Good Morning friends!  How was your weekend?  Do anything new & exciting or was it another typical weekend for the books?  Let me go ahead and apologize for the lack of pictures in today’s post!

Nick came to town this weekend and on Friday night he didn’t arrive until pretty late so we just hung out at my parents for a short while, watched some of the IT crowd (have you seen it?), and enjoyed the fire!  Saturday we were up way early to go watch the MS Blues Marathon.  Our timing was absolutely perfect to see Nick’s brother Trey during the race.  We arrived around mile 4-5 because we didn’t make it for the start and we waited around watching for only a few minutes, but then thought he had probably passed that point in the course, so we started walking back to our car to find the next station we wanted to wait at, as we were walking, we heard Nick’s name shouted out and it was Trey!  That was exciting, so we went back to the car and made our way to mile 9 hoping to see him at that point in the race.  We literally waited no more than 10 minutes before he came running by.  After that, we decided to grab some McDonald’s real quick (as someone who does care about her health, I don’t recommend McDonald’s – ever! But sometimes you crave a egg & cheese mcmuffin (minus the canadian bacon!))  We then ran into some traffic, so we didn’t make it back in time to see Trey finish the race, but we headed back to the race finish line to find him afterwards.  Then it was a freezing hour before we decided to head back to my parents for lunch.

Watching the race made me a little nervous for my marathon in February!

Saturday night we went over to Nick’s cousin’s house for a little get together since Trey was in town and it was nice to see some of his extended family that we haven’t seen in a really long time.

On Sunday I spent the morning cleaning my room, it needed it BAD!  Then I went and picked up Nick so we could go to Whole Foods for the week 1 meet-up.  I was planning on doing the challenge by myself, but mid-day Saturday, we had some time to watch Forks Over Knives and afterwards Nick mentioned that he may try to join the challenge with me so I brought him along to our weekly meeting.  This week was all about dairy & processed foods.

Processed foods are practically a no-brainer in my opinion.  We have all known that they are no good for us and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that potato chips & frozen foods are usually very unhealthy.

Dairy is always a topic that people struggle with when someone talks about going plant-based or going vegan.  It’s common for us to believe that we MUST get our calcium from milk and we MUST drink milk to have strong bones, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth!  Since the Health Starts Here Challenge, I’ve known that dairy wasn’t a requirement, but I feel like I’ve learned even more since August!  We do not actually get our calcium from the milk of a cow – we get our calcium from the plants the cow ate before being milked.  That right there tells you that you can get your calcium from a plant based source.  When you think about it, a cow produces her milk to feed & fuel a baby calf that will later grow into a 600 pound cow.  That’s what cow’s milk is intended to do, grow a calf, not a human being.  Another common misconception is that milk helps you lose weight, but that’s simply not true.  How could a type of milk intended to grow a 600 pound cow actually make you lose weight?  It was a marketing ploy from the very beginning.  I believe Mary Lindsey said that the milk industry has been sued THREE TIMES for making such a false statement which is why that marketing tactic is not used these days.  The study on dairy products simply amazes me and if you have the opportunity to watch Vegucated or Forks over Knives, please do yourself a favor and at the very least educate yourself!  Going vegan or plant-based will not be easy or something you’ll just immediately do, but at least have the facts straight, don’t listen to the industry leaders who are simply trying to market a product for sale.  I’m definitely not vegan or plant-based yet, I have my fair share of dairy, but I feel educated enough to know that one day I’d like to be off dairy completely and over the past 5 months I’ve drastically reduced my overall consumption of the product because I know the benefits of doing so.  Dairy has been linked to so many diseases that if we don’t at least cut back on our consumption, then we’re putting our bodies in great harm.  All I ask is that you do the research for yourself!

After the meeting, Nick, Rachel (my co-worker), and I all went for our “last meal” before the challenge starts – Japanese.  I really wanted some fried rice & veggies!  It was absolutely delicious & filling, but I’m excited about cutting out oils & eggs over the next 4 weeks.  Next it was time to grocery shop!  We went back to Whole Foods to pick up some food for the week and it was really fun helping them determine what they can have on the diet and finding items they were excited about using as opposed to alternatives.

This morning my breakfast was the same Cinnamon Raisin Ezekial bread with peanut butter & sliced bananas along with a sprinkle of cinnamon.  I have officially switched back to my almond milk for creamer in my coffee and it feels good.  Now I’m off to pack my lunch & snacks for the day and get ready for work!

If y’all ever have any questions about topics like that, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me or drop me some questions in the comment section!  I’m fascinated by this material and the disturbing fact that industry leaders have had so much control over our views & opinions on dairy, eggs, meat, and processed foods!  The change has to start somewhere and I’m so thankful for people like Rip who started the Engine 2 Diet and companies like Whole Foods who promote a Whole Foods plant-based diet with their Health Starts Here diet, also people like Marissa who create documentaries like Vegucated and the doctors behind the research who have taken the time to uncover the facts & encourage a plant-based diet in the treatment of their patients.  It is all a step in the right direction for healthier & happier living.