Hi all!
Right, this feels like a bit of weird post to write...
For the last 5 years I have been vegetarian, experimenting between normal vegetarian, to raw vegan (a challenge!) and just vegan. I had a fair few reasons for becoming vegetarian in 2013, when I was 17 years old. I had been thinking about it for about 6 months, and then one day I heard a quote in a religion class that i was taking at school. The quote was from the Islamic Sacred texts which read, "Do not make your body a graveyard for innocent birds and animals". Despite not following any "religion", this quote hit me in my guts, and from that moment, I could NOT stomach any form of meat! I literally could not do it!!
After about 2 years of being vegetarian, I returned from my first trip overseas and felt quite unhappy for a number of reasons, and thought the best possible way to pull myself out of a funk would be to take control of my eating habits. I changed my diet from Vegetarian to strict RAW VEGAN...which means absolutely no cooked, processed food! If it hasn't fallen off a tree or grown out of the ground, i wouldn't eat it! I actually really loved this because it made me experiment so much! I really tried to push what I could create from just fruits and vegetables, I even made breads! And during this stage, my blog was born!I continued to eat like this for 9 months, till summer was well and truly over, and then man did I want a soup! And curry! So, I ate them! Since then, I have not really played with my diet to much. I enjoy living off smoothies and light salads and ok the occasional veggie burger after a beach trip in summer, and warming stews and curries made from root vegetables in the colder months. I feel like I was listening to my body. Besides eating way to many dates and buts- I do have to admit that they where my "treat"...that I over indulged in far to much!
PICS OF VEGAN CHEESE AND PESTO ON MY BLOG!
SO....after about 18 months of eating like this, and feeling great and light for most of it....lately I have really felt heavy, un-energetic and weak. When I did have energy I feel like it was sourced more from adrenaline than nutrients in my body.My metal clarity has felt foggy too.
...SOOOOOO... after 5 years, I decided I was willing to see if meat would make a difference. Whats interesting is that about 6 months ago I really felt like i wanted to eat meat, but wouldn't allow myself too and tried eating mushroom burgers for about a week!!! When the idea came up again this time I was flooded with 5 things in 24 hours about the important nutrients in meat, one of them being someone pointing out that a big block for me not eating meat like I was wanting to, was actually my ego being able to identify with" Veganism" and "not eating meat in 5 whole years!" ,so...we went and purchased 2 steaks and I am so grateful because I had a very skilled, careful and like minded chef cook me my very first piece of meat in 5 years. I cant tell you how grateful I was for this meal. I was grateful for the animal mostly of course! I did say a prayer for it and thanked it....I was grateful for the care that was taken when preparing the meal, AND MY GOSH MY BODY WAS GRATEFUL! Barely 10 minutes after eating I was in bed and slept for 13 hours straight, waking up in the morning with more energy than I have felt in my body in years and years! We had planned to do a small amount of gardening that day, a task i usually dread- but quickly realised 10 mins into it that I was not light headed, feeling sickly or weak...(something I actually had convinced myself was normal)...i was actually enjoying myself. My body was mine, and moving with energy!!!
So, here is my tale of my first time eating meat in a full 5 years! I am only 22 so thats actually a decent chunk of my life! I do want to say that I still support the vegan lifestyle so much and their ideas. I totally disagree with factory farming! And i agree with the fact that yes, by monitoring carefully what you eat and your bodies nutrient and mineral levels that you can live a healthy, full life as a vegan!!!! I also believe in listening to your body, and that everyones bodies are so different and need different things...so maybe, lets all just be kind and considerate of one another and our choices, beliefs and ideas....
I also want to say that I chose to eat a steak not hide meat in a pie or something because I wanted to be totally conscious of what I was putting into my body, I'm not disillusioned by the action. I knew I was eating an animal, and I tired to be incredibly grateful for it!!!
Thank you so much to those of you who read this! I want to say that I am so not trying to convince anyone of ANYTHING! Leave us a comment if you feel like it, especially if you have had a similar experience with any kind of diet/lifestyle!!
Thanks guys,
Headlessjess xo