole other story.  She was the most pleasant doctor I ever had, aside from her notorious lateness.  My appointment was at five, they saw me at seven fifteen.  Super.  It was clear that her lateness was caused by her thoroughness, though.  We sat, separated by an enormous desk that emphasized her tiny size almost humorously, and I gave her a really detailed explanation of my issues.  She gave me a packet of information pages and pages long about migraines, then described, in detail, my options.  She then gave me a physical examination and prescribed a brain test of some kind.  Since migraine medication wasn’t really an option for me (and shouldn’t be for anyone… I’ll explain that in the future), the other options were preventative medication and dietary changes.  Here’s the list of foods to avoid to prevent migraines that my doctor gave me:

• Ripened cheeses
• Herring
• Chocolate
• Vinegar
• Anything fermented, pickled or marinated
• Sour cream, yogurt
• Nuts, peanut butter
• Hot fresh breads, raised coffee cakes, donuts
• Pods of broad beans
• Foods with MSG
• Onions
• Canned figs
• Citrus fruits
• Bananas
• Pizza
• Pork
• Excessive amounts of tea, coffee, or cola beverages
• Avocado
• Fermented sausage
• Sourdough Bread
• Canned figs
• Raisins
• Papaya
• Passion fruit
• Red Plums
• Sauerkraut
• Soy sauce
• Meat tenderizers
• Seasoning Salts
• Canned soups
• Frozen TV Dinners
• Alcohol

Boy, wasn’t that fun?  So that wasn’t going to happen.  How would I ever know which of them cause migraines?  How would I ever enjoy food again?!  While I did plan on making some diet changes,  I also agreed to go on Beta Blockers, a preventative medication.  Two weeks later, I’m doing my best to avoid most of these things.  I’m on the medicine that, for the first week, kept me up all night (a common side effect).  And I get a migraine!  That was cool.  This is about when I gave up on relying on doctors to solve my problems, and took matters into my own hands.  Hence my experiments, and this blog.  

Today I had a follow up appointment (that was supposed to be two weeks ago… I got busy) with the neurologist.  “Your brain scan was normal.  How are you doing?”  

“Well.  I think my migraines are caused by dairy products.”  

“Oh, yes that happens sometimes.  Good for you!  And are you still taking the beta blockers?”

“No, they didn’t work, I got a migraine two weeks into taking them.”  

“Oh, well if they don’t work I can proscribe more.  You should have called me, I would have done that for you.”

“Oh, well I think I’m okay.  I think I’ve pretty much gotten it figured out with the diet thing.”

“Okay, well good for you for figuring it out for yourself!”

If you get migraines, I highly recommend that you go to the doctor.  Migraines may be a symptom of a much larger and more serious problem.  The scans and tests that I had done were completely necessary.  But You can avoid dealing with all that I just described by taking your health into your own hands.  Do your research, consult experts, get the necessary medical tests, and commit to making changes.  Do not rely on the doctor or the medication to heal you, because that often means masking the symptoms, rather than the causes.  I didn’t write this to scare you away from hospitals or convince you that doctors are bad, because they’re not.  I wrote this to emphasize the ineffectiveness of the common strategies for curing ailments.  Think about it.  Let me know what you think, and share your similar or contrasting experiences.