It’s not really a question right now, because I am doing a vegetarian challenge with a step down to complete veganism from January to March (as a challenge for charity). That’s already been decided.
But I’m talking about the general question, the way you ponder things in life. And here, towards the beginning of my 6-month (wow, 6-month) adventure of going down from vegetarianism to veganism, I thought I’d talk a bit about my skepticism.
I’ve talked about dairy on the blog before. I have such incredibly strong opinions on a lot of things, but this is one where I’m still in the undecided area.
As I’ve said (probably so many times it should almost be my catchphrase) – I’m a light switch, not a dimmer. I usually know how I feel about something, and I feel it hard.
With dairy, I feel as though everywhere you look, and everywhere you read, you hear something different.
My dentist (who I trust completely with all my teeth needs) recently shared this link. I want to do anything that’s gonna help keep my teeth healthy and bright!
I feel as though I’m always hearing about the benefits of milk.
People are always saying that milk can help you lose belly fat if you have three servings of dairy a day. You know what? When I’m eating multiple servings per day of dairy (as part of a healthy diet – which is not something I always have), I feel awesome!
I did notice some belly goodness when I used to have three (or more) low fat yogurts a day with other not-too-bad for me foods.
I love dairy.
Before I get to the love section, let me also point out that even though I hear great things about milk – I heard a lot of bad things about milk as well.
(These articles I’m linking to are just scratching the surface. There are documentaries and plenty of other talks and things that can confuse you for weeks if you really wanted to delve into it all.)
Part of the reason I love dairy so much is because I feel like I get these great health benefits from it, but if it truly is taking calcium away from my bones instead of making my bones big and strong, that’s no good!
Back to the dairy love-fest, a lot of people say that going vegan helps with various things such as all their blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, and all those numbers tied to health. Buckle up to hear me brag about myself…
I have superhero numbers. They’re not just good, they’re through the floor. There was obviously a time in my life when I had a ton of doctors appointments and check-ups and such. After taking my blood pressure, doctors would very often ask, “Are you feeling okay?” One doctor told me I was right on the cutoff between when they take action over someone’s super low blood pressure.
My resting heart rate was so low, that in the hospital, they had to re-set the alarms on my heart rate monitor. If they left it at it’s normal alarm level, it’d go off all the time. I constantly have bradycardia (a fun word that means abnormally low heart action. (Almost every EKG I’ve ever had says I’m in brady.) My heart rate would fall into the 30s sometimes as I slept!
My cholesterol numbers have always been the bomb-diggity. If you look at me by the numbers, I am the picture of health.
I think a lot of that is due to great luck. (Some of it is possibly due to running. I was running a lot back in 2008/2009, and I started the hospital/doctors’ appointments journey in 2009. A lot of those good numbers were possibly because I was being caught at my best-ish).
My dad’s family has some pretty incredibly genes as well. So, that doesn’t hurt. I won’t act for a second that I’m super healthy. Sometimes people mention vegetables that I’ve never even heard of (but I sure do recognize the names of most junk food/fast food meals). I’d never tried an almond until a couple of days ago.
The point is, do I think that my excellent numbers are do to an awesome diet? No way. But I’m still scared to completely rid my diet of the one thing I consistently eat/drink that I’ve been hearing is good for me my whole entire life.
(Even vegetarian-wise, I’m scared about the fact that I’m giving up seafood – another thing I eat a lot that I’ve always been told is good for me.)
I don’t know what giving up dairy is going to do to me. I don’t know what I believe about dairy. I guess I’ll just take this journey and see what happens…