Why plants are rad and meat is boring

This is rad. Don't act like it's not.

I first realized that plants are rad and meat is boring on the day after Thanksgiving, 2006. The night before, after feasting all day, I had made myself a plate of spiral-sliced ham and cheddar cheese with a roll. Even while I was eating it, I just wasn't that into it. I'd been eating heavily all day, and this final snack seemed pointless.The next morning I woke up vegetarian. Seriously, that salty sweet ham and opiate-filled cheese (yes, cheese really does have opiates. more on that later) just sent me over the edge. I was done. My diet had become completely boring, narrowly focused on meat, cheese and flour products like bread and crackers. See, I was in love with a man, and he had seduced me into following his meat-heavy ways. Yes, my darling husband, I'm blaming you.

So, on that fateful day, I downloaded a vegetarian starter kit from PETA and read over what my first vegetarian meal would be: stuffed acorn squash with coleslaw. That sounded so delicious to me, like the greatest thing a person could ever eat. I believe my body was starving for vegetables at that point. I was a strict vegetarian for an entire year after that. I made lots of mistakes, like refusing to eat the beans and rice my mom made for me during a visit because it had chicken broth in it. And letting my love affair with cheese get out of control. I actually gained weight that year, which was pretty crazy because I was planning my wedding during that time and trying to lose weight.

My year of being vegetarian ended at an office Christmas party in 2007. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed one of those little smokey sausages that's been siting in a crockpot with grape jelly and bbq sauce and put it in my mouth. The spell was broken. I started eating meat again and went on a low-carb diet to try to lose the weight I'd gained being vegetarian. Of course that didn't work. I was more confused than ever about nutrition and what to feed my body.

Today, I am so many pounds overweight I don't have the courage to share it with you ... yet. I am also 10 days into eating a low-fat, vegan diet based on unrefined plant foods and feel better than I have in years. This blog will tell the story of everything I've learned from my past dieting attempts and how I'm putting all that knowledge to use this year to lose all the extra weight I've gained for good. I hope what I write here is entertaining, inspiring and, most of all, helpful.

Yours in good health,

Summer