After reading Veganist it was a natural progression to move onto The Lean by Kathy Freston.
The Lean
As someone who has always struggled with my weight, I was glad to find a vegan weight loss programme that made sense and didn't restrict things like carbs.
The book encourages you to do one new thing each day of the month- so you're not cutting everything out at once. In many cases you are just switching up rather than depriving yourself of your favourite foods. One example of this is switching out your cow's milk for vegan milk i.e. rice, hemp, almond, hazelnut or soya milk. Not a huge ask- you just buy one instead of the other.
Diets are so often about quitting everything in one go and that is why they don't work. This plan ensures that you makes small changes gradually so you're habit changing rather than omitting anything. And yes- you can even enjoy your favourite meals- just veganised!
Kathy has expertly laid out the book in bitesize chapters so you can dip in and out of it depending on what's relevant to you.
You can follow the plan in chronological order or you can make just one or two changes if you are already doing some of the steps already.
With each chapter, Kathy discusses why these changes are so important in bringing you back to health and why they help you to shift those pounds.
The thing I like most about the book is that you can read a chapter a night and then make the change the next day if you want to.
One thing I struggled with when I turned vegan was where to get my omega 3s. Thanks to Kathy's book, I learned that flaxseed is a great source of this and so simple to throw in a morning smoothie in order to get my daily dose.
Since going vegan I have lost 2 stone over about 6 months without really trying. It's coming off gradually and for the first time in my life I'm ok with that because it's staying off for a change!
For most of my life, food has been the enemy- the thing that makes you put on weight- but of course food can work for you if you know how it works when you put it in your body. Kathy explains everything in detail she asks you to put in or take away, so you have a better understanding of why you might have struggled with weight loss in the past.
The most surprising thing for me was how unhealthy fruit juice is. That is by far my worst vice because it's marketed as a 'healthy' product. Although it is filled with fresh fruits it is also sugar laden and given to diabetic patients when they need to raise their blood sugar fast. For someone who doesn't suffer from diabetes- there is no need to have it in your diet.
My relationship with food is greatly improved thanks to veganism and the teachings in Kathy's book. If you are constantly yo-yo dieting then you need to buy this book to put an end to this destructive pattern of behaviour. Give yourself a fighting chance and do it bit by bit.
Many thanks Kathy for helping me to change my life for the better!