Greetings to my health-conscious readers! Are you having the best Veganuary? I pray your day is one that has unfolded in the best way it could, and may you experience all the love you deserve and can hold in your heart!
As you may already know, I transitioned to the plant-based lifestyle on June 25, 2017. I dropped meat that day and transitioned eggs and dairy out as a mainstay in my diet. But, the journey has not come without difficulty. There are a myriad of reasons it has been difficult. Ultimately, I’ve made a ton of excuses (some legit, some not so legit), but I stand by plant-based dieting because it has literally healed my body. I always get compliments about how young I look… and when I look at pictures from my past, I SEE the difference in myself. I glow differently.
When someone asks me about my transition, there are some concerns they mention, and I quickly realize some reprogramming they may need to go through because they have already made their mind up about plant-based dieting. Do you, for real. But for those of you who are interested, the next part is for you!
Let’s clear the air. The question I field the most from people who are curious about plant-based dieting is “HOW DO YOU GET YOUR PROTEIN?" Answer: from the plants! Amino acids are proteins, and they’re found in the whole plant kingdom. The largest land animals don’t even eat other animal flesh to get their protein. They get it from plants. The ones that are carnivorous sure aren’t cooking and seasoning the meat to eat it. This also must be noted: no one has ever died from an animal protein deficiency. Look it up.
Anemia is also of concern for people considering a plant-based lifestyle because WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GET YOUR B12 AND IRON? Well, there are plant-based iron supplements. See the image below. As far as B12 is concerned, you can most certainly supplement B12 (also known as cobalamin), but what I learned in my research is that B12 is synthesized from the symbiotic relationship of the bacteria in the gut of ruminants (cattle, goats, sheep, deer, etc./notice that doesn’t include chicken or turkey), which makes the meats and milks from ruminants great B12 supplements (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29216732/). However, humans actually have the bacteria that can create cobalamin, but, “the specialized bacteria that produce B12 flourish in the lower digestive tract—also known as the colon or large intestine. The paradox is that humans can only absorb B12 in the upper (small) intestine” (https://www.gaplesinstitute.org/vitamin-b-12-deficiency/#:~:text=Yes%20and%20no.,the%20upper%20(small)%20intestine). Yet, this study concluded that the human gut microbial biome can synthesize B12 if we create a healthy environment to do so (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.1070155). In fact, when I eat clean, I have all the energy in the world!
A belly full of meat and a belly full of plant-based foods do not feel the same. So, to transition diets, I would consider intermittent fasting first. Intermittent fasting includes an eating pattern where people limit their food consumption to certain hours of the day. I loosely practice the 16:8 method: fasting for 16 hours and eating for 8 hours. Although 16 hours sounds daunting, if you sleep for 8 of those, you’re really only fasting for 8 hours. Stop eating by 8 PM and don’t eat again until 12 noon the next day, breaking your fast (breakfast) with fruit and a protein shake. When your body doesn’t have anything heavy to process, it can focus on doing what it’s naturally wired to do… HEAL. When I first started to transition, I was hungry all the time, but when I incorporated fasting (unintentionally), I naturally started eating less and less. Now I get the ‘itis when I eat a large salad, smoothie, and pomegranate. I normally eat one big meal a day with a smoothie in the morning.
When you start eating better, your body goes into healing mode, which means your body is going to do things you’re not accustomed to doing. People get frustrated or give up because they get sick, their body odor becomes strong, they experience aches they haven’t experienced, they experience withdrawals or cravings, etc. You must remember that your body is self-healing. If it has functioned in dysfunction for a long time, it will keep modifying itself to survive in dysfunction. So when you change what you’re putting into it, it won’t have to work so hard. Your body is karmic. Put good things in, and good things happen. Put bad things in it, well, it’s bound to break down and have issues. Look for my podcast episode about the pain of healing soon.
Unlearn and Relearn Your Eating Patterns- What “they” told us was healthy for us is actually not. Animal and dairy products are not good for human consumption. Eggs are the chicken’s period, Cow’s milk is breastmilk for baby cows, and the flesh of anything is connected to the souls of all living things. If they experience trauma in slaughter, we will absorb what happened to them. Legit question: have you ever met a VIOLENT VEGAN? A GARDEN GANGSTA? Absolutely not. Your tastebuds will transition as well. Once you diversify your food palate, you’ll never taste the same way again.
Quick tips: Start by making healthy swaps, reducing your food intake, taking it easy, and giving yourself grace. Look up your favorite recipes and find plant-based swaps. Follow some plant-based content creators. Immerse yourself in the lifestyle. Find a friend to share recipes with. Find plant-based options on menus and try them. Give yourself some grace again. If it was easy everyone would do it.
Conclusion: Please know our bodies are smart and are beautifully and wonderfully made. And the bodies know what to do. We have to build a relationship with our bodies to know what they need.
Hope this helps!
Alexa, play “The Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston. Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all, and there are many ways to show yourself love. I will say that nourishing your body with the best foods it needs is one way to honor your body, which in turn, is an integral element of loving yourself. Cheers to nourishing food! Love and peace to you all on your journey!
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