Making a change the whole family will benefit from

September 14th.... I woke up and decided (along with encouragement from my husband Josh) that I was going to rid our cupboards and refrigerator from anything that contained high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and anything that was derived from dairy, a meat or meat byproduct.  We had already started weaning ourselves off of dairy products after the realization that our family was lactose intolerant. My youngest daughter was showing signs, but not as much as the rest of us.  Josh "tolerated" the milk so he could have protein shakes and Carlee thoroughly enjoyed a nice glass of chocolate milk with her dinner.

After waking up the family and getting them off to school and work, I went into the cupboard and pulled out the can goods and started reading the labels.   Soups and baked beans contained meat products and sometimes dairy.  Salad dressings contained dairy and hydrogenated oils.  Worcestershire contains anchovies... an animal meat.  REALLY???  HFCS is found in just about anything and everything these days, including a V8 Splash juice drink we thought was healthy.  An unopened jar of mayonnaise that said "olive oil" still has eggs in it and most of the barbeque sauces and ketchups contained HFCS.  I had about two of those reusable grocery bags (from Walmart) full of stuff we could not eat any longer due to our change in diet.

The next task was tackling the freezer and refrigerator.  One thing to keep in mind, that I had just gone to Samsclub the day prior to this to "stock up" on foods for the family for the month.  The freezer had plenty of chicken breasts, chicken strips, hamburgers, steaks, ice cream, creamed corn, and many other items that were made with meat and or dairy products.   The refrigerator was full of two and 3/4 gallons of milk, shredded cheese, cream cheese, lunchmeat, sliced cheese, cheese sticks and many other food items that we could no longer consume due to our new lifestyle.   I wound up filling three more of those blue reusable bags from Walmart full of food.  I donated it to my mother and some neighbors, who I knew would use them.  Some people would consider that crazy, however I would like to say that it was one step closer to being crazy healthy!

After the cleaning out, I was actually surprised that I still had food in the cupboards and fridge/freezer.  We actually had quite a bit of canned and frozen fruits and veggies and beans and rice pasta and things that I had already known was better for us.  So feeling that the cupboards were a little bare, I hopped into my gas guzzler and stopped by the local farmers market after picking up my oldest daughter from school.  Together, Kay and I picked out tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, peaches, okra and eggplant to bring home.  I later went to the grocery store closest to my house (Winn Dixie) and had a hard time finding things that were not filled with animal, dairy or HFCS that wasn't  in the fresh produce aisle.  I did manage to get soy milks in a few varieties and I chose to buy the organic kind.  I knew I was going to have to make a trip to the local whole foods store.

This act of "cleansing" out our home of the foods that were would no longer need to consume, versus slowly transitioning was the best choice for us.  I knew that quitting "cold turkey" would be the only way our family could do this, because I would wind up buying more of the foods we were used to and we would most likely fail at a transition.  This type of "crazy" move would probably not work for most, however if you are weak willed when it comes to food (like I am) then it might be the only decision for you.   Watch the movies "Forks over Knives", "King Corn", "Food Inc", "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and then tell me you still think I'm "Crazy" for making this drastic change to Vegan. 

Welcome to my new blog!

Hi friends... This is my first blog posting.  I've decided to take my sister Meghan's advice and do a blog on my family's lifestyle change to Vegan and healthy eating.  A lot of people don't think they can change their eating habits and rule out foods that they consider to be staples of their diet, but I'm here to tell you that if my family and I could do it... anyone can!  It takes a little extra time in planning out meals and hunting and gathering foods at your local farmers market and whole foods store. 

On September 12th, my husband Joshua decided to watch a documentary on Netflix called "Forks Over Knives"... This documentary showed a somewhat biased view on why humans should eat only Plant based foods.  I won't go into too much detail about the movie, you would have to take the initiative and find it to watch for yourself, but I will say that it caused us to clean out everything in our pantry, fridge and freezer and donate it to family and friends.  September 13th, the Hemmerlein's went "cold turkey" to a Plant Based Whole Foods diet known as Vegan.