Skin: After the first week I definitely saw my skin have a little freak out, almost like it was purging. I've had this happen with "detox" type things that I've done before or whenever I try a new aggressive skin product like Proactive. My breakout was located in one spot (my chin) and it wasn't anything major just a few zits, the usual, but it also could have been attributed to working out without taking my make up off (I'm bad about that sometimes...). Now it has really cleared up and normally when I workout a lot I start to breakout on my chest and back from sweaty clothes. I hear a lot of people say that they feel like their skin starts to glow and I can now say I'm one of them! Also, unexpectedly, I find that my skin doesn't get as dry. I normally put on thick lotion (made for really dry skin) twice a day. The only scented pretty lotions I use are (kind of pricey) massage lotions that are very hydrating. Now, I find that I can skip my morning lotion and I'll be fine!
Nails: I take Biotin and get shellac put on my nails every 3(ish) weeks so that keep me from biting them and allows them to grow but I have always had very weak nails. They never really recovered from the year I had acrylic nails and shellacking now hasn't really helped. Since I've started eating so many more fruits and vegetables my nails have gotten so much stronger! My nails used to still break even when I had shellac on them but not recently!
Hair: To be completely honest, I haven't seen a huge improvement in this area.I am really hard on my hair. I color it (from a box!) and use heat on it almost every day. It grows really fast but I get a lot of breakage and I shed like a golden retriever. One difference I have seen is in my scalp. Dry skin doesn't end at your neck ya'll but now my scalp is nice and healthy :)
Energy: I stopped drinking caffeine for good a little over a month ago. Well, I stopped drinking caffeine for caffeine purposes but I did have a Coke as a little treat with my Thai food last week. I drastically decreased my caffeine intake in January when I found out that I had IC but I would still reach for the coffee pot occasionally (or the diet coke, or the iced tea, or the red bull...) but I don't even find myself missing it anymore! A couple of months ago I started to taking Vitamin B12 for energy to help supplement my decreased caffeine intake. I still take that vitamin but I find that now that I eat mostly fruits and veggies I have so much energy! I never have that "food hangover" feeling, ya'll know what I mean. That "I had Whataburger at 11:00 last night and it's going to be with me for a while" feeling. This would happen to me pretty often, mostly with fast food but also with pizza or burgers, anything really heavy. Now that I think about it, I always feel that way after I ate meat! No problem with fish though (or shrimpies)!
Tummy: Not to be indelicate but it did take my stomach about a week to, umm... adjust to my new diet. Even though I slowly went from never eating fruit or vegetables to eating a salad and an apple once a day I made a big leap to eating close to 5 cups of spinach a day, 2 apples, carrots, grapes, peaches, mango, pineapple, and lots of berries. I'm basically a panda in a dress feeding on vegetation. I also started to eating brown rice everyday (or most days) and that was more fiber than I was used to. Needless to stay my tummy was a little shocked but once it realized that my new way of eating was the new normal it adjusted. I will say I did have some gastric discomfort and spare you further details. While I'm on the tummy subject I've noticed that I don't have any bloating, ever! I had assumed that this more svelte feeling would be fleeting but when that time of the month crept up I still didn't see any bloating. It's really nice not have "fat" days. That's not to say I don't feel fat some days just that when I do it's all in my head because physically there's not difference in my appearance.
Cravings: I have noticed a HUGE difference in my cravings and honestly I can't even pin point when this change happened. All the sudden I've noticed that I don't really crave sugar. If I crave anything it's Ruffles (I love Ruffles). I keep semisweet chocolate chips (for smoothies) on hand in case of a sugar emergency as well as dark chocolate covered almonds but I haven't reached for them yet. I know that the first couple of days of being vegan I went a little crazy on the Oreos to satisfy my sugar craving but since then I cannot think of a time (in the past few weeks) where I had an overwhelming desire for a cupcake or ice cream. I NEVER thought this would be me. I had done sugar "detoxes" before but they always ended with me going a little nuts and falling right back into my old eating habits.
Migraines: I read a lot of people saying that their migraines went away after becoming vegan and I wish I could agree. I will say though that the severity of pain that I feel in my head when I'm having a migraine is much, much less. Granted I have a busted cranial nerve and, sorry Popeye, but I don't think that eating more spinach is going to miraculously reverse that problem. My migraines are more spread out though. I used to get them pretty frequently but yesterday was the first one that I had in a really long time and it wasn't really even head pain but more of a loss of motor skills (which is normal for me). Any decrease in pain with these bad boys is good enough for me!
Financial: The first place I notice that I save is on going out to eat. Since doing this I think I've gone out for dinner/lunch twice. I used to go twice a week, at least, and that adds up quick. I find myself going to the grocery store a lot more often because I primarily eat only fresh foods and I go through them quickly. I don't buy organic so the fruits and vegetables aren't very expensive. I used to always buy fruit and then it would go bad before I ate it and this obviously isn't a problem anymore. This week I'm planning on keeping track of my receipts to see how much I spend on average on food. Thankfully, I can find all the food I need at H-E-B (except for rice, I get my rice at TJ's). Cost Co also makes buying things like water and coconut water much cheaper. While I enjoying going to stores like Sprouts and Whole Foods I can definitely get by without them (thank God!). I still buy about the same amount of groceries as I always have but I don't spend nearly as much money on going out as I used to and I know that makes a significant difference in my budget.
Since going vegan I've lost 13.8 pounds and I feel a lot healthier. I genuinely thought that I wouldn't be able to do it. When I first started I thought that I might... maybe... make it a week and then crash on the weekend but I haven't! I haven't really advertised this change. I've told my mom and a couple of close friends (oh yeah and put it on the internet, no biggie) but honestly I feel like when you tell someone you're making a radical change to your diet they try to convince you not to or they remind you of everything you'll be missing. I'm also deranged and narcissistic so I assume that they're looking at me with a microscope to see if I stumble, which of course is a ridiculous thought. Overall, I'm really happy that I did this. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but I also kept myself from anything really tempting the first two weeks. I think it's probably been a little easier for me since I live alone and am single, I don't have to accommodate anyone either than myself. See, sometimes being a hermit is good! The biggest challenge I can see myself facing is when I go to Washington at the end of July/beginning of August. My parents are not vegans or vegetarians and cook most things with dairy (so delicious) but thankfully my mom has a Vitamix and the town nearby is a hippie sanctuary so I know I'll be able to find vegan hot dogs for barbecues and get-togethers. I'm also a little nervous for my birthday because Cheesecake Factory is my favorite restaurant and cheesecake is not vegan! So, I have from now until August 11 to find delicious vegan cupcakes for my birthday! I know it's silly to think so far in advance and I should just tackle the problem as it gets closer but I'm a worrier, sorry 'bout ya! Bottom line if I've been able to do it, anyone can do it and that is not an exaggeration.
*"Vegan": I put "vegan" in quotes because I am mostly vegan but I do still eat shrimp. When I originally started this journey I planned on continuing to eat fish, so technically I would be a pescatarian but that is neither here nor there. Well, I tried to make fish the other night for fish tacos and you know what? it totally grossed me! I feel guilty about this but I actually threw it out! I'm not one of those people that's always been like eww fish, I
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