Rebecca's Vegan Tale

Today's Eat-Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook guest blogger is Rebecca Young. She has a wonderful story to share about the SAD (standard American diet) and how it left her over 200 pounds. Now, she's a fit 145 (and counting). Read on to learn how she made the change & how veganism & Eating Clean helped her. 

Rebecca looking fabulously fit!

I never thought I'd be sharing my story on becoming a vegan.

I was born on a farm where we raised (and ate) several different types of livestock. My swine club in 4-H thought “vegan” was a dirty word. Our meals consisted of a slab of meat with rice, potatoes, pasta or corn as a side. As a teenager, I inhaled bowls of pasta with an obscene amount of butter and salt as my “snack”.

By 20, I was well over 200 pounds and my doctors were begging me to go on cholesterol medication. Throughout most of my 20's I had periods of frequent exercise, then rewarded myself with ice cream and tacos. And I couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing weight. Sheesh.

When I read Tosca's approach to food in Clean Eating magazine it made perfect sense. I got fully involved in The Eat-Clean Diet, followed it to the letter and the weight started falling off.

But at 30 I hit a plateau. I tried everything possible within the plan and I could not get out of the 150's. I found out the health benefits from eating vegan and how it was not only possible but simple to eat the same amount of protein and nutrients that I was getting from animal products.

After only 5 months of eating vegan, I'm 145 pounds (and dropping), I'm at 16% body fat, and my cholesterol has gone from 306 to 174! The cherry on top is that this is the best I've ever felt physically & emotionally in my life.

Now after “veganizing” the recipes from Tosca's other Eat-Clean Diet books, I'm thrilled to start using the Eat-Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook. Happy and healthy eating!