Thanks for visiting Orange Truffle!
I decided to finally start a blog that is dedicated to food and health how I see it. Most of you know that in the past 6 months I have completely change my diet and have become a Lacto Vegetarian. I feel wonderful and am completely happy with my decision. I plan on using this blog to share with you all the yummy food that I eat along with any other interesting experience.
Lacto Vegetarianism
So, you might have some questions such as;
What does it mean to be a Lacto Vegetarian?
It means that I don’t eat meat, poultry and eggs, but I do eat dairy and honey.
How about fish?
Well in the recent weeks I have started having one fish meal a week and that is mainly because I realized that B12 deficiency is very common in vegetarians. I do take a multivitamin, B-complex and B12 everyday as well.
Why did you become a Vegetarian?
Short Answer: For health reasons.
Long Answer: Since 2003, when I moved on my own to Atlanta GA, I started having awful stomachaches that would last for days. After multiple visits with my GP and realizing there is nothing he can do to help the situation, I was referred to a Gastrologist. The first question I was asked… “when was your last bowl movement?’ The answer…”I can’t remember it is more than a week”. After a colonoscopy to make sure my colon is still healthy I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowl Syndrome (IBS). Over the next 3 years I took many different prescription drugs along with heavy over the counter laxatives to help my situation. In 2006 we moved to Houston, TX and I continued my treatments with new Drs here. In spring of 2007, after 6 months of trying different medications and nothing really working for me, I was told that I have a “chronic” case of IBS and an option would be to removed 3/4 of my colon to allow less residence time for the food in my system. Since I was getting married in August and was trying to lose weight, I had changed my diet and things got better, but unfortunately after the wedding I went back to my old habits and the problems came back and I just dealt with it. The change happened on January 27th 2009 as I went to work looking pretty normal and by lunch time I looked completely bloated, very obviously bloated. I made an emergency appointment with my new GP to see what caused the problem. The answer “my food choices”. My Dr explained that IBS is a “disease” that the Dr’s don’t have an answer for, they don’t know what causes it and what cures it and my best bet would be eating as fresh as I can with minimum preservatives, which meant nothing out of a JAR, CAN or a BOX. After two months of trying that I realized I also feel uncomfortable after eating meals that contain flesh, so slowly I eliminated meat/poultry/fish/eggs out of my diet. Now, I feel WONDERFUL, I no longer have the awful stomachaches, have more energy and best part my skin looks better.
My Story
I love to cook, bake and EAT! The same goes for my lovely husband, he is a great cook and takes a lot of pleasure in eating a good meal.
The Journey
I maintained a healthy weight while in Undergrad and the first semester of Grad school at GATech, thanks to my busy schedule and my mom’s healthy cooking. Once I moved on my own August of 2003, to start grad school, I had to learn how to cook and things were fine the first month or so, until I decided to venture out and try other things that mom’s cooking. Between living alone, therefore sometime eating out of boredom, new recipes that were not necessarily healthy and my “IBS” I gained a quick 15 lbs. In the couple years to follow as I met my husband and started dating him the weight kept getting higher until I reach 135 lbs from my 110 lb undergrad weight. Even though 25 lbs may not seem like a lot of gain, it was for my petite 5′2″ frame. We got engaged on July 1st 2006 and the WHITE DRESS gave me the reason to try to get into better shape and become more fit. I lost 15 lbs by the time I had to walk down the isle, but unfortunately after the wedding I gave up on healthy eating and exercising and a year and half later I reached 137 lbs. In January as I started adjusting my diet to improve my health, I started shedding weight, which was a great side effect. I am now at a happy weight of 117 lbs (yes 20lbs lighter) and plan on doing everything in my power to maintain my weight with the help of everything that I have learned.
Tools That I used
I joined myfooddiary.com on February 19, 2009 at 137 lbs. I used the diary to log in everything that I ate and drank and with the help of it I was able to control my caloric intake along with sodium, cholesterol, fat, trans fat, fiber etc. In August, 6 months after joining MFD, I reached my goal weight of 117 lbs and have been maitaining since 
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