Engine 2 Diet

Over the past several years I've struggled with weight.  There were times when I would get very depressed because I was so unhappy with it.  My eating habits have changed drastically since I first started working at Whole Foods Market.  Even with the change in my diet, I didn't lose any weight.  I grew up being pretty active, and I knew I had to exercise along with eating right.  At the beginning of this year I set out to be healthier, and to date have lost 25 pounds through better eating and exercise.

Now onto the diet I was on for the last 4 weeks... The Engine 2 Diet.  One sentence synopsis of the book:  Eating a plant-based diet will lower your cholesterol and help you live a healthier life.

Image from The Daily Spark

It is low fat plant-based (vegan) diet.  I don't like trying diets that I know I can't make a lifestyle change with since I know I'll gain more weight back after the diet's over.  I wasn't sure if I could make a lifelong commitment to this diet since it involves no animal-based products and cutting out as much oil and fat as possible.  Your choices are seriously limited when you go out.  At least in Austin there are many restaurants that offer vegetarian and even vegan options.  Also, it was easier for me to stay on this diet since I work at Whole Foods Market and our landmark store is right underneath me.  :)  Although I didn't think I would make a lifelong commitment, I decided to try for the following reasons:

1.  I would at least cleanse/detox my system by the end of the 28 days.
2.  I wanted to see if I could really not eat animal-based products for 28 days.

Overall, I feel cleaner and lighter and know that I don't HAVE to eat meat with every meal.  I also leaned on the pre-hypertension side of blood pressure, but now my blood pressure has dramatically decreased.  I wished I check my cholesterol levels before the diet began, but I didn't get a chance to get it done.  I don't think I would stick 100% to the diet, but I do have a different perspective on the foods that I eat and how it may affect the health of my body.  I'm glad I did it and I will definitely be making healthier choices.  Going forward, I will probably cutout dairy as much as possible and stay with leaner meat options (except for special occasions of course :)).

I didn't want to bore you with any long texts, but it looks like this post is already really wordy.  If you've made it this far and have any questions or would like more information just leave me a comment and I'll contact you.  :)  Thanks for reading!