6 Months A Reluctant Vegan

Three takeaways and why you should try it

Photo by LikeMeat on Upsplash

Becoming vegan was not exactly my first choice. I’m health, food and environmentally conscious. I’ve been on and off a vegetarian diet since college (15 years) and solidly ovo-lacto-pescatarian the past three (no land animals but still eating eggs, fish, and some dairy products). I’m intrigued by the concept of a vegan diet for ethical and environmental reasons but had never committed to forego the likes of a good cheese, yogurt, or ice cream . . . And then my baby was born and the spit-up got real.

‘Going vegan’ was primarily a result of three things: my baby’s delicate digestive tract, my own body’s inflammation response post-birth, and the blood test results demonstrated in the documentary The Game Changers.

There’s a segment in the film where Dr. Robert Vogel, Co-Chair of the NFL Subcommittee on Cardiovascular Health, has three pro athletes (NFL Dolphins players) eat each of three different burritos: beef, chicken, or rice and beans. He then screens the fat levels in their blood plasma two hours later. The results were pretty inarguable.

While the animal-product-based burritos led to opaque and cloudy blood plasma, the plant-based burrito resulted in clear blood plasma — an undeniable benefit for overall health and especially heart health and…