I know it was bound to happen, the point where I need to take my knowledge and share. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this profound change in my lifestyle and health is a responsibility to myself and to others. I almost feel as if I'm am in a position to be of service to others because my transition into mindful, healthy eating was very blessed.
I was having a conversation today with someone who transitioned into plant based/vegan diet, about 4 month ago, for health reasons. High cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, fatigue, depression, being over-weight, were some of the symptoms to begin with. Within weeks these issues began to disappear, but recently they have reached a point where they have become bored, complacent, and craving. They have also begun to retain water and gain weight.
The biggest factor in their environment, which absolutely contributes to the urges to eat animal and animal by-products, is that refrigerator and pantry still contain food items (if you want to call them that) from their previous life. This is due to two other adults living in the home who are not on a plant based diet. I believe the boredom, water retention, and weight gain is due to the all to common "Soy Rut".
There are so many soy based replacement options out there. Chicken nuggets, cheese, milk, yougurt, burgers, ribs, sausage pattys, the list is becoming endless. It does make it easy for a person who is reliant on animal and animal by-products to transition into a plant based diet. However, I believe that the biggest misconception is that soy can be relied upon to maintain a healthy, whole, plant based, lifestyle. Processed soy products and un-fermented soy (tofu, soy sauce, etc..) are what I believe to be the main reason individuals fail to thrive on a plant based diet.
Soy and processed soy products are almost like the anti-depressants of the the dietary world. Antidepressants work well at first, but if you fail to address the problem to begin with, they eventually serve no purpose and can possibly cause harm to the individual taking them. If you choose to go the soy based way out of the "Standard American Diet", you must take the time to educate yourself on whole foods, nutrition, dietary needs, and preparing meals to support these. You need to fully comprehend that you made a choice to get healthy because you care for yourself and your well being. You need to know the affect of what you put in your mouth.
I'm not going to go into why I now avoid soy like the plague, I will leave that to you to educate yourself on it. You can figure it out doing research or you can do it with trial and error as I did.
