A Twinkee is Still a Twinkee

Vegan Myth: Being vegan means being healthy!

Hey, Hoppy, what's with that, you shout! How can you say that is a myth? Well, in general, that statement is true--a vegan lifestyle is healthy but--there is always a but--you have to do it right. One thing that drives me crazy about all these pro-vegan authors and gurus is they tend to leave the impression that all you have to do is go vegan and your body will be right as rain.

HA! I am living proof that THAT, dear friends, is not true.

I am vegan, yes, but I am also overweight and still deal with chronic issues such as asthma and tendonitis and some GI problems. Much of this is my own doing and people who right now are being bombarded with all these wonderful books about going vegan need to get this straight up front: you have to do more than just go vegan. You have to change your relationship with food altogether. The fact is, if you eat for the wrong reasons, for consolation, out of anger or frustration, or just because you are just addicted to food, then just going vegan isn't going to cut it. There are lots of vegan processed and junk foods out there that provide just as much comfort and pleasure as those items made from animal carcasses and byproducts. And if you mostly consume those food items, then guess what? You're not going to be 100% healthy and you are certainly not going to lose weight. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. For me, going vegan was the easy part. The hard part is doing it right because the truth is, I eat when I feel sorry for myself, which has been very frequently these days.

Botton line is this: irregardless of what you eat, if you consume more than you burn off, you will gain weight. It doesn't matter if that Twinkee is vegan. It is still a Twinkee and it will end up on your hips. Instead, we need to move our hips more and reject the processed crap, comsume whole foods, and eat to live, NOT live to eat. When we do that, then truly we can say that being vegan means being healthy.