About/Why Vegan?

Hi, I’m Somer McCowan. I’m a vegan, Mormon blogger. My cookbook The Abundance Diet, will be released on June 2nd, 2015 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Here’s my plant-based story.

You can also view my testimonial on the Fork’s Over Knives website here and on ChooseVeg.com here

Seven years ago I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease that causes severe abdominal pain, thousands of tiny sores in the colon, and bloody watery stools.  My gastroenterologist also removed several pre-cancerous tubular adenomas at the time of my diagnosis. Sometimes I would have to go to the bathroom 30 times a day. At times I couldn’t leave the house and had a difficult time sleeping because I was so sick and had so much pain. I was 28 at the time. I was put on a super high dose of a prescription steroid and lots of other heavy-duty prescription drugs to control the disease. I went from a healthy weight of 125 to over 200 lbs in 9 months on the drugs. Not only did I gain the weight, but I also developed horrible acne. I grew facial hair. I felt crazy and was not a nice person to be around. I would cry when I looked in the mirror.

After I started feeling a bit better, I worked out 2 hours a day at the gym for a year and at the end of the year I ran a half marathon. Yes, I lost all the weight.

I have since had a colonoscopy every year, and have often had to go back on prednisone or other terrible drugs in order to get my colitis symptoms under control every time I’ve had a flare up. Each time my weight would balloon and I would feel miserable again and have to work hard to get it back off. It was like a terrible roller coaster and I couldn’t get off.

One weekend, my brother Abe was staying with me and we watched “Forks over Knives” I didn’t really pay attention to it at the time because I was watching kids, making dinner and generally a little uninterested. Fast Forward to January 2012, our family had just returned from Disneyland and a fast food nightmare vacation. I felt like crap, I was sluggish and I had no energy. At this point somewhere in my head I thought of the film “Forks over Knives” again. I decided to re-watch it, this time with my eyes wide open, and realized maybe I could heal myself by changing my diet. I talked with my spouse and we agreed to go on a whole-foods plant-based diet as a family.

The reason I differentiate this from a vegan diet is that many vegans are compassionate, but don’t eat healthily. I didn’t start this journey as an animal advocate, but I’ve since realized its impossible to switch from the standard American diet to a wholly plant based one and not feel remorse for living a life that harmed so many animals. I can tell you that I can’t walk near the meat department in a grocery store anymore and I’m horrified by the treatment of animals that are intended for consumption. So yes, I’m a vegan too by those standards.

I am completely off prescription drugs and my Ulcerative Colitis is in full remission. I’ve never felt better, and I know all of this is a direct result of my diet. I wish I would have known years ago that I could heal my own body with what I was putting into my mouth. It’s really amazing that the cure I was looking for was harnessed through plants.

Research shows that a plant based diet not only can help or reverse auto-immune diseases like mine, it also gives you protection against or helps with the treatment of cancer, high-blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and many, many more ailments and diseases. I can dig that.

Read the Next Chapter: After the Injury, The Healing Series.

297 comments

  1. Pingback: 20 Reasons Why Going Vegan Sucks | Vedged Out

  2. This is a very inspirational story and I’m so glad to hear about how you were able to heal through diet alone. I’ve had the same experience in recovering from severe Candidaisis. Doctors put me on every prescription available but the only thing that made me begin to heal was when I drastically changed my diet. I’m not vegan yet but am seriously considering it since animal products are so acidic. I’m really looking forward to your new blog!

    Reply

    1. Wow, my friend Erika and I have been discussing acidosis and alkalinity A LOT lately. Candida definitely is a marker of severe acidosis. Meat and dairy are super acid, but you’ve got to do what works for you. It would be much more difficult for me to maintain if my family wasn’t so supportive. Have you tried wheat grass?

      Reply

  5. I have gone vegetarian because although I didn’t have what you had, my stomach just was not happy. I don’t know if I’ll ever go vegan, but I always like to keep my options open. I’m glad you found something that helps you feel better in all kinds of ways. I feel food can heal us in various ways – our body and our spirit. I thank you for stopping by my blog and looking at the local produce. It is a joy to buy food that has just been plucked from the plant or dug from the earth and to have watched that food being planted, watched it grow and not seen anything poisonous ever sprayed on it. You rock Girl. Keep it up. Take care, come see me again sometime.

    Reply

    1. Has going vegetarian helped your health? That’s awesome that you are willing to keep your options open! I went from omnivore to vegan cold turkey, but I was pretty sick and desperate. Food was definitely my medicine in the end.

      Thanks for the props! I’ll check you out again soon!

      Reply

  7. Somer, my jaw dropped and my eyes teared up as I read your story. I didn’t have the same problem but I think I felt a lot of the same things. I am so happy that you are healthy now! My husband is also very supportive of our life-style change. It has been just under 1 year for us and I’m so excited about the changes we made.
    Thank you for sharing your story. Every word resonated with me!
    Holly

    Reply

    1. Holly, loving the love here. It’s tough to put yourself out there, but I feel like I have something to offer that people need to know. I’m really glad that you have found happiness and health through a lifestyle change. Can’t wait for our 1 year veganversaries, eh?
      Hugs,
      Somer

      Reply

  8. Love your story – I have thought about making this change often, but I’m not sure where/how to start? I want to make sure I am giving my family all of the “right” foods they need.

    Reply

    1. Wow, that’s a big question, one that I’m hoping to answer with this blog. Stay tuned for how-to’s and meal planning, but in the meantime, ordering a few books may be the best thing you can do, as far as education goes I really liked this book:

      It explained so many of the questions I was having about feeding my family right. Then the recipe book I would recommend is this one:

      Because it’s packed with so many recipes, it really will give you a good foundation for your kitchen.

      I’ll be honest with you, it took me a good 2 or 3 months to really figure things out, but it SO paid off in the end.

      Good luck my friend, I think if you jump on the band-wagon, you won’t want to get off 🙂

      Reply

  9. I can very much relate to your experience starting plant based and watching myself become more and m ore vegan. Passing the meat area of the grocery store immediately sends images through my mind that I wonder how I had never thought of these things pre-plant based.
    And then the education of the effect of being plant based on disease blows my mind with every new piece of scientific research.
    Congratulations to you and what you have accomplished. Such an inspiration

    Reply

    1. Isn’t it amazing how we evolve? It’s a wonderful thing. Thanks for your sweet words and compliments. It feels really good to be sharing all this and helping others change their lives as well.

      Reply

  10. I’m actually quite young (still in high school) and I’ve had health problems all of my life. I would love to go vegan since I can’t stand eating beef, fish and chicken, but my family still worries. Like a lot of people I’m close to, they worry about how vegan food can replace meat. I can handle venison and lamb but I would really like to switch over to tofu and anything else healthy out there. Do you have any advice? Also, my mother has a recipe for something that looks gross but tastes delicious with rice, and I want to know if you’re interested in it.
    -Dena

    Reply

    1. I’m always interested in recipes that look gross, but taste delicious, (a lot of things that come out of my kitchen fit into that category). Email me at vedgedout@gmail.com and I will check it out!

      I’ll tell you this. I’ve researched like crazy and there’s no reason humans need to eat meat, or dairy for that matter. We can get all of the protein, nutrients and vitamins we need through plants, with the exception of vitamin B-12, which I take as a supplement. Beans, legumes, soy and nuts are all high in protein but also packed full of fiber, something meat DOES NOT contain. Spinach has more protein per ounce than steak. All that being said, Americans are eating way too much protein to begin with, we only need around 10% of our diets to come from it and most of us are consuming 30% or more, which is probably why we are so fat and sick as a nation.

      Here are some links for you to check out:

      http://www.forksoverknives.com/nutrition-faq/
      (this may seem juvenile, but may help convince your parents)
      http://engine2diet.com/resources-and-research/plant-strong-kids/

      I also hope to answer many questions like yours with this blog in the future. In the meantime You can also visit my old blog, http://www.goodcleanfood.wordpress.com and check out the recipe page. There are over a hundred vegan recipes there.

      Best of luck!

      Reply

    2. Hope you don’t mind me jumping in here. I wonder if you suffer from an undiagnosed sensitivity to say, gluten? The reason I bring it up is because beef, fish (when farmed vs caught in the wild), and chicken can ALL cause problems because when mass-produced, their diets mainly consist of grains. Even farmed fish! Believe it or not, our bodies synthesize protein from the live foods we eat. And some not-so-live, like beans. It is not necessary to stress over lack of meat-based protein in your diet. You can substitute so many other (more healthful) foods for meats. Tofu is one, but look for soy that is organic. Soy beans grown in America can often times be GMO (genetically-modified organism -not good) and adulterated by carcinogenic pesticides. People often make the mistake of assuming that just because you don’t eat meat, your diet must be very narrow. It’s NOT! You can eat pretty much anything you like, unless you’re sensitive to wheat and/or barley gluten. In that case, switch to gluten-free breads & watch for gluten (more often wheat than anything else) in foods you do not prepare yourself. Good luck and here’s to healthy eating!!

      Reply

      2. I have a lot of health problems but nothing like sensitivity to gluten~ I’ve already started my completely vegan lifestyle and it’s working out really well for me. I haven’t been having any binging episodes 🙂
        Thanks for the tips and I’ll make sure to stay healthy and happy. 🙂

        Reply

  11. Wow! What an amazing story. I’m so glad to read how you’ve taken action to eat yourself back to health! I’ve been moving towards vegan for a while, and I’ve had “Forks Over Knives” in my queue for a while – I’m inspired to watch it this weekend.

    Reply

    1. Oh! Thank you so much! I hope you get around to it, I would love to know what you think after you watch it! It was obviously jaw dropping for me and left me determined to change my life. I’m so happy I did!

      Reply

      1. I actually watched it last night. I haven’t needed convincing to be a vegetarian b/c I’ve always found meat kind of gross to eat, but I loved certain dairy products and didn’t think I’d leave them behind. I’ve been experimenting with a vegan diet for a few months, but the information presented in “Forks Over Knives” helped clarify for me why also avoiding the dairy is a positive move. Thanks for the tip!

        I’m going to check out Good Clean Food for ideas about feeding kids a plant-based diet. This is the next big challenge and I definitely need lots of help with that.

        Reply

        1. I’m SO GLAD you watched it! Who knew about dairy? Crazy eh? One thing that has helped me with the kids is to continue to make veg versions of staples they all ready love, vegan versions of lasagna, enchiladas, spaghetti, burritos and more makes the transition easier. In order to make sure they are getting enough greens (they don’t love salad) they have a green smoothie every morning for breakfast. I also like to bake a double batch of whole grain, low sugar banana, apple or blueberry muffins and keep some in the freezer at all times, those have replaced fruit snacks and store bought granola bars. I also keep a TON of apples, oranges, pears, plums, bananas etc. in the house. Fresh fruit has replaced string cheese, yogurt and more as go to snacks. I admit we eat a lot of PB&J, but I use homemade whole grain bread, natural peanut butter and a way low sugar freezer jam. It might be hard for them to adjust at first, my youngest had the hardest time, but eventually he figured out if he didn’t eat what we were making then he would starve. Now he’s down with most everything I cook.

          People thought I was crazy at first for making my kids switch too, but why don’t they deserve the best I can feed their bodies too. I can show the naysayers now that my 3 year old grew 4 inches in the last 6 months and my 9 year old grew 3. Biggest growth spurt either have ever had. I don’t think they’re missing anything 😉

          Reply

          1. Thanks so much. I’m pouring over the recipes on GoodCleanFood.com and formulating a plan. While I never have candy or junk food in the house, I can do much more to bring more fruits and veggies to my picky eater’s diet. I believe that learning to feed yourself for health and sustained energy is an important part of every young person’s education. Time for me to walk the walk!

            Reply

            1. Yes, it’s a huge impact on our children’s lives. I love that I’m teaching them habits that will help them prevent, cancer, diabetes, obesity, diseases and sicknesses of every kind. Best of luck! I’m always here if you have questions! You can also email me at vedgedout@gmail.com

              Walk the walk girl!

              Reply

  13. Well done you! You look so incredibly fit and healthy. Although I’m not a vegan or vegetarian we do try to not eat much meat on the whole. Since I’ve been growing most of our fruit and veggies (organic of course!) and the majority of our diet is based around these I’m convinced the family’s health has benefited. Louisa

    Reply

    1. Louisa! Thanks so much for your comment! It sounds like you’re living right. Most people don’t eat nearly enough plants! I wish I could do an organic garden too, maybe someday. I would adore fresh veg straight out of the garden!

      Reply
  14. Pingback: Mirror In the Bathroom … Please Talk Free « CultFit

  15. LOVE. So much love for this! Somer, your story is one of true healing and transformation, and girl, you are hero for getting this out there! My sister was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease last year and is struggling with the effects of prednisone, of which she is on and off with very high doses. It hurts to see her in so much discomfort and I want to help her heal any way I can. You are beautiful! X

    Reply

    1. You are making me smile really big smiles right now! Thanks so much Shira. I really feel for your sister, prednisone is a b***h, Right before I went vegan, I started having other auto-immune issues (autoimmune diseases often come hand in hand, so much fun) I had angio-edema, a type of facial swelling and other parts of my body would just swell up at random, my feet from running, my hands from pulling weeds or pushing a jogging stroller. I would get swelling even around my torso where my bra band had touched my skin. You know what the Dr. said? MORE PREDNISONE. After what it had done to me, I never wanted to touch it again. It was at this point I watched Forks Over Knives and Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, the guy in the latter movie had some similar autoimmune skin issues to mine. I know plant based is not for everyone, but it changed my life. Shira, my colitis is gone and I haven’t had even a tiny bit of swelling anywhere in 9 months. Amazing. I feel Fabulous!

      Love your guts girl!

      Reply

    1. Thanks for commenting! Isn’t diet amazing!?! How is your Crohn’s doing now? Inflammatory Bowel Disease is so tricky, I have quite a few friends who have either Chrohn’s or Colitis, we try to stay in contact and share what’s working or not working for us. It’s good to have a support network.

      Reply

  17. My family isn’t vegan exactly, they are Buddhist. Which means they don’t eat the flesh of land based animals. My mother in law starts every morning with a counter full of vegis and chops and dices and blanches and boils and cooks some in stir fry until it all fits neatly into four or so dishes. They eat a lot of tofu but get some protein from fish or shrimp. They are no opposed to milk and dairy products religiously, but simply generally don’t consume them. These products are considered “heat” food by Chinese standards and they are believed to produce constipation. This means you can consume them if you want, but should join them together with a “cool” food – any fruit or vegetable with seeds. Mostly, they mix heat food with any variety of squash, which for Chinese includes watermelon as well as winter melon, bitter melon and lots of vegis we don’t have in the US. Just thought I’d share another cultural perspective on vegis.

    Reply

    1. Charlotte, I love this cultural perspective. There are so many different religions that have vegetarianism within the religion. My own faith admonishes me to eat meat sparingly, and only in times of famine. Whether you do it for animal activism, health or your faith, I think the results are the same, and I think it’s all linked. Spiritually it makes sense to take in good food for our bodies so our minds can be clearer so that we can be closer to our maker. It helps our physical bodies be stronger so that we can be of more service to our families and others, it also makes sense that we are kind to animals. Thanks for sharing this!

      Reply

  20. Thanks Somer for taking the time to read my blog. I started it to add my voice to the chorus that what you put into your mouth on a regular basis really does affect your health either positively or negatively.
    In my youth I always marvelled at how the body could turn the rubbish I was eating into viable fuel to keep me going, what I didn’t realize was just how much my health was slowly being affected. I was totally uninformed. Thankfully I soon changed my ways after reading books about eating for health and I am now enjoying the long term health benefits.
    When we are young we cannot comprehend the fact that we age and that one day we will become “old”, we feel bomb proof, and unfortunately by the time most people wake up to this they are well and truly on the slippery slopes of chronic diseases, pill taking and constant trips to the doctor and surgeon.
    You are a member of the enlightened few who really know the benefits of eating healthily so keep spreading the word so that we can help those that are willing to hear.

    Reply
  21. Pingback: Inspiration Plus! | Solutions For Type 2 Diabetes

  22. Love it! I went vegan last Christmas (December 2011) after watching the same movie (Forks over Knives) with my sister. I was vegetarian for years before but the switch to vegan (and being a health conscious vegan vs. still eating processed foods and stuff that is not good for you vegan) has made all the difference for me as well. Glad to see you so healthy and glad to come across your blog! 🙂

    Reply

  24. Love your story. I don’t know if I’ll ever go vegan, but I like eat healty I’m glad you found something that helps you feel better in all kinds of ways. I feel food can heal our body and our spirit. Thank you for stopping by my blog. I’m going to posting many vegetarian recipes because I like this food and I have many vegetarian friends! 🙂
    Mary

    Reply

    1. Mary,
      Thanks, I think sometimes, it requires something devastating or life changing in order for us to change the way we eat. I don’t go around telling everyone to eat a plant based diet, but I believe many could benefit from it. Adding lots of vegetarian meals is a wonderful way to nourish your body, and you’ll be light years ahead of people eating all the standard American rubbish 😉

      Reply

  25. Thanks for liking my recipe. As someone has pointed out in comments, vegetarian food habit is way of life for some of us here (not vegan though). We believe, our food habits also influence our character formation like whether we are soft-spoken, decisive or violent to a large extent, like most of us sport one of these gunas: thejas (piety in sanskrit), satwa (calm servitude), rajas (stately) and raakshas (demonic like we can cite excessive sleeping, laziness etc). Therefore we believe, vegetarian food habit is like holistic approach to one’s physical and mental health. We do miss the animal protein which can be compensated to a large extent with plant protein derived from lentils (dal in hindi). Soya protein is supposedly a GM food which is best avoided in one’s fertile years.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for your lovely point of view. Vegetarian food across many cultures and religions makes the world a better place. I certainly feel a happier, kinder and less angry person since I became vegan. I’m sure not consuming animals and the hormones and antibiotics that were injected/or fed into them is a big part of that. When I do eat soy, I only buy from sources that are verified GMO free, and I typically buy sprouted soy products, which have a higher nutritional value as well as being easier to digest.

      Reply

  26. Wow ! what an impressive move in life! I have been vegetarian my entire life. It ‘s something my parents taught me. But it is very common in India to be vegetarian. But your story inspires to continue living healthy lifestyle! It just tells that all the hardwork(eating good food and exercising) is just worth it!

    Reply

    1. I love that you’ve been vegetarian for your entire life! I wish I had! I will hand it to my parents for teaching me to love vegetables, because otherwise, this lifestyle would be much more difficult 🙂 And yes, it is SO worth it! Thanks for your comment!

      Reply

  27. Your story is very inspiring, and is a great example of how you can change your life once you start paying attention to your diet!
    I stopped eating meat 8 years ago and I’ve never looked back. I saw the cruelty of factory farming and I immediately broke down and vowed to never eat an animal ever again. Now going vegan is getting me in the best shape I’ve ever been in, because I’m really paying attention to how I eat, what I eat, and when I eat. Thanks for sharing this very personal story with the world- I know it is inspiring many people!

    Reply

    1. I wish I had known sooner what I know. I feel amazing and I am so much happier. I’m glad you discovered it sooner than I did and that you’re sharing the message too. 🙂

      Reply

  28. Congrats , Somer for overwinning so many things, aka bad things in your life! You are a very inspirational person!!! xxx
    I eat, cook & bake vegan 5x/week but still eat chicken & pork 2times/week. I love eating vegan too!

    Reply

    1. Sophie! Thanks, that means a lot to me! Going vegan has definitely changed my life!

      If you’re only eating meat twice a week, you’re a model for a good diet in comparison to those that eat it every day (or multiple times a day). I think so many people would be so much healthier if they consumed less animal products like you do. You’re a great example of how one can eat mostly vegan and still have the things they enjoy now and again. 🙂

      Reply

      1. I love this! It’s so true. I honestly believe the human body is meant to function most efficently through plant based foods and if more people could try to base their diets off a healthy vegan one their bodies would thank them, and it would make them feel so much healthier.

        Reply

  30. I loved reading your ‘Why Vegan’ story! I have lived with Crohn’s disease for the past six years and have recently become vegetarian. The more and more I learn about eating plant based diets makes me wonder if diet alone can really cure IBD…I am glad to see that you’ve had success in controlling your UC with a vegan diet! Gives me hope 🙂

    Reply

      1. I have seen Forks Over Knives a couple of times! Amazing! It was one of the documentaries that really got me thinking about whole food, plant based diets. I told my brother about the movie and now he is transitioning into a plant based diet 🙂 I’ll have to watch Fat Sick and Nearly Dead next. Thanks for the suggestions!

        Reply

        1. So glad you’ve seen it. Fat Sick & Nearly Dead was the clincher. I had a similar autoimmune skin disorder to the guy in the film. It’s now GONE! Woohoo! Good luck to you and your brother.

          Reply

  31. Somer, you look absolutely radiant and I love your story.

    Also, thank you so much for liking (and following) some of my blog posts.

    Best,
    Susan (a.k.a. GiRRL_Earth)

    Reply

  32. Thanks for following my blog. There are healthy recipes that your diet will allow along with lots of other things that are fun but not necessarily healthy. I hope you will try some of them sometime and let me know what you think. I love your story. It is very inspirational. Thanks for sharing it.

    Reply
  36. Pingback: Nom-nom…Nachos! « GiRRL_Earth

  37. Just discovered your blog and love it! Hubby and I also recently started a plant-based diet after watching the 2 movies FS&ND and Forks over Knives. Glad to find a fellow Utah vegan (I grew up in Provo but live in Carlsbad CA now) – keep up the great recipes!

    Reply

        1. No, not a vegan at all before. I went cold turkey.The research I did showed that fish and eggs still contribute unhealthy cholesterol, fats and animal protein to the diet. Eliminating all of those things I think has been the key to my success. However, I would say you’re eating healthier than 99% of people on the planet! 🙂

          Reply

  40. Hi, I never thought about it that way. I never cared about living a healthy life. I only knew that to much antibiotics and chemicals in our food isn’t good. But I only realized how amazing the impact of real healthy food since I started living a vegan life. And I only started my vegan life after watching 3 hours of PETA videos. I guess everybody has his/her own way of understanding things!
    Anyway – good luck on your way! Very impressive!

    Reply

    1. Well, it’s great to know you’re reaping the health benefits as well, even if you hadn’t thought about it! Thanks for your kind comments and support!!!

      Reply

    1. Thanks Jim! That is the entire purpose of this blog. I would be ungrateful if I didn’t share what I’ve learned, and from the response, there’s a lot of people who need help. If I can help just one person improve their health it will all be worth it.

      I’d love to see the garden!

      Reply

  42. What an inspiration you are, Somer. I’m on a similar path with weight loss with a different medical condition and I love seeing and reading about people who are overcome their challenges and kicked some arse!

    Reply

  45. Hi Somer, I love your positive attitude and passion for food! And your pictures are just scrumptious. Thanks so much for dropping by my blog.

    Reply

  48. Thanks for sharing your story. It’s wonderful and inspirational to see how you changed your health without medicine. I agree completely… everyone should see Forks Over Knives, and read The China Study. Both are changing my life.

    Reply

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