A journey to health.

Isn't that the tag line of life?

I'm not really sure where to start this post.

But I'll try.

Remember how I've been a vegetarian/vegan on and off for about, oh, the past 15 years of my life? There are about 2 distinct periods where I remember decidedly NOT being a vegetarian and one time was when I first started dating Justin and ate some meat with him (keyword here is "some"). It's one thing to tell your trainer to basically go screw themselves (in nice terms) when they tell you to eat "animal protein" after working out because you don't believe a) that you need it to build muscle and b) you hate it, but it's an entirely other thing to tell your new non-vegetarian boyfriend to screw off when he tells you to eat protein after working out when he spends enough time with you to know that you do in fact probably need that animal protein. That lasted for about the first 3 months of our relationship and by the end of 12 months? He was pretty much eating vegetarian with me. In September of this year? We were both vegan after he had researched it more and found out varying health benefits and that you do not, in fact, necessarily need animal protein to be an athlete (a win for me! ...Or so I thought at that time). 

The other time that I ate animals in the past 15 years? Well, it wasn't really isolated like the time I just described before but it was more one-offs where I'd have a bite here, a bit there just to see if I still did hate the taste of meat. Pretty much without fail the answer was always YUP. I ate the occasional piece of fish or occasional eggs but for the most part I was solely vegetarian, if not vegan.

I posted about it here. Mostly that post centered around the fact that I was always an "on the fence" vegetarian, meaning that I generally was vegetarian but not really for animal cruelty purposes but for taste purposes. Simply put, I just don't like the way meat tastes. The book I wrote about in this post was all about the inhumane treatment of animal, which, I still agree, is disgusting.

All of that aside, fast forward to October 2011 and we are successfully through the wedding and married and happily living our life as healthy as we thought possible- as little vegan warriors (what the hell that means, I don't know... I don't know where I come up with this stuff sometimes). But, slight problem in this whole health thing? Remember this post when I talk briefly about how I quit birth control in April? Yeah, well I never really expanded on that but basically I haven't had a period since then. Yeah. Um 6 months of no period sets off fire engine alarms of "AMENORRHEA! NO BLEED NO BLEED!" Apparently it's a problem. Right.

So, I started going to acupuncture to regulate my cycles. It was good for a lot of reasons but didn't help old Aunt Flo to show up. My (stupid, now fired) OB doc wanted to put me on medicine to give me a "fake period" to which I said less politely "fuck off, I'm doing this naturally." I gained weight thinking if I put on some body fat, that would help. (HELLO, peanut butter!) No dice. So, that left me in October with the "natural" method of birth control which meant erratic temperatures, no period and thinking "hmm. Should probably do something about this."

So I went to see a naturopath. A renowned naturopath. He's in Tacoma... an hour away from me. I was committed to solving this naturally, without MORE drugs since a major part of the reason I was screwed up was the birth control pill in the first place (another post entirely on how stupid it is that we don't teach women about their bodies to control birth naturally, without just popping a pill... at LEAST give people the option!)

Anyway, for my first naturopath appointment, I headed down to Tacoma for my full metabolic/chemistry workup. Pee in a cup, spit in a cup (and sidenote? Spitting in a cup to get the "right" amount? Takes FOREVER. Try it if you don't believe me).

I sit and wait and they run a few initial tests on my pee and spit along with ask me a million questions on various bodily functions/eating habits, etc. The result? He said basically that I am deficient in every way possible. And this was just the INITIAL appointment. He told me to drink salt water, eat as much fat as possible, and TRY to eat animals or at least drink animal broths (IE: chicken broth). Well, that week in between the initial appointment and follow up I did two of those things: salt water and fat. I wasn't giving up life as I knew it as a vegan, especially since my husband was now living that way too especially just for some stupid naturopath.

A week later? My world was rocked. ROCKED.

I went back for the follow up where he had all of the actual numbers in his hand from the tests that were run alongside various blood tests that I'd had from my other MD's. They showed what I hadn't wanted to believe the week before: deficient, not holding on to any nutrients. Why? Because I essentially had no amino acids in my system. None. Zilch. Yeah, that's what being vegan does for you and no matter how much pea protein you take, you're never going to successfully get a complete amino acid. Well, since I was so deficient, my body basically said, "screw the reproductive cycle, we don't need that, we just need to keep her alive." Your body is never going to support a period, or even more so, a baby, if it's deficient in nutrients. Plus, my hormones were all whacky from running so much (cardio produces hormones or something).

It was, apparently, the perfect storm... or so I'm told.

Justin was there with me and I'm SURE wanting to dance around in some giddy rain dance hi-fiving everyone on the planet for how right he was (yes, this was truly all about stroking his ego, of course).

So, I said FINE. Screw you both. I will accept that this is now a matter of science and perhaps, just maybe, I've been wrong. If I ever want kids, I will do this. For SIX WEEKS. If there is no change, and then after that, no period, I'm done.

And we shook on it and walked out the door. Where I cried in the car. I was totally overwhelmed. It is a tough realization to find out that what you thought you were doing by living the healthiest life you thought possible and all the while feeling pretty damn good actually turned out to be harming you.

We went to whole foods and bought fish. And eggs. It was a start. The doctor would, however, like me to eat liver and raw eggs to which I said that there is no way in HELL that will ever happen. Ever. Seriously, barf.

So, since that appointment in October, here's a sampling of my meals:

Salmon, quinoa, and spinach...this was actually a shot of the "first" non-vegan dinner I'd had in quite a while.

LOTS of eggs and veggies... also: soft boiled are the best, and runny fried eggs (no scrambled- it ruins the integrity of the yolk which is the best part for me now... YUCK)

Lots of juices

More juice...at my desk. I had to start off this diet with lots of juices- basically treating my stomach as if it were a baby's stomach to get it acclimated/adjusted.

And I have even eaten ground beef. I literally have not eaten cow since I was about 15.

So.

The result?

I went back in mid-November to find out that everything had completely flipped. OF COURSE. The diet is working, I'm no longer nutrient deficient and am much, much healthier. So I'm staying on it...still eating fat, protein, and drinking my salt water. We'll see if I get a period and what happens from here but I have adapted for now and have realized that, right now, this diet is the best thing for me. My body type has a metabolism such that it functions better on high protein. I've accepted it as it is for now, and have grown to like the taste of runny eggs and salt. I've also since put on 8 pounds of pure muscle. Body fat is the same, clothes still fit, but 8 POUNDS of muscle. Holy hell! I do feel much, much stronger and like I am operating on a daily basis with more clarity. And, another bonus? I've been approved to run again! Yay!

Justin even went after I went to get tested himself. The MOST hilarious part of all of this? His body type tested as one that would do better with no salt and totally vegan. (He had more salt in his spit that I had initially in my urine!) We are exact opposites. Ying and yang? Perhaps. So while I eat cow and drink salt water, he eats tempeh and avoids salt like the plague...literally less than 100 mg a day (do you KNOW how hard it is to avoid salt?! It is literally in everything.) And, in the meantime, we both are secretly jealous of the other's diet. At least for now. 

We will keep you posted on this journey to health... It's something that I think every person will always be on in some form or another. Maybe it's just called life...and living as healthily as possible.