After a full month on a plant based diet I am happy. I feel healthy and confident with my choice. This has been about health for us and for the first time in a long time I feel like I am finally on the right track.

Something I love about following a whole foods plant based is that for the first time I am not hungry. Whether it was a non-dieting phase when I had constant guilt so ate crap but would avoid eating. Or I was dieting so therefore would reduce my food to such small amounts that I was constantly hungry and thinking about food. With WFPB I eat as much as I need to be full and I don’t feel guilty about that.

That last sentence brings me to the next thing that WFPB has given to me. I don’t feel guilty about what I am eating. I am not stressing about when I can next eat, what I can eat, or if that food is a good food. I can and should eat all the vegetables. I can eat my fruit as much as I want. I do find too much processed stuff like flour based items is a place I need to be careful about but not to feel like a bad person for eating.

Processed food! I had a week of practicing bread recipes so therefore eating more bread than usual. Now admittedly this was also my hormonally challenged week but I gained 1/2 pound. In addition to that bread I had also had a few vegan faux meats. The lesson I have learned from that is to be careful of processed food where it is your own or store bought. That said I totally made naan today and you are getting that recipe tomorrow….you are welcome!

So now I have brought up the topic of weight. Yes, I do weigh myself even though weight loss is not my main focus. I am an obese women of a middle aged variety so weight loss is a welcome thing. In the last month I have lost about 7 lbs. I lost weight while eating as much as I want.

How else has my health improved? As I don’t know my starting bp or cholesterol, I can’t comment on any improvement there. I do hope to get some of that info in September when I have my usual bloodwork done for my thyroid. I know that my bp at the doctor is never accurate as I have severe white coat syndrome but my cholesterol has previously been around the borderline area with high HDL and normal LDL and triglycerides. My sugars tend to stay low anyway so not worried there.

What can I tell you? My acne has been much clearer as not a bite of dairy has entered my mouth. I knew dairy was an issue. My digestion has not been uncomfortable. I have not had the immediate toileting needs do to my dairy issues. My leg hair has not been so out of control fast growing. Is that diet? No idea. I just know my legs usually look like a Sasquatch within a couple days and I have been good for a week at a time.

Okay, so now you have had the too much information. This is my experience and that is the only perspective I can give you. I will do me and you do you. I do hope I can inspire someone else to give WFPB a try. Give it a month and see how it works for you.