Starting Monday we (me and Brent) are going to do the Forks Over Knives diet for the summer. As much as we can anyway. Which is basically a vegan diet but they like to call it a "plant strong" diet rather than vegan. Why would we do this? Well gee, I just turned 42, I don't feel at my optimal health, I eat too much junk, especially ice cream which I have a special weakness for.

I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives on Netflix at Christmastime two years ago (while eating a bowl of Christmas chocolate) and I loved it. I thought it was amazing. Mostly because I've always had an interest in nutrition, always felt this pull toward a vegetarian diet and I do believe in the power of healing (to an extent anyway) through food. I know that A LOT of the health problems in America can be traced to our diet of processed and high fat food.

The environmentalist in me knows we'd be a better, cleaner planet if we didn't rely so much on dairy and meat production. The animal rights activist in me has been appalled by the living conditions of factory farming. We would never treat our dogs the way we treat cows and chickens. Reading Fast Food Nation really opened my eyes to this a few years ago (a book that I LOVE, by the way).

Anyway, I don't want to go on about my "liberal agenda" too much. Mostly I just hope it helps me get to a healthier weight and feeling healthier. You can follow our journey with mediocre food photography here (sorry pinterest). Brent still hasn't decided if he is going to cut eggs and dairy yet. There may be the occasional cheat here and there, I'm forgiving myself for that right now. We already eat vegetarian about four days a week, for years we've had meatless days and Isabella (our 15 year old daughter) has decided recently she wants to be a vegetarian (she's already gluten free because of celiac disease but if she wants to add another restriction to her diet, who am I to discourage it). It's going to be hard at first, I'm not stupid (mostly anyway) and I will miss you cheesecake and all of your glorious, delicious friends! But the time is now.