The hardest break up I’ve ever been through; What they don’t tell you about going vegan.

The hardest break up I’ve ever been through,

Wasn’t with a man (Lord knows I’ve had quite a few of those),

Not even a best friend. Yall, it wasn’t even with a person.

It was with my food.

Ok wait, don’t leave, let me explain.

I have been transitioning to a plant based life style due to me having heavy cycles and fibroids that comes w a host of other issues & one of the best ways to control it is by switching my diet and lifestyle. But I had to go a step further and give up gluten and soy because of the inflammatory and estrogenic properties they hold.

I never knew it would be this complicated.

I’m on month 3 of no chicken or red meat and month two of completely dairy free. I havent completely given up seafood, gluten or soy as of yet. It’s a slow process and I figure if I start slow I have a better chance at sticking with it.

I started this journey right before my birthday in July but then I enjoyed my birthday a little too much...& had to quickly change my eating habits. So here I am now; a few days shy of 3 months of no chicken, beef or turkey.

& I am pissed.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I feel better, but I’m not gonna lie and say that I don’t miss turkey bacon or grilled hot dogs. It’s a complete inconvenience to not be able to grab something on the way home that’s not a (quite expensive) plant based burger, or some form of a Mediterranean salad. Not when I used to literally live at Chick- Fil-a.

Now with chicken, I felt like somebody put a spell on me, like every time I even think of forcing myself to eat it, I get sick. (If you’ve ever seen get out, it’s like how the guy felt about cigarettes after meeting with the psychiatrist who hypnotized him.)

It’s to the point where, I used to love to cook way more when it wasn’t a necessity, now it feels like a job.

However, I honestly never realized how much gluten and soy were in. I mean, hair products, facial creams, foods you would have never considered. I grew up in the projects on section 8 with food stamps, we weren’t reading food labels. & we damn sure weren’t reading food labels in college because I don’t recall any being offered in the cafeteria.

We just ate.

And now that I’m learning to be more intuitive with my food choices and even my hair, body and skin care, I am noticing that there is so much more to do done and so much that we miss by not being completely aware of what we are putting in and on our bodies.