Thursday, February 25, 2010

We all love to eat!



We all love to eat...unless you're weird, I mean come on, who doesn't love food?
My dilemma was having high cholesterol and after having a baby, I had some serious pounds to shed. My doctor had wanted me to go on a statin medication for my high cholesterol, which really scared me! Medication for cholesterol? I was only 25! There was no way I was going to go on meds for something that at my age, I should have in check. So my mission was to lower my cholesterol naturally and to shed those pregnancy pounds while still enjoying good food!
I thought back to when I was in college and living with my crazy hippy friends, Katrina and Chris. They were vegan (did not consume any animal products of any kind) and Katrina was always cooking. She cooked some of the best food I had ever had and it was all vegan. I mean pancakes, pizza, fried plantains, mashed potatoes with squash...all kinds of great stuff. I was really healthy then, and really thin. I wasn't vegan, just was eating a lot of the vegan food in the house, which in turn limited my intake of meat and dairy. I used to think, "I could really be vegan if I could cook like Katrina." But alas, I couldn't, and so never really jumped on the wagon.
So here I was these years later, feeling gross and uncomfortable from the weight I gained while I was pregnant. I found it hard to lose weight. It was coming off, but really, really slowly. I felt sludgy and thick inside and soft and puffy on the outside. Doesn't sound like fun, does it? One morning I was watching The View and the guest the women had on the show was Alicia Silverstone. She was promoting her new book, "The Kind Life," and discussing her vegan lifestyle. Alicia had the View ladies trying lots of different dishes from the vegan recipes in her book. I watched as Joy Behar tried the Cheesy Oozy Guacamole Bean dip. I was not surprised when she declared that it was delicious and she couldn't believe it was vegan! I knew how yummy and satisfying vegan food could be from my Katrina cooking days. So I sat there on the couch, thinking of how bad I felt and my high cholesterol and said "what have I got to lose?" I got the book and convinced my husband Adam to give it a go. I started with the recipes in Alicia's book and was cooking all the time. I realized how much I love to cook and how happy and giddy it makes me when I make something that everyone enjoys! I began this blog to share my joy of cooking with my friends and family and more importantly, to show with love how rewarding, both mentally and physically, a vegan lifestyle can be.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Cara,
    Love the writing! Enjoyed hearing about how you started your vegan journey. Now let's have some recipes and photos!

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  2. i have always been curious about the world of vegan cooking, now I can follow along and try out the recipes!

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  3. I was there when you made the Puttanesca recipe and I can personally attest that it was delicioso! To the followers out there, try it!

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  4. Wow Cara! This is great! You really did a good job on it. I'm excited to learn more about cooking and what a cute picture of Wy Guy =-)

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