The new year always sparks something in me. Something that makes me want to be so much better and do so much more. Often, it can be very short lived though and many of the things that I say I am going to do I end up quitting within the first few days of the year. Still, I spend so much time creating new boards on Pinterest for organization, working out, food ideas, books, and healthy lifestyle tips. I also decided to set a few, attainable goals for the year.

I love to read. I have always loved to read, but I unfortunately find myself using my spare time to check social media or watch television, but this year I want to force myself to use more of my free time to read a good book. I have a long list of books I want to tackle this year too!
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I go through phases where I workout/run 5 or 6 days a week for 2 months and then I will just stop for a month, then start again and stop and so on. It is a vicious cycle because I will finally build strength and endurance and then I stop and when I start again it takes weeks to get back to where I was. This year I want to consistently workout at least twice (hopefully 4 or 5 times) a week, 
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I am not saying I will give up pizza or candy bars or coffee, because I love those things and what is a life where you cannot consume the things you love? unless you love heroin or something... I just want to be more aware of the things I put in my body and make healthier choices when eating out and grocery shopping. I want to eat less processed food and more fresh food, plus grow my own garden this year. 

I have a planner and around 28 notebooks (stationary nerd) to write things in, yet I will always tell myself "I don't need to write that down because I will remember it" and I never do. So this year I must just write things down in order to stay on track and not forget things. Also I wanna keep my house and personal spaces organized.

I have around 125 items currently active in my shop and by the end of the year I would love to have at least 250 active items. I want to constantly create new things and keep my shop as fresh as possible. 
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I genuinely believe that we either choose to be in a happy mood or we choose to be in a bad mood. You can focus on the negative and bad aspects of each day and live a sad and miserable life or you can just let it go. You are in control of you and the way you choose to react to things, You can be happy if you want to be happy, so this year I will be happy. 

Over the last several months I have worked very hard to care for my body in a much better way than I was previously doing. One of the most rewarding things I did was changing my diet in a very extreme way. Before I get too deep into my opinions I want to disclaim these are MY OPINIONS, if you do not agree, that is okay. I am writing this for people who share similar beliefs.  I have watched several documentaries and done a lot of my own research online. With all of that being said, I gave up eating meat because I genuinely believe it is not good for you. 

I'm not writing this to preach or push my beliefs on other people because people will always choose to believe whatever they're the most comfortable believing, which for most people means they believe that their body NEEDS meat. The only thing that I want to get across is that everyone should do their own research about what they are putting into their body. Food can be a medicine for your body or it can be a poison. I also want to share my experience in case anyone reading this is on the fence or needs some extra motivation to give up animal products. 

5 months or so ago I watched Forks Over Knives on Netflix and my eyes were suddenly so open to how horrible some food was. I was almost shocked by some of the different studies that were shared throughout the documentary. A fire was lit inside of me and I decided I was going to give up all meat, eggs, and dairy and I was going to change my entire life. I have never been a huge meat eater, although I did of course eat meat, but I loved cheese and certain products that contained dairy or eggs. 

However by day 2 I already wanted to give up. I told myself that everyone in the world eats meat and they are doing perfectly fine health wise. I told myself that it was going to be impossible for me to do this long term so I might as well just give up now and not even waste my time. But I stuck it out! I went to the grocery store and got food that was majority plant based. I looked on Pinterest for hours finding new recipes that did not include any animal products. I told myself that I was going to commit and I was going to embrace a vegan lifestyle. 

The first week was extremely difficult because I could not stop thinking about everything that I was giving up. It made me sad to be honest. I love food, like most people do and I love eating. I continued to push through though because my fiance and I were doing this together and encouraged each other so that we could both be healthier. 

We made it a few weeks as full vegans before we caved and ordered a pizza. It was delicious! Then we made it a few more weeks and ordered another pizza! Then we faced the harsh reality that giving up EVERYTHING at one time was something neither of us could do. We have not had any meat since we gave it up in August, but we have moved to more of a vegan at home but vegetarian eating out/on vacation. I am disclosing this information because everyone is going to have slip ups and make poor decisions in times of weakness. Sometimes you cave, but it is important to get back on track as soon as you can because although you made a minor mistake you should not just give up on your goal. I hope in the future I am able to 100% commit to a vegan life, but for now I am very happy with how far I have come. 

There's so many amazing substitutes out there that I want to share for anyone who wants to make some small, healthier changes to their own diet. The Gardein brand of fake meat is absolutely amazing! So are all of the other items I have pictured below. 

Of course you want to incorporate plenty of veggies, fruits and grains into your diet too, but I just wanted to recommend some good meat substitutes because I had no idea what to buy whenever I first tried fake meat products.

This change in my diet has completely altered how I feel on a daily basis. I'm rarely bloated and never feel overly full. I have also incorporated 3 times more vegetables into my diet and I have added a larger variety of meals and types of food into my daily diet. 

My advice to anyone who wants to change their life in a similar way is:
#1 There's no time like the present. Just do it! start right now.
#2 Ignore people who make fun of you or try to sway your opinion. 
#3 Do your research. Don't take my word for it, research what professionals say. See the benefits of a meatless and dairy-free diet. 

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