A Vegan’s Story
“You’re a Vegan?!” Her eyes bulged uncontrollably as a huff slipped from her gawking mouth. “What do you eat? ” She sneers. “Where do you get your protein?!” Her gaze slips away from my face and over my 100-pound body as if she’s searching for part of me to be abnormally … off. “Well, you look good,” she turns up her nose. “And you have 5 kids!? How!? Are they all yours?”
What am I supposed to say? No, I stole them so I could keep this body and have kids, too. “Yup, they’re allll mine,” smiles awkwardly to fill the gap.
“But how?” She’s serious!
I feel kind of guilty for being tiny, but only for a second. Then the feeling shifts into, I could show you how, if you want me to.
“I exercise regularly and I eat healthy…” Vegan style.
She crosses her arms and stares at me for 5 seconds before her expression softens.
“Yeah, I need to eat better.” She turns and flips her hair over her shoulder and I swear I see her trying to turn her wine into water. But I wish you could have seen her face. I couldn’t tell if it was judgment or doubt, or concern, or maybe a little of all three.
“What do you eat though? Lettuce?”
I get asked this alllll the time. “No. I eat everything you eat, just a healthier, homemade version of it. Pizza, lasagna, casseroles, burgers, ice cream, cake, steak (gluten steaks), chili, salad… tofu –”
Her expression is priceless. Her nose wrinkles and her lips pucker like she just ate a rotten tomato. “I can’t do tofu! But that’s great; you look amazing! I wish I could look like you, and to think you have so many kids! I only have one and look at me!”
There it is. She wishes, but she can’t do…
It’s over. We part ways and we will probably never see each other again.
I have conversations similar to this all the time. People cannot understand how I have so many kids, look so healthy and fit, and am a vegan. It blows their mind.
THEY’RE ALL SECRETLY THINKING: “WHERE’S THAT PROTEIN? SHE’S PROBABLY MALNOURISHED.”
First, if you really, truly, want to be healthy and look good, stop saying, “I can’t.”
It’s about what your priorities are. If you really, truly want to look and feel amazing you can! But you cannot have your cake and eat it too, and expect not to be fluffy. (Haha, see what I did there?) Some things will just have to go, and in the same way, some things you’ll just have to add. Even if you don’t love it…. right now.
Yes, I am a vegan. I’m fit and healthy. Annnd, all 5 kids came from this body. No, I don’t just eat lettuce.
YES, I GET MY PROTEIN.
Along with this woman, and everybody else that asks me this question, protein seems to be the number one concern.
So where do I get my protein?
Honestly, this is the easiest thing in the world to answer. It’s in some veggies, some fruits, all nuts and seeds, and beans, and whole grains are loaded to the hilt with protein.
In all actuality, it’s easy to get enough protein because, for one, our bodies don’t need as much as most people think, to be healthy. And two, it’s not just in meat.
The dietary reference intake for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day (USDA, 2010). In fact, the recommendation is that only 10-35% of our daily calorie intake should come from protein.
That’s not a lot of protein. I’m about to drop a load of wisdom on your heads right now. Protein isn’t the “be all end all”, for good health. It is easy to get enough. It’s easy to get too much, too, if you are not a vegan; and too much, is toxic to our bodies!
So don’t stress. If you eat a balanced diet of nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes and fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, you’ll be getting enough protein. Period.
In the next few blog posts coming up, I’ll be going into this topic in much more detail and I will help you along the way. This is just the beginning of the vegan journey. It’s simpler than you think. You won’t have to start eating the grass growing in your lawn or get an extra fridge to store your lettuce. All you’ll have to do is take the things you eat now and substitute a few of them for healthier, vegan, options.
Now that I’ve debunked a couple of the “normal” concerns that I have heard time and time again, when you think vegan, what comes to mind?
I am really excited to launch into this new series on health and fitness (coming soon!). We’re going to dive a little deeper into what it means to be a vegan, how to be balanced on a plant-based diet, and how to see amazing gains in the gym even if you’re a vegan!
I’m also so incredibly stoked right now, because I’ll be featuring special guest, Jim Gurtner, who won championships as a bodybuilder on a vegan, plant-based diet. This is going to be super-duper inspiring, so click the link below and sign up for my emails to be the first to know when his story hits Balance8Life!
By the way – if you’re new to the thought of being healthy, but don’t know where to start, look no further! Setting goals is a good place to start. You can also go to my blog and explore my articles. If you start at the bottom and work your way up, I introduce each of the 8 methods for balancing a healthy lifestyle. I then show you how to set goals, make them last, and be consistent with them.
If you have any questions, please reach out! I love hearing your stories and questions! You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram, too, for daily motivation and healthy tips.
Happy balancing! See you soon!