By Gloria Stovall
Once upon a time going vegan was inconceivable, unpopular and unbelievable and if you mentioned the word “vegan” to most people, you would be given a blank stare that read confusion, bewilderment or puzzlement. Thankfully for you, that is, if you are a rookie vegan that was then this is now. Indeed, now is the ideal time to introduce a vegan diet into your life as it is much easier to pursue a vegan diet today as opposed to ten, fifteen or twenty years ago. Why is that you ask? Well…let’s just say there are now a multitude of delectable, mouthwatering and yummy vegan food options in grocery and convenient stores, not to mention the plethora of online vegan stores as well as vegan friendly restaurants. So yes…this is absolutely the perfect time to go vegan.
The only drawback or downside to the wealth of vegan food options today as opposed to a decade ago is the amount of processing that is involved with producing these appetizing foods, which unfortunately can have numerous and undesirable side effects including weight gain, obesity, water retention, edema, depression and so much more. If I can be candid, for me personally, the first couple of years as a vegan, I was slimmer as I was mainly eating whole vegan foods such as beans, brown rice, seeds, nuts, vegetables and tofu. Please note, tofu is processed but personally, I do not think to the extent as other vegan meat substitutes and foods. As the years went by and more processed vegan foods were readily made available in grocery stores, I began to put on weight significantly as these processed vegan foods became my principal source of food and they had significant amounts of sodium, wheat, additives, soy protein isolate and too many ingredients that can cause weight gain, if not eaten in moderation.
The amazing news is that two months ago, I gave up eating processed vegan foods and returned to eating unprocessed (whole) vegan foods, and have already started losing a significant amount of weight. By the way, a whole food is basically a food that has not been processed, refined or had any ingredients added to it. In other words, the healthiest form of food one can eat! I am so overjoyed and thrilled with the weight loss results and have vowed to cease eating the majority of processed foods including but not limited to, processed vegan foods, which are literally, my absolute favorite but we all must make sacrifices in life, so I shall conquer, persevere and succeed!
There is so much more to write about the multitudes of processed vegan foods on the market and which ones to avoid, but I must close for now. Please feel free to comment or send me a message. Thank you so much for stopping by today and I wish you a lovely day!
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