Alanna’s Story
Seems a bit surreal to find myself writing this! When I wrote this article it was three short years ago that I had made the decision to begin my transition to a vegan diet and it was the very best thing I ever did- for my body, my mind, and my health and I will never look back again! *Updating this articlein 2023 I’ve been fully vegan for over 7 years!*
The Beginning…
Rewind back about 3 years. I found myself almost 50 lbs heavier (at just 5′ tall that sure makes you do a double take, literally) and completely ridden with anxiety due to the diagnosis of hypothyroidism. I had been taking Levothyroxine for about a year and a half at this point.
My doctor had done a really great job explaining what hypothyroidism meant at the point of diagnosis and taught me to associate the thyroid itself with being the powerhouse of your metabolism in your body. Weird thing was –
I wasn’t overweight.
Not even slightly. It seemed my powerhouse worked just fine and I didn’t seem to have any tiredness happening during the day, so why did I need these pills? Most importantly, what would happen to my metabolism once I started taking them?
I didn’t want to be on a hormone supplement because for me, I was someone who was really healthy, in other words, no one has ever told me “you’ll be on this pill forever, we’ll just have to occasionally tweak the dosage” before. This is something I really struggled with.
Rage Turned Into Vegan Passion
I had asked my doctor so many times what we could do about my weight gain, something MUST be able to change with that pill! My weight was never an issue prior to taking this and it was something I wanted to take control over badly! Her answer, words I will never forget, “Welcome to your mid twenties, honey.”
That couldn’t be it. Couldn’t be. I was angry, sad, SO frustrated, confused and as a result, I was SO desperate to find a short cut to lose weight and become happier. Where did that desperation bring me?
Take a stab. Same place maybe you are?
The internet. Certainly, we’ll find SOMEONE out there who will solve all of our problems, especially the desperate weight problem. Everyone has an answer to that! Right?! Something MUST work.
I clawed my way through articles, blogs, books and tried every diet out there. Atkins, Keto, Whole 30, Paleo. All. Of. It. I still felt like trash every single day. I was grumpy and quick to snap (which I knew and hated). Something needed to change. The desperation was real.
The Vegan Breaking Point
Until one day. I was digging through the internet (still in desperation, fat rage), I happened to look up on my tv and I found Kimberly Snyder. I will forever be indebted to her for opening my eyes for that very first time to a plant based lifestyle.
Leaving Kimberly’s page here! Check her out!
She was featured on a show, I couldn’t even tell you the channel or the name of the show because it was so long ago. She was talking about the human body and its connection to food, and explained how our teeth are perfectly lined to chew plants! Not animal tissues and muscles. Our intestines are longer, meant to digest plant based foods! We aren’t meant to consume animals or their byproducts!
She continued to talk about what happens to our bodies when we consume animal based foods, and the types of diseases that will ultimately progress as a result. I was stunned. Shocked. Disgustingly curious and NEEDED to know more. So as she was talking, I began…what? Clawing and digging again. But this time, I had a purpose and I knew what I was clawing for.
Light At the End of a VERY Long Tunnel
I ordered her books immediately. I highly suggest you do the same. Find Kimberly Snyders The Beauty Detox Solution- Here. I researched endlessly, read, highlighted, memorized, studied plant based diets and the connection with not only hypothyroid but SO many other diseases we suffer from immensely in this country. Heart disease, diabetes, cancer AND thyroid diseases, just to name a few. The list goes on far longer than this story.
She preached plant based everything! She was STUNNING, so fit, so put together, so knowledgeable. I envied her. I wanted that glow. That contagious radiant glow that starts from her toes and gushes all the way to the roots of her perfect shiny hair. More than anything she looked, and she was, healthy. I would become that healthy, that radiant, that knowledgeable. Decision made.
That was the day my plant based life started. No, I didn’t drop every single solitary animal product immediately. Pretty badass if I said I did though right? I give those people huge props. Go-gettas.
Research, Research, Research
It became almost an obsession with how much I wanted to learn and how hungry I became for more plant based information. I needed support. I needed to know there were actually REAL people who lived like this. Not just celebrities and crazy nutritionists!
I became the proud owner of about a thousand plant based lifestyle books and vegan cookbooks and every night I would sit down with post it notes and stick them to pages to remember valuable things. AKA old school Pinterest, children.
Kimberly gave me the fire I needed, the insight and inspiration I needed to begin. I ditched meat entirely right off the bat, I still ate dairy in moderation for the next year and then I would entirely cut it out. In the following year I would cut out eggs entirely as well. Totaling about 3 years to become entirely vegan.
I wasn’t contributing to this anymore. I felt like I had been lied to my entire life. By doctors, by teachers and health classes. I couldn’t believe it. My body would no longer be a tomb for dead rotting animals. It all made sense after reading her books.
The Vegan Glow Up!
Was it hard? Yes. Was I craving all the foods I wasn’t supposed to eat? Yes. But what ultimately happened? I started losing weight. My skin started to clear up. I felt happier. My anxiety decreased SO STINKIN’ MUCH. That was wild. Literally almost entirely gone!
Here we are today. I’ve lost all of the 50 lbs and THEN some. My skin has never glowed like this. EVER. I crave fresh fruits and vegetables and could turn and walk away from any meat, dairy, buttery baked good out there and not give two sh*ts about it!
I practice yoga multiple times per week to keep my mind, spirit and body in check, and seriously I LIVE to cook vegan food. To have friends and family over for vegan meals has been a dream come true.
And the best most incredible part of it all—–I’m ENTIRELY OFF of Levothyroxine. MEDICATION FREE!!! Not one single pill has been taken in about 2 years. I have zero symptoms of hypothyroid, my lab work is all in check where it should be, which happened- NEVER. I feel amazing!
People comment on my “glow” all the time! Sometimes I think they’re nuts, but truthfully, I feel that glow. Wholeheartedly feel it.
I’ve never looked back. Am I a professional chef? No. Is it hard work to have a fully vegan house and cook fully vegan all the time? Yes! Its tough! I’ve learned a ton and practiced a ton! Going out to eat can be a headache, family and friends may probe you with questions and judgements, or give you a hard time and joke with you about your “fake food”- especially during holidays. BUT-
Its allllll apart of the journey. It’s a journey that you will never regret taking for yourself, for the animals, for the world, for the environment, for everything. I hope this story and this blog inspires you to begin your own clawing and digging into the beauty of plant based living and result in that contagious vegan glow!