From Another Vegan : Kayla & Patrick O’Rourke (part two)

Today we have part two of Kayla & Pat! You’ll remember Patrick’s interview from last week… well, meet Kayla… Pat’s prettier half. :)

1. Describe your old diet.

My old diet was almost all processed food mixed with a lot of eating out. My favorite section of Trader Joe’s is the one with all the prepackaged food, pizzas, pastas, wraps, dips, salads. My idea of making dinner at home was throwing a frozen pizza in the oven and mixing together a salad in a bag. I’d like to say that it’s because I am busy, but mostly I’m just lazy! (Lazy people can be vegan too ;) ) I’ve never been a big fan of meat, but I ate it occasionally and I was a cheese addict and had a serious sweet tooth.

2. Describe your current diet (vegetarian/vegan/plant-based).

My current diet is vegan… what Pat said. :)

3. What inspired you to change? (books, films, friends, family, etc.)

It was a combination of a lot of things. It started with our friends, suddenly it was like all of our friends were vegan except for us! We were late bloomers! Everyone who we knew that was vegan was loving it so that got us considering it and seriously thinking about it. Then we finally got around to watching the film Forks Over Knives and were 100% sold. It was so inspiring to see people completely change their lives around from potentially dying in 6 months to healthier than ever by simply changing their diets. That’s when it just clicked, it seemed too simple! I just kept thinking, why didn’t I think of this?! This weekend we watched the film Fat, Sick and Nearly dead and that totally inspired us as well! Lets just say Phil is my hero!

4. What one piece of truth impacted you the most?

I don’t think I fully grasped before how much of our food is processed and loaded with chemicals, I didn’t realize how dangerous our food was for us! Now, just observing the people anywhere I go I see that the majority of Americans are either overweight, on prescription pills, or unhappy (or all three) and these same people are eating an American diet, and now I see the connection clearly and I don’t want that to be my future.

5. What changes, if any, have you noticed physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually?

I’ve noticed changes in all of the above areas! Physically, I have so much more energy than I’ve had probably since high school! I used to get so tired after I ate I would just want to go sit on the couch, take a nap and I depended on coffee and soda to get me through my day. I was even starting to think I might have diabetes, or a food allergen because I just felt so exhausted ALL the time! It is insane to me to think I’ve only been vegan for a week and I have SO much more energy, I already feel so much better. Mentally, I feel like my mind is so much clearer, so much more focused and less stressed and worried! Before I was so consumed with anxiety it was exhausting! I feel so much more at peace now. Emotionally, I feel very balanced and aware, I feel like I am experiencing my emotions to a much fuller extent now, I know it sounds like such cheese but it’s true! Becoming vegan has been really eye-opening in my walk with God. For a long time I feel like food has been an idol in my life, and one that was usually ignored because it seemed like such a necessity. I’ve spent so much time and money on eating out, or sitting on the couch because I was too tired after I ate, or buying food that was absolutely no good for my body, now I see that that same time and money could have been put toward something much greater in God’s eyes.

6. What’s your favorite part about your new lifestyle?

I love all this energy! I am so much more productive throughout my day and enjoy everything so much more!

7. Tell us one of your go-to foods or meals.

There are so many good ones! One of my favorites is the Better-Than-Tuna-Salad from this blog :) I am a HUGE tuna melt, chicken salad sandwich girl and I can honestly say I would take this over those any day!

8. What advice would you give to others that are interested in a healthy life?

Just try it! You have nothing to lose from trying and it’s SO much easier than it seems! I used to think I could NEVER become vegan because I love cheese and baked goods and all they eat is salad! This is SO wrong! There are so many vegan food options that are delicious AND healthy! I honestly had no clue about how to eat vegan and one of the first things I did was scroll through Erica’s food posts and start making my grocery list! Trust me, it’s so much easier than it seems and between Pinterest and Erica’s food posts you won’t go hungry!

Thanks so much for sharing, Kayla! Readers… be sure to check out Kayla’s blog for some quality entertainment- she always has me laughing! Again, if you would like to share your experience with going vegan, click the contact link on the top right of the blog and I’ll email you the questions too! We’d love to hear from more readers! :)