Why Eat to Live?

When I first heard of "Eat to Live" from my parents, I thought it was kind of crazy. It's basically a vegan diet and, although I eat mostly vegetables and have no real affinity towards meat, I thought veganism would really have a limit to what you could eat. Plus, it cuts out "snacks", which I love. What will I do without my pretzels and chips? My parents really committed and have been following the diet for many months. I want to follow it for the most part, but still occasionally enjoy some of those foods I've been used to. However, I've already been finding substitutions for some of those foods (baked whole wheat tortillas or kale chips make for a great crunch).

Josh's graduation dinner. yum!

My parents began to see the effects of Eat to Live immediately and I began to read some of the book. The facts really shocked me and I decided I wanted to make a change for myself. My family has some bad medical history, and I want to try to avoid this by eating to "live". My dad took 7 pills a day, and now has cut out most of his pills, including his blood pressure medicine. He is running faster than he ever has (and even than I can!). He said his eyesight is even a little better. I think these concrete facts helped me to decide to make this commitment. Plus, my parents and sister have made the shift, so being surrounded by a healthy family makes it easier.

Now, my boyfriend Josh LOVES meat. Steak is his favorite food. I have never been a big meat fan, and I don't even like steak (I know, everyone thinks I'm crazy). Josh and I moved in together this past August and this blog will feature adaptions of the food I make, just for him. Even picky boyfriends can enjoy it too!

Josh and Pepper herself - the crazy, lovable dog we share our condo with.

I know it will initially be difficult to start cooking more, on top of keeping up with my classroom and training for races/keeping in shape, but I think I am ready for it. I hope 2012 will bring a lot of great changes as well as happiness and health. I'm excited to have a place to keep it all.

Today Josh and I went over to my parent's to work out. I ran 1.5 miles and biked a bit. Then we did Ab Ripper X (from P90X). I am exhausted because I really slacked on exercising over the holidays. I can't wait to start back up. We ran yesterday too, and I'm feeling good about it. Hopefully I can keep it up. I think I'll go to bed soon and try to wake up before school and run (at an awful hour of 5:00 am). We'll see if that happens. Josh is a very happy camper tonight because the Broncos and Tim Tebow just won their playoff game. Josh went to University of Florida and needless to say is a huge Tebow fan. Time to pack lunch and get ready for bed. I'm going to try to pretend summer vacation is closer than it really is :)