My journey of healthy eating goes back to 2006 when I realised that my lack of attention to my diet had had severe unwanted effects for my body not least as regards my weight. In 9 months from 2005 to 2006 I gained 20 kilos from a very poor student diet. For the years since then I have been wanting to lose weight but nothing was very successful. My successes only lasting a few weeks before I would relapse. A typical example is losing 7 kgs in 5 weeks on an intensive exercise regime only to put it all back on again and more when I stopped exercising.
On the final day of 2009, having reached the heaviest weight I have ever been in my life (because of very poor food choices as a result of severe stress and depression), I made the decision to cut out all meat (bar fish) and chocolate from my diet. It was the first time that I made a serious decision to do something radical to change my diet and improve my life. I became a pesco-vegetarian. I knew nothing about being a vegetarianism but I knew that I was going to turn my back on red meat. The kilos just melted off and after 6 weeks I had lost 9 kgs. That is when I hit the wall.
When I returned to red meat (because of pressure from my family) I started to gain back the kilos. Then I plateaued and for months I stayed at the same weight. I knew that I was going to have to return to vegetarianism if I was going to lose the weight. I was of course exercising during all this time, not in an intensive way but more moderate, a 60-90 minute walk a day.
Four months ago I turned my back once again on meat, all meat this time including fish. I became an ovo-lacto-vegetarian. After two months, having lost the weight I gained during the summer when eating meat, and having educated myself alot on the literature on health and animal welfare I made the switch to true vegetarianism (veganism), I dropped the milk products and the eggs and I became I vegan. I stocked up on tofu and soya and for the last two months I have been riding at the same weight unchanged. Now that it is winter it seems impossible for me to shift any more weight. I would like to lose another 10 kilos, and I know I can because my target weight is the weight I was in 2005 before I gained the 20 kgs.
I read up on raw veganism and decided that I wanted to try it. Now I am on day three of my raw vegan diet where I only eat raw plant food, no processed nor animal-derived nor cooked foods.
So far I am feeling great, as if on a drug high, I am more positive and energetic on this raw diet. It is interesting that on every step, from shifting from eating the normal Western high-fat diet to vegetarianism, to cooked veganism and then on to raw veganism I have gained a little more positivity and a little more energy. I am feeling the greatest I have ever felt in years.
Ever since I have gone vegan my partner has been telling me that I smell better, am looking younger and am more positive and loving. As I said, it is day 3 of my raw vegan diet so I have only just started but already I can feel the positive changes.
I plan to keep you all posted on the developments and hopefully I will encourage others to embark on their own vegetarian/vegan/raw diets.
