New Gig: This dish is Vegetarian Blog

Hola!!

I am always looking out for ways to spread the joys of veganism with the masses. Besides this blog, my Youtube channel "Beauty Shouldn't Hurt" (www.youtube.com/user/crunchyandhappy), my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/CrunchyandHappy), and Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/CrunchyandHappy), I am now a contributing writer for the blog This dish is Vegetarian (www.thisdishisvegetarian.com).

This blog discusses and reviews all things vegan/vegetarian and is written by a groups of very talented and diverse writers. I would love for you to read all of the the articles, but you can directly view the specific ones that I write here: http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/search/label/Leolin_Lopez. I write different articles on there than I do here so you don't have to worry about reading similar posts.

Thank you for your continued support!

Viva La Crunchy :-)

Healthy as A Vegan

I got my blood work results back this weekend. Every year my husband and I have a complete blood panel taken along with our physical and since we compete at every random thing our blood work is no different. I

If you read my last blog post you can probably guess that I won the the "who has better blood work results" contest (and I have every year since I became a vegetarian)!!

2007 (3 months Vegetarian)
LDL:                    142
HDL:                     59

2008: (1 year Vegetarian)
Total Cholesterol: 188
LDL:                    100
HDL:                     70
Triglycerides:        88
Total Protein:        6.8
Calcium:                9.2

2010: (1.5 year Vegan)
Total Cholesterol: 150
LDL:                     75
HDL:                      69
Triglycerides:        31
Total Protein:       7.6
Calcium:                9.5

2011: (2.5 years Vegan)
Total Cholesterol: 134   (Healthy Range 134-180)
LDL:                    71.8   (Healthy range 30-140)
HDL:                    55       (Healthy Range >=40)     
Triglycerides:       36       (Healthy Range 30-150)   
Total Protein:        6.9    (Healthy Range  6-8.5)
Calcium:               8.8     (Healthy Range  8.3-11)

I said it once and I will say it again eating a vegan diet is a healthy way to live. I conceived, was pregnant, gave birth, and breastfeed all while on a vegan diet and as the numbers show the bad stuff went down and the good stuff went up or stayed the same. Will a vegan diet alone do the same for everyone?...no (see prior post) because diet alone is not the the only factor in your health (genetics, sleep, exercises, luck)

What a well balanced vegan diet will do is give your body the best fuel so that it is able to be it's best self.  

Happy Eating!!

P.S.-Tomorrow starts day 1 of the Engine 2 Diet (www.engine2diet.com) for my hubby and I. I will be sure to keep you posted on our journey

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a nutritionist so make sure that you speak to yours before switching your diet. Tell them CrunchyandHappy sent you ;-)

Is Family Support an Oxymoron?

I thought that I was past this with my family. I thought that I had been vegan long enough and had enough experiences (pregnancy, weight loss, farm internship, veggie child) that my veganism would never be questioned again by my family. That they would know me enough and know veganism enough that the diet choice for myself and my boys would never be questioned.

All that changed with my hubby's blood work results.

Even before my hubby's year long experiment with vegamism he  has always had issues with his cholesterol. I had high hopes that we would have gotten it under control by now, but at last we haven't. My hubby's cholesterol is 184 with his LDL at 101 (a heart healthy range is 150 or less for total cholesterol with LDL under 80) . His triglycerides are also elevated at 233 (less than 150 is heart healthy).

After watching the documentary Forks Over Knives and reading the book The Engine 2 Diet I was excited and prepared to take my hubby's and my veg diet to the next level. Although my hubby is not overweight and is only 31, I knew that at these levels my hubby has an increased risk for a heart attack and/or heart disease. Taking daily pills or having surgery is not an option when we can make changes now to lower his cholesterol and triglycerides levels.

I wanted to let our family know what was going on so that my hubby could get the support that he needed. As I was telling them what was going on I expected a response of "What can we do to help?" "What did the doctor say?" "What do you plan to do?"........

Instead I got "I though veganism was supposed to be healthy?" "What the point of eating healthy?" " I would expect this from soso who eats pork chops and things like that."

As I tried to explain my nutrition knowledge such as genetics play a role in your health as well so although my hubby and I eat the same things the fact that there are heart problems in his family and not mine could be a contributing factor in his current health issue and we just need to revamp our diet by reducing or eliminating the vegan foods that aren't as healthy such as vegan butters, oils and salt and increasing exercise I was drowned out the the down with vegan and healthy eating comments.

So it looks like we are on our own with this one. Hopefully they will come around, but until then I know that my vegan diet is a better was of eating for the animals, for our health, and for the environment.

I will keep you posted on our Engine 2 journey and Happy Eating!!!!