What Runs Lori: Exploring Self, Food + Exercise

February 28, 2012 By Leanne Vogel June 28, 2015

Lori’s here to talk about how she’s come to love herself for who she really is after trying to conform to multiple diets and overcoming disordered eating. What I enjoy about Lori and her blog is that her eating style is always changing; similar to what you see here on HP, she just runs with what her body’s feeling that day and I admire her honesty about it. From raw, to vegan, to paleo, there’s a bit for everyone over at What Runs Lori. My recommendation? Start with the ABG bars (picture below). I adapted the recipe to what I had on hand, but her bars are just way prettier and I’m sure they’re tastier too!

As a lover of all things health and fitness, I’m an advocate for self exploration, food exploration, and exercise exploration. Finding what I love doesn’t mean you’ll love it and vise-versa. But exploring the possibilities as to what you may love, is a whole other outlook on living healthy. For example, after losing 50 pounds, then suffering from an eating disorder, then finally loving myself for me- no strings or food attached, I’ve tried many different diets. Raw food shook up the entire way I thought about food. Going from eating soy-filled, sugar-less, highly processed and chemical induced “foods” for so long, in a quest for health, mind you, I cut ALL of it out and went 9 months completely raw vegan. Wow, what a change it made. I was eating healthy fats, lots of fruits and vegetables, experimenting with new foods, sprouting things, fermenting things, and indulging, sinlessly, in raw food desserts. It was wonderful and made me realize that food was certainly not the enemy- to which was an entirely new concept for me. I’ve made things like:

Raw Sushi Rolls
LOTS of Green Smoothies: Blueberry Gingerbread Smoothie
Raw & Simple Kale Salad
Raw, Yet Warming Carrot Coconut Curry Soup
Raw, Dairy-Free, Blueberry Vanilla Cream Parfait
Super Chunky Citrus Bites
Raw Sugar Plum Fairies

Then I started dabbling in vegan, adding some cooked foods back into my life helped balance everything, just a bit more. I fell in love with hummus and kabocha squash, and to this day eat that sweet little squash more than I probably should.

Vegan Eggless Salad
Kabocha Squash & Creamy Tofu Sauce

Vegan baking was super fun. So many wonderful things come out of ovens, don’t you know?

Vegan Banana Bread Beer Banana Cupcakes (oooh yes.. I know!)
Vegan Caramelized Onion, Arugula, and Cherry Tomato Pizza
Vegan Black Bean Sliders with Mango Sundried Tomato Sauce

Then I went into the CrossFit way of life and did a 180 with my diet- right smack dab into Paleo. My body has been loving Paleo. My tongue has also. With a little less restraint on what goes into my mouth, I’m eating homemade sausage, Thai chicken patties, outrageously flavored crock-pot meals, meaty lettuce wraps, sauteed veggies, and so much more. A little bit of raw and vegan fit into this category, too, as veggies and fruits are the main showcase of all my meals.

Did I already mention that great things come from ovens? If I didn’t then you should probably take a look at a few of my FAVORITE Paleo baked goods and meals:

The Avocado Coconut Cowboy Cookie
Paleo Sandwich Bread
Sugar Cookie Doughnuts
Cheesy Delicious Paleasagna (no noodle lasagna!)

Purely Paleo Pumpkin Muffins
Variety of Paleo Breakfast Ideas
Lemon Basil & Honey Egg Salad
Paleo Buffalo Chicken Tenders

Well, that’s it but I’ve got much, much more good food. For more information about my way of life *ahem* What Runs Lori, my favorite recipes and beloved workouts, visit my blog! Or, for even more awesomeness you can print – Check out my eBook! Thanks, Leanne! Have a WONDERFUL time in India!!