I'd be the first to admit that the room was certainly more cozy back then, but i think its because it was the darkness off the room.








After painting the whole room white, and hating it! we added the grey wall. When all the walls were painted white it was just too much  white, if thats even a thing.

A month a go i watched a documentary on netflix called "what the health". If you haven't already watched it, seriously you should. its a proper eye opener.

After watching it i made the decision there and then to go vegan, for me it was a pretty quick decision. I'm normally that person that can make decisions at all. So from that moment forward i was vegan., Without thinking about the impacts of family cooking, eating out, food bills etc. I didn't even give myself a chance to talk my out of it. The only person i had to convince was ray, and it was pretty easy. Having someone to do this with me was a whole lot better.

Our rules as a family; 

We were all going to do this together so we kind of had to set some sort of rules of what we can and cant have, what we are allowing mason to have that kind of thing.
Firstly we had to think about mase, he still has milk at bedtime and wont drink any other milk, I've tried. so he still has that. But the last month we have really cut it out. Maybe he has one bottle a week now which is so good for him. He hast asked me for cheese for a few weeks either. He will carry on eating fish, and he has things that have eggs and milk in, hes 4, we cant deprive him of a cupcake or ice cream when were out.

As for me the only thing I've allowed myself to have is quorn, which has re hydrated egg whites in, and some things with milk powder in.

Ray eats the same as me plus some tuna. He eats 6 meals a fay so feeding him full of quorn is expensive, impractical and smelly.


Food Shopping;

Our first food shop was a little pricey, because we went out and brought all the mill seeds, chia seeds and maca powder thinking we needed it, turns out they smell like ass and you " need " them. Like i said before we eat quorn so not officially vegans but vegan meat alternatives are expensive. A moth in and im trying to avoid quorn at every dinner time as we've found it gives us all a bit of a dodgy stomach, and i don't think its that great for you. I Started off shopping at aldi getting all my fruit, veg and grains from there and then going to tesco to get all the dairy free alternatives, and it was coming out about the same price as our normal food shop so around £65-80 a week depending on what we need. but the last couple of weeks I've been doing the whole shop at tesco, and its been more on the cheaper side, so we shall see when i need to do a big shop again.

Eating out;


When i stopped and actually thought about the practicalities of being vegan, i thought i would be ordering chips from every restaurant i go too, turns out that's not the case, just order the meat versions without the meat ad cheese. I had a very nice 'Pulled Pork Wrap' from the slug and lettuce the other day, no pulled pork no cheese, it was basically rice and veg in wrap, and the staff were really ice about it. Also if you have a Zizzi's near you check out their vegan pizza's!They're yummy,




So What Do I Eat 

A typical days for me goes a little like this,

Breakfast; Shreddies or muesli with soya milk

Lunch; Pitta with tomato pure and vegan cheese melted on top [dot have it unmelted,its horrid]

Dinner; Chickpea curry, rice and veg or quorn steak strips fajitas

Snacks; Fruit, carrots and cucumber with hummus.

I'd love to have those lush salad bowls that's you see all over instagram but the reality is, we now eat a lot of chips and salads never look that nice, who has the time!




Do I Miss Eating Meat?

The answer to that is no, not at all. Being at a BBQ this weekend confirmed that as well. The Meat looked nice then when i saw the bones afterwards i was immediately happy i didn't eat any of it. I do however miss ice cream and sweets, but I've substituted it with vegan friendly cakes/puddings which actually taste better than the real thing. Some of which i can post to the blog at some point.


Do I Feel Any Different?

Yes, I lost about half a stone in the first 2 weeks and my skin is a thousand times better than before. I no longer have acne and my skin is a lot less oily. I also have alot more energy even with working nights a my moods are more mellow. i don't tend to get that  moody anymore.


All i all I'm enjoying being "vegan" . Its not been as hard as i thought it would be, and I'm not singled out as we are all doing it. there are some good choices in supermarkets and its not as expensive as i thought it was going to be.

If anyone has any questions leave a comment below and i will respond as best as i can.

i was so unsure about writing this blog post in the fear of over sharing.But at the same time I feel like if just one person can relate then it would make me feel loads better.

I'm not sure about you but all i see on my feed at the moment is people popping out babies, or announcing they're  pregnant. And while this makes me so happy for them it crushes my heart a little bit at the same time. I get asked alot about "the second baby " and i always give a half hearted answer. You know the ones where your just like " yeah its kinda an idea, maybe in the future" blah blah blah but inside im screaming i would of popped out another 2 by now if I could!

A few weeks ago i was diagnosed with PCOS ( Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) at the age of 23. I kinda knew for the last 18 months something was up because i was only having periods every 3 months, i was like a hairy little ape and no matter how hard i tried, loosing weight was becoming impossible. Now having PCOS doesn't make you completely infertile but it makes the whole process about 100 times worse. 1 in 10 women have PCOS and although there's no real reason as to why some of us get it, its mainly due to genetics and lifestyle. On top of that there's no real cure either, you just have to manage it and hope that the symptoms get better. Exercising and eating healthy all help along with some vitamins and supplements will all help. At the moment i am taking a supplement called Inofolic which will help with my insulin levels and hormone levels. I also take Vitamin E,D and omega fish oil. All of which have been scientifically proven to help with the symptoms of PCOS.

If you've followed me on instagram for a while your'll know that i gave slimming world a go last summer and it was kinda working, then i started working nights and the whole thing went tits up. So now i have to try again, but this time i'm doing it my way. Loosing weight isn't just about my own vain reasons now, its so i can grow my family and be as healthy as possible.




So im making a public pledge from tomorrow, (of course not today i had chocolate at 3am this morning) I am not starting, but getting back into my gym routine and my love of fruit and veg. I'm joining the gym tomorrow and i will get there as often as i can. I will start my day with grapefruits and smoothies and live in hope that i can ignore all the chocolate at work.

                                                   
Like I said, the whole reason of this post it to speak about it, maybe there's someone else out there struggling with the same issue at a young age like me. My advice would be find a doctor that will take you seriously. I got laughed at by 3 doctors because i'm young and already have a child. I'm a 23 year old adult and i know what i want. Ask to be referred and ask for all the tests you can.







So look out for meal post,work outs  and medication and vitamins as i start my journey to a new healthy me so i can have a proper answer for that "second baby " question. And if anyone has any questions about the medication or supplements i take leave a comment below.