Vegan. The world makes me angry, confused, sad. How can people eat vegan when things like this exist:
or this:
I have never understood why people would put themselves through the torcher of avoiding such delicious foods. Vegetarianism I can kind of get, but not eating dairy products? What?? It’s not like it’s hurting the cow to get the milk. How can you experience things like cheddar cheese and goat cheese, and then simply stop eating them?!
Today however, I have decided to embark on a new dietary adventure. I am joining the dark side, the crazies, the deprived, and starting a vegan diet. It’s not to lose weight or because I suddenly feel guilty about eating Bambi, Bessie, or Chicken Little, it’s for my skin.
For over 6 months now, I have had an on/off rash that stretches from my scalp to my feet. I have had eczema since I was 18 months old so I’m pretty used to it, but the face rash really gets to me. There are some days where it will seem to go away, and then BAM I wake up in the morning with skin feeling like leather. I have lost countless nights of sleep due to the itching and the uncomfortableness that is my skin. My gluten free diet hasn’t made a noticeable change in my eczema, so I’m ready to try something more drastic.
A few years ago I did a vegan lifestyle for awhile and it actually really did help. Only eating fruits, veggies, rice, and beans helped me lose a few pounds and really helped my skin.
Vegan me a few years ago. You’d never think that person has chronic eczema!
As all eczema sufferers know, we are our own worst critics. Many people probably wouldn’t even notice the little rashes, bumps, and sores that my body has, but I notice them. They hurt, itch, and keep me from feeling my best. I feel great on the inside, so why can’t my outside reflect that?
So here it goes. My second time going vegan in order to improve my skin and overall health. I have had a few customers at the restaurant who swear by a vegan lifestyle for that exact reason. One guy even told me that he was supposed to be on diabetic and cholesterol medication and within a few weeks of going vegan, his doctor said he didn’t need to be on either anymore. Amazing. Also, a little extra motivation comes from the fact that in 3 months I have to squeeze into a wedding dress and then spend 10 days in a bikini in Hawaii. Here’s hoping that going vegan helps my areas with a little extra “love”, and my eczema.
Does anybody have any good vegan recipes they would like to share? PS I don’t do tofu.
The Other Courtney 
On the protein front, you can do all kinds of things with quinoa! Mix in some beets and arugula, or lentils and spices, spice it up as if it’s Mexican rice, have fun with it.
Beans and nuts/seeds together form a complete protein. Hummus is great because it has chick peas plus sesame seeds (sesame seeds are loaded in protein – who knew??) Avocados are great too.
There are all kinds of dairy substitutes out there, too many milk substitutes to name, but check out Earth Balance for a butter substitute and Daiyu cheese, not to mention Coconut Bliss and So Delicious for ice cream made out of coconut milk.
Hope some of those ideas help!
All these tips are SO helpful, thank you thank you! You are vegan I’m assuming? If yes, how do you like it? How long have you been?
Thanks again for the food ideas, I’m especially excited to experiment with quinoa! I’ve already been eating quinoa pasta for the past year and love it.
I’m not strictly vegan, but getting there. Because of celiac and food intolerances, I am strictly gluten, dairy and egg free and I can’t tolerate large quantities of soy (e.g. tofu, soy milk). I can’t do coffee or non-herbal teas either. Since I have all those restrictions that I have no choice about, I’m more flexible about meat, but try to be vegetarian as much as possible. So far I haven’t tried to cut out fish, but only have fish maybe once or twice a week.
It’s been 2 years since I cut out gluten and dairy, 1 year since I cut out eggs and soy, and I don’t know how many since I’ve been experimenting with vegetarian (3-5 years? It’s hard to pinpoint a starting point). Because of all the other health stuff going on it’s kind of hard to say whether or not cutting out meat has been part of what’s been helping me, but I do know I have more energy when I eat vegan or fish.
Oh! Another tip for the quinoa: the instructions usually say to cook it in water, but it’s so much more flavourful if you cook it in vegetable broth. Also I noticed a typo… it’s daiya not daiyu, oops!
I don’t know if I could handle another dietary restriction! And the thought of no cheese or ice cream terrifies me, but I’ll be interested to hear how this helps your eczema! Are you doing it in advance of your wedding, to make sure it won’t flare up at that time?
I always submit my comments before I’m done! Have you seen Forks Over Knives?
I loved Forks Over Knives!
Me too! I’m still a carnivore but it definitely made me rethink things. Before seeing it, I would only have gone vegan for the animals’ benefits, but after seeing it, I would do it for health reasons …
I know, it’s insane how little I can eat now haha. Instead of saying what I CAN’T eat, it’s easier to just say all I can have is veggies, fruit, rice, and beans. Yes I definitely want to make sure I have nice clear skin on my wedding day, because sometimes the flares are so uncomfortable/itchy that even putting a drop of makeup on is a no go (I know you know how that is). So I’d really like to feel 100% comfortable and beautiful on March 9!! I also want to just get my skin to a happy place so it isn’t on my mind every day all day. I’m very excited to see if the vegan diet will help. Today is day 2 and I actually feel great!!! Skin hasn’t changed much yet, but I have a lot of energy and just feel good overall. Interesting.
And I’ve seen the first 15 mins of Forks Over Knives but didn’t finish it. I know it’s silly but when I watched it I KNEW I didn’t want to live a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle yet so I didn’t want to watch a documentary that was all about it. Maybe I was happy living in ignorance haha. Now that I’m doing it, I’m going to watch the whole thing.
I am a tried and true carnivore but if I had what you had I’d try anything dietary. However, it truly won’t hurt for you to indulge once in awhile on a piece of luscious steak as the picture above.
Haha I couldn’t agree with you more! I think a nice juicy steak every now and then will be mandatory.
I’m definitely a carnivore too. One time I was scuba diving and when a big fat fish swam past me my mouth actually started watering!!! I laughed really hard, we can be such animals no matter how civilized we try to be 😀
You got that right! 🙂