This short post is not at all a way to preach the plant based way but more to give you a very short insight to how this began for me. It started as a health journey but naturally the welfare benefits of a plant based diet became more important to me and ethically it was a good decision for me to make.
When I was about 21 years old I had a food allergy test done in a local health food store and one of the things I tested positive for was being lactose intolerant amongst other things. I tried soya milk as a cows milk alternative for a while (meaning a few cups of tea the same day and the next day) and gave up easily saying it was not nice, I did not like it and I returned to cows milk and my usual dairy eating ways.
The only meat I really liked was a lamb curry as well as a real weakness for lamb kebabs, hot chutney with salad in a nan bread (really, it was very tasty I promise). Although, saying that, I did eat all meats but often felt sick after doing so. I always left my meat to the end when eating a meal and if we ate out I often always chose the vegetarian option.
About 4 years ago I had watched a documentary about a community in USA that were vegans and they were living longer than most and were happier and healthier. I always remembered the documentary and thought ‘wow’ and at the same time ‘that must be so difficult’. I thought nothing of it and carried on with my animal protein, animal protein and more animal protein meals and diet shakes throughout the years. Just like the way we are told to, right? I mean, I felt ok and just carried on.
In November 2017, my family and I lost my auntie aged 53 years to bowel and ovarian cancer. Seeing what she went through during her last weeks in hospital, physically and mentally changed the way I saw my own body. There was no transplant or cure for this, as naive as it sounds I thought most parts of the body could be transplanted by donor parts. How wrong was I. The smell of cancer and a rotting bowel was the same smell as the roast chicken dinner that my husband (such a sweetheart) cooked for me one night when I returned from the hospital visiting my auntie. The thought of loosing my auntie to cancer and then the smell of the dead chicken made me heave. That was the last time I ate meat.
The transition went from being a vegetarian for 3 months and feeling so much better to waking up one day and deciding I don’t want to eat eggs and dairy as opposed to “I am turning plant based” statement. It felt like this was correct thing to do for my body. So I chose the plant based way.
For me a this diet works. I only wish I had done it years ago. The health and energy benefits are amazing and I will put together another blog about how this has changed my health for the better.
So if you are considering a plant based diet, I couldn’t recommend it enough.
I Am Health 