Standard American Diet (SAD) or Vegan?

Ok so I officially became vegan on April 9,2012. That means that as of November 9th I will have been vegan for 7 months now. I did start losing weight before I became vegan. I started with cutting out soda. I lost 10 pounds in the first week when I started drinking more water and juice and no soda. I quit cold turkey. Now when I drink soda I am only able to get a few sips down before I get a bad taste in my mouth. Soda is disgusting when you aren't used to drinking it anymore.
After cutting out soda I stopped snacking and eating all the junk I was used to. I was feeling more energetic but I wasn't losing anymore weight. I was still eating meat and a lot of cheese. I switched to soy milk because cow's milk was starting to bother my stomach. Someone posted a link to the 30 day vegan pledge. I believe it was on PETAs website. So I took the pledge and I bought all kinds of vegan products. I started losing more weight. I liked the meat alternatives and the soy milk but I "couldn't give up cheese." So I was a vegetarian. Then I watched a few videos online of what happens to the animals on factory farms. I, being an animal lover, was outraged. I was angry, I was upset. I became obsessed with watching these videos. I had to know everything that was happening. I had to be vegan. So I started my transition to veganism, losing more weight along the way. I finally made the full change April 9th and I couldnt be happier. My goal is to lose another 50 lbs.
I am happy that I am healthier than I ever have been and my daughter is following in my footsteps now too. Pretty soon our whole household will be vegan. I will probably post another blog in the near future about all that is wrong with the Standard American Diet. I am so grossed out by the Standard American these days. It really is sickening to think that not even a year ago I was one of these people stuffing my face with what is really not edible. Just because it doesn't kill you TODAY doesn't mean it isn't toxic.

Review: Yves Veggie Cuisine Meatless Pepperoni

Yves Veggie Cuisine Meatless Pepperoni: *****
I have been vegan for several months now and I just discovered vegan pepperonis. Yum! I have been sadly disappointed in my pizza options and thought I would never be happy with pizza again. I ate these pepperonis plain and I thought they were good. They were great on pizza though. I put a little bit of sauce on a crust, used some vegan mozarella slices and used pepperonis and banana peppers. It was delicious. I am actually salivating at the thought of this pizza I made last night. Even my daughter loved it. She knows the good stuff though. Of course it was more expensive than regular non vegan pepperonis but it was well worth it. The taste was good and my daughter ate it. I give this 5 stars.

Review: Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese- *****
I was always a lover of cream cheese. Cheese cake was my favorite and I ate cream cheese on bagels, toast and crackers. I love flavored cream cheese and plain. Oh and I cannot forgot my favorite... Jalepeno Poppers. Once I became vegan I thought I'd never get to enjoy the taste of cream cheese again but I was wrong. I discovered Tofutti. Yes, it's more expensive than non vegan cream cheese but it is totally worth it to know I am not harming animals for my taste buds. I love this cream cheese. I have eaten it on toast and bagels. I made cheesecake with it which was DELICIOUSI made Vegan Jalepeno Poppers.
I made a delicious Wild Berry Cheesecake with it. I will post a recipe for that sometime in the future.  I also used the leftover jalepeno cream cheese from my poppers recipe and had that spread on crackers. Yum! I found a delicious pumpkin cream cheese spread recipe that I am going to try. I will let you know how I like it.
So overall Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese is a little more expensive but the taste and texture is great, works well in recipes or plain. I give it 5 stars!