Laurenda Marie Lifestyle | Mom and Son | Why I went Vegan | Plant-Based Blogger

Hello, Friends!

I’ve missed you all, and have missed blogging over here on my OG site, LaurendaMarie. I gave it a little face lift, and some exciting changes are in store!

Things really took off with my photography business, and between shooting weddings, newborns, & families, caring for my two young boys full time, and building a home, I had to step away from THIS baby of mine with a heavy heart. I knew it was going to be temporary, but a break was needed.

It’s funny how life brings you through all these different stops and detours. Sharing my clean-eating recipes with the world, and getting to work with some incredible brands was something I felt so passionately about, and still do today. But, stepping away has made me realize the 'new’ direction I want to take this journey, and I am so incredibly excited about that and the future of LaurendaMarie.com.

I’ve changed.

I mean, haven’t we all? I think as we grow and go through the seasons of life, we become wiser and more self aware. Some of the things I believed, even when sharing my recipes here in the past, are no longer truths I believe today. I’ll get into that more in a bit. But it’s hard. Ya know? Navigating all the information thrown at us left and right. Talking health, specifically, something I am SO passionate about, and have been for years. I think it takes a significant life event, at times, to create that change and forward momentum to shift your thinking. For me, that was the year of 2016. The event? My Perioral Dermatitis.

For those of you not familiar with my journey in 2016, read my post here, My Perioral Dermatitis. In a nutshull, I broke out with a red, raging, itchy, weeping rash all over my face. Seemingly out of nowhere. At the time I was nursing Sutton, my youngest of two. Doctor after doctor, med after med, NOBODY could tell me what was causing this, and NOTHING was helping it go away.

Until…

I saw a Homeopathic Doctor. After a blood test to test for 96 of the most common food sensitivities, I learned that eggs, among other notoriously healthy eats like dairy, were causing my painful, depressing rash. Every time I ate an egg, or consumed dairy, my body looked at the protein as a foreign invader. My immune system started to attack it, and all this created inflammation in my body that decided to show itself in the form of a rash.

So what did I do? I eliminated those foods from my diet, and focused on my gut health. And guess what? My rash FINALLY cleared up.

Our bodies are smart, and are trying to warn us all the time. Food sensitivities can be seen in many forms including exhaustion, gas & bloating, headaches, stuffy noses, brain fog, among others. Your body might not react until hours or even days after consuming the offending food. If you’re not actually sick, those symptoms on a daily basis are NOT normal. If you’re experiencing them, you too could be consuming foods harmful to your system.

And then, after much thought and research, I decided to move to a plant-based diet.

More familiar called “Veganism”. I don’t particularly love titles, and definitely can’t call myself a true vegan, but at least 90% of the foods I consume are whole, plant-based foods.

After already needing to eliminate eggs and dairy from my diet (because Lord knows I don’t want that rash again!), and having a lifelong complex with the consumption of meat, I decided to make the switch.

In the last year I’ve watched documentary after documentary on plant-based living, and the more I know, the more I am CONVINCED this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

Among the films I’ve watched are:
What the Health
Earthlings
Plant Pure Nation
Vegan 2017
Vegucated
Cowspiracy
Live and Let Live
Forks Over Knives
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

You see, I have a big problem with factory farming and the dairy industry. Not only are animals treated horrendously (watch Earthlings on YouTube - and I’ll give you a Starbucks gift card if you can make it through without covering your eyes), trees are being torn down at an exponential rate and our land is being dominated to support cattle and livestock farms. Guess what the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change is from? You guessed it, factory farming. More so than vehicles and any other pollutant. And was dairy really meant for our consumption? Think about it! Cows milk is meant for baby cows, not for humans. Just like pigs milk is meant for baby pigs and rat milk is meant for baby rats. I know my body doesn’t tolerate dairy, and many others experience the same. Society has brainwashed us to think we must drink milk for calcium, but calcium can be found in a plethora of plants, at a higher percentage, too. If you’re skeptical, I advise watching this 5 minute video, Dairy is Scary!

I am not here to convince anyone, and always remain open minded, but I thought it was fair to give a little background on my change in beliefs! Going plant-based has rid of my rash, cleared up my skin (goodbye adult acne), and I overall feel so. much. better.

So what can you expect from me now?

Recipes still, of course! But just in a plant-based version!

In addition to recipes, I will also be sharing more of my home projects, mom life, products I love (check out my nutritional staples here!) fitness routines, skin care, travel…basically any and everything lifestyle/health related! Get excited because…