Almost a year and a half ago, my boyfriend Joe noticed that after I eat wheat, I get grouchy, intolerable, tired, and absolutely crash into the nearest bed like object possible and have to sleep for four to six hours before I am able to wake up. After waking up, I am sluggish, I can't think straight, and my overall mood is extremely depressive. It was eventually concluded with a simple study that I was at least wheat intolerant. After further experimenting with removing certain foods from my diet and the affects of eating others, it was concluded that it is both a gluten and wheat allergy that I "suffer" from. Through the affects both mental and physical that the gluten allergy caused me, I broke off an engagement, hurt many around me with my volatile attitude, and was so under productive that my art went a whole lot of absolutely no where for the better course of a decade.

Today I am a vibrant, energetic, healthy, trim, athletic 26 year old looking at turning 27 in September. I have two dogs and keep up with them as well as will soon be starting a core position at REI, continuing to create better and better art, and Joe and I couldn't be happier together. So what happened? I simply removed one set of foods that I found my body didn't like.

After watching Forks over Knives once, and drawing while doing so. I began to think and really listen to what that incredible documentary was trying to SCREAM at me. Plant based, whole foods diet. What could it do for me? Well considering that I'm also allergic to fruit and have a sulfide allergy ((found in wines etc, as well as most PROCESSED FOODS)) it has been hard to start to navigate towards this life style. Those who knew me in high school knew me as a pasta and steak sort of gal. All I ate was red meat, accented most often with a giant bowl of Pasta. When I got to college and couldn't afford the meat all I subsided off of was pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta, ramen, pasta, dairy, pasta, ramen, etc. Looking back at it, and the allergy that I have, it was no wonder that my body hurt all the time!

I was not only bogging it down with what for me essentially amounted to a poison, but I wasn't putting any of the good stuff in at all either. You know, vegetables... leafy greens.... roots.... legumes... beans... etc. etc. etc.

In the past few months, sort of unwittingly, Joe and I have also begun to eat very plan focused diets with out really meaning to. Now we have Asparagus, with a salmon fillet that we split, on a small side of rice. With mostly Asparagus on the plate. Or broccoli soup, that is literally broccoli, in chicken broth, a dash of cream, and two or three THIN slices of cheese, with some pepper. Or tomato soup. I could go on. But as you are seeing in the trend, most of those ingredients, didn't come from something that had a mother.

I would LOVE to challenge you all to at least watch the documentary and see what you think and then post back here. Tell me what you saw and how you think it could improve or tear apart your life. What do you think were good findings that you yourself could support with what you eat?

Oh PS: stay away from foods that are overly processed, or frozen pre made dinners, boxed dinners etc. They are purely empty calories. Oh, also stay away from fast food. Its not really food. More like flavored cardboard with a side of corn syrup >.> YUCK!