New Year, New Start, cont.....

I find it amazing, having done so much research that I haven't actually committed wholeheartedly to a new way of eating/living, even though I know it will benefit me in many different ways. 

I would have thought being locked down for most of 2020 it was the perfect time to get my act together, to cook healthy meals and exercise regularly, but I've actually found it much harder to be healthy at home, than in an office. 

My husband is a sandwich, crisps and chocolate bar or biscuit kind of lunch person, whereas my lunch of choice was usually hummus, sauerkraut and crudités packed for work, but now I'm home it's become a mixture of the two. I'm still having the hummus and sauerkraut, but on top of that I'm also now having the crisps and chocolate. It therefore comes as no surprise that I've put on quite a lot of weight. But its a New Year and no more excuses, time to pull my big girl pants up (and they are quite big) and get on with it.

So back to the research. As well as internet articles, documentary films and blog posts, I have also read, amongst others the following books;

• How not to die - Dr Michael Greger
• The China study - Dr Colin Campbell
• Eat to live - Dr Joel Fuhrman
• The starch solution - Dr John McDougall
• Forks over knives - Founded by Brian Wendel  

All of these books and many others conclude, through years of separate scientific research, that eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet (WFPB), SOS free (no salt, oil or refined sugar) is the healthiest lifestyle to adopt. Not only can it help with losing those excess pounds, but it can also stop or even reverse many deceases, from heart decease to Alzheimers. For me personally if I can avoid or reduce my chances of ever getting Alzheimers, having watched my mum deteriorate daily or heart problems like my dad, then I'm going to have to start now, no more dilly dallying around and I haven't got time to put it off any longer. 

Even though I am plant based 95% of the time, I haven't been truly committed and the odd bites of cheese and what has become the regular milk chocolate bars most certainly do not count as vegan or whole food.

So from tomorrow I will be starting my journey to a WFPB life, dragging my husband along for the ride. 

It is my hope that committing to making regular updates, through this platform, will keep me on the straight and narrow and help me reach my goal of becoming a happier, healthier individual by the end of 2021. 

But it's not all going to be about diet and getting healthy this year, I also want to get art projects up and running, whether in the form of printing, mixed media or painting. I want to do this to build up my confidence and portfolio, with the hope that I will be able to start making sales by the end of the year.