I've been struggling with my weight for the last four years. In 2017, I decided to go on the Atkins diet and loved it because I lost weight quickly. Within the first 2 weeks, I lost 10 lbs by just eating steak, chicken, cold cuts, cheese, eggs, butter, salads and oils. For my sweet tooth, I would buy all the different flavors of Atkins bars which I surprisingly liked. I usually didn't care for protein bars. But after 4-6 weeks on the diet, I got a flare-up of ulcer colitis. It was so bad that only blood would come out during my bowel movements. One particular day it happened 5-7 times which caused me to lose too much blood and faint. I was admitted into the hospital (iron levels too low) and was there four days.
I've had the urge to eat healthier ever since being diagnosed with a mild form of ulcer colitis back in 2009 but it seemed so difficult to make that switch. I grew up on meats, fish, pasta, bread, candy, ice cream, chips, and everything else that is readily available in a western diet. But after continuing to gain weight and remembering how much energy I felt after doing the Daniel Fast with my church, I decided to try to eat more vegetables and no meat. I knew I couldn't do the Atkins diet again and continuing to feel lousy, something had to change.
It's hard to tell people your starting to do something radical because, if you cheat, they would judge you. But I started talking about it at work. I mentioned to one of my colleagues when I was getting a cup of tea and sure enough, she was doing the same but a step further. She said, she's not a vegan but is doing a plant based diet. After spending two months with her daughter who is plant based, she had no choice but to eat her food. So I went from removing meat from my diet to talking about a plant based diet. My colleague raved about how much energy she felt and that she lost 20 lbs. She told me to watch a show called "Forks Over Knives" on NetFlix. If you are thinking about going plant based, you should watch the film. Talking to my colleague definitely motivated me to not only stop eating meats but to cut eggs (which I loved), and dairy. That night, I watched the show and committed myself to moving to a plant based diet and just hoped I could put forth an honest effort.