-Nope, these are NOT the only things I eat!
It`s been almost 3 weeks now,
where I have been trying (up until now pretty successfully) to go temporarily
vegan. I have to say, I have always been pretty aware of my diet, but not in a
“trying-to-be-Heidi-Klum-supermodel-like” aware, more in
“I-prefer-the-healthy-me-better-than-the-junkfood-me” aware. If you get what I
mean?
Too often I experienced this veeeery
unsatisfied feeling of abdominal fullness (great word..!), bloating, and/or other consequences…
(TMI! but we all have been through this…)
So, years ago, with the help of a test,
which, roughly said, estimated your “diet type”, I got to know which things
are good for my body and which are simply not. Easy, right? But simultaneously
this meant for me; no burgers, no huge meals including loads of red meat, and
only a few things, which would include dairy. Yes, I know, all the fun things…
But guess what? No more bloated bellies,
no more discomfort after meals AND no endless craving for food. Good news! :)
So, since I realised that red meat is basically
poison for my body, I decided to go vegetarian, which is now a couple of years ago.
It`s not that I don`t like eating meat, don`t get me wrong! But, I just
preferred how my body felt after eating a salad, then after eating a burger
(or other meaty food, of course^^)
“So why going vegan then?” “Is veggie not
enough challenging?” To be honest, my decision on going vegan was quite
spontaneous. PLUS, I like challenges. ;) So, when Christmas was over and I was about
to go back to London, I said to myself that this would be the perfect
opportunity to go vegan. Temporarily.
I just think, that especially cities like
London, offer a huge variety of vegetarian and also vegan food.
After more than two weeks, I can now
finally talk about some of my experiences:
1. YES sometimes it is F******
hard! I never had a problem with my vegetarian diet, but vegan is another pair
of shoe we are talking about…
2. You prefer cooking at home for
yourself, rather than running to the next place to get your take-out dinner. Which
is kinda nice as well, I LOVE cooking ;)
3. No snacking or nibbling of
yummy stuff like crisps, (YES, most of them include MILK, what the heck?!)
4. You realise the shocking truth
of the unnecessary use of diary/animal products in most of the ready to eat
products and even cosmetics. (see nr.3…)
5. There are great alternatives to
diary/meat products. Such as coconut, soya or almond milk, olive oil spread (instead of butter) or dried soya as an alternative to minced meat.
6. Regular retail shopping is no
longer an option. Instead “Whole Foods Market” or small independent organic
shops, as well as street markets, are my go-to at the moment.
I I have to be
honest, I think it is going to be hard to keep up with this kind of nutrition,
especially when going back home to Switzerland. However, I think it has taught
and showed me a lot and I will definitely keep up with some of the vegan
options. Such as almond milk, Chia seeds and YES Quinoa too! ;)
All in all, I think going vegan is something worth trying if you experienced similar "symptoms", which I mentioned at the beginning. However, I think that the vegan nutrition is not meant for everyone. Simply because every person and body is different. I truly believe though, that we should listen more carefully to our body. Especially when it comes to nutrition and lifestyle.
Love,
J*
