Veggies are a Girls Best Friend

GF/V Pumpkin Spice Donuts

It's officially been three months since I became a gluten-free, vegan. Wow. How crazy is that? I have spent the past eleven years of my life dealing with migraines several times a week and headaches every day, then bam. I took gluten and dairy out of my diet, and I've had two stress-related and one other migraine in the past two months. That is honestly something I never though would be possible.

Stir fry with carrots, pea pods, mushrooms, onion and balsamic

Why vegan, you might ask? Well, the same animal proteins found in meat can also be found in eggs and dairy. So eliminating just dairy could potentially have no effect if it even had a slight correlation with the animal proteins found in these foods. Read the book "The China Study." It's a fairly slow read, but space it out a little and the information in it will honestly amaze you.

GF/V Apple Pie for Thanksgiving!

Homemade vegan hot chocolate

People always think that being vegan is hard. People always think that being gluten-free is hard. I am both, and I can tell you, if you cook...it's much simpler than people believe. It takes a little bit more planning ahead, but for the most part, I eat similarly to what I did before. Trader Joes and Taylor Made (a gluten free store in Woodbury) are my most common places to shop for the more specific things: corn or rice pasta, rice flour, granola bars, baking mixes, crackers, etc. But I just eat a lot of veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. Spinach and celery have their own food group in my diet.

GF/V crepe with avocado, mushroom, tomatoes, and spinich

Pintrest is also my best friend. There are links to so many different websites chalk full of new, wonderful ideas to try out. Recently Paige and I made this delicious Thai Basil Eggplant (here's the link if you want to try it out http://vegetariangastronomy.com/2013/05/thai-basil-eggplant-vegan-contains-gluten/) Ours was also gluten free, and tantalizingly tasty. We have many more exciting recipes we will be trying out over the next couple of weeks--if you need any ideas for yourself, just ask! We even made it through hosting thanksgiving with everything but some turkey for everyone else readily available for me to eat.

Thai Basil Eggplant...yum

I'm still amazed every time I eat something that's vegan or gluten-free, and it tastes almost exactly like it does regularly. Sometimes I sneakily feed my friends food they don't know is vegan because they think it's gross. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure they like it. Texture is apparently the hardest thing to get over, but I'm a texture person, and I haven't had any major issues yet. Tofu is weird. Tofu will take some getting used to.

GF/V Banana Bread

Another perk of being vegan and gluten-free is the fact I've lost over fifteen pounds, and with the insanity of my shows the only exercise I've been getting is running from the car to my next event, so it came as a bit of a surprise. Oh and yoga. Yoga is a very important stress reliever. I highly suggest it for everyone. Overall, this whole experience has been amazing. Not only am I migraine free and down a few pounds, I also am so much more energized and feel great in general. 

Sweet Potato Fries