Today's guest post is written by Lisa, a mother of 3, whose family has transitioned to veganism! Lisa was a tester for my new cookbook and I think her family tested nearly every recipe!
I found HH by pure accident...literately stumbled upon it. My dest daughter Chanelle (almost 16) watched the movie Food.Inc in one of her classes at school. After viewing that movie she literately turned into a Vegetarian overnight....(I believe this happened last fall) As a mother, it scared me and I had a lot of concerns. I needed to learn how to feed her with proper nutrition. We are a family of 5 and supper time at the table is important to us, I wanted Chanelle to be able to enjoy a hot meatless meal, so I did some research and joined a group called Meatless Monday on Facebook. They happened to feature a HH recipe one day so I followed the HH link and soaked up all the information and the warmth from the group. We started with the Blueberry Breakfast Cake and were blown away by the recipe! I was sold, and instantly became a huge fan.
I have been eating low fat for years. We all cut out beef about 5 years ago, and we quit eating pork last summer. We were still eating a diet high in fish, poultry, and dairy. We had NO intention of becoming Vegetarian let alone Vegan . I thought it couldn't be done living in Northern Manitoba...we live in a remote location with a limited selection of foods. I was wrong on so many levels, it absolutely can easily be done!!
We have been following HH recipes faithfully, all of us, for most meals and snacks. Over the past few months, myself and 2 of my children have been strict Vegans. My husband has been a strict Vegan for about a month. Chanelle for the most part is Vegan, but when having a few meals with her boyfriends family she remains Vegetarian. Being a Vegan family fell naturally into place for us, and with the HH cookbook I didn't have to do any thinking, plus everything was easy to make, inexpensive and full of flavor. Being a Vegan family is unbelievably rewarding in so many ways! A huge thank you to Lindsay for her time, recipes and for being such a positive help to our family!
We also noticed lots of changes! First and foremost we spent a lot more family time together cooking and talking about how to be more healthy. I have lost 12 pounds since January, and my husband has lost around 30 pounds. I used to be obsessed with working out twice a day, I now only exercise once a day and I am at a lower weight. I have increased my intake of food, work out less and weight lighter!! That is an awesome feeling!! My husband is completely off of his medication he had been taking for 6 years!! I have been suffering from thinning hair for 18 years and I have tried every shampoo, and hair product on the market...nothing seemed to work. Since becoming Vegan my hair is starting to get a bit thicker, I can't even express in words what that means to me!!
Lisa, thank you for being a guest blogger here, and for being such a dedicated Herbie!