DIET - PART I: Why I stopped eating meat

For me, talking about my eating choices is a very personal thing. I'm less likely to discuss why I eat the way I do than I am to discuss finances or religion. Two reasons for this, 1) because I feel like everyone wants to have an opinion on why you aren't eating the same way they do and 2) because I feel telling people how you eat and why you eat the way you do sometimes makes them feel like you are preaching to them about their lifestyle choices - even though you might not be.

I have started to get a lot of questions over the past year about why I eat the way I do and how people can also make the transition into 'healthier' food consumption. This will be a series of articles. I thought it made sense to first start speaking about why i'm pescatarian and why i'm making the transition to fully vegan.

image source - because vegan food can be totally delicious 

Currently, I live as a vegan most of the time. That is to say I prepare my own food during the week, usually breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday - Friday. Saturday and Sunday I usually eat out just because I'm usually not home. When eating at home everything we eat is vegan. That is to say we don't keep any animal products at home. On the vary rare occasion you might find eggs or cheese here, perhaps once a year at most.

On the weekend I might allow cheese, or fish to creep into my diet - but this isn't always the case. I am a huge sucker for pizza and love nothing more than fresh, wood-fired, Italian style pizza. Cheese is still my biggest hurdle to overcome, not so much on its own, but mainly on pizza and in recipes. Although I've heard there are some great non-dairy alternatives. 

Do you eat vegan cheese? If so what brands do you buy and where can you get it?

Why did I stop eating meat?

I mentioned briefly before in an earlier post that I am allergic to almost all antibiotics. Recently I have found, after 20 years of trying, one antibiotic which doesn't cause allergic reaction.
I used to be a HUGE meat eater. My doctor said I consumed what is deemed to be an unhealthy amount of meat for a woman, with almost all of my meals including meat - usually red meat.
I thought nothing of it. One day I started to become really sick on a cycle, constantly vomiting and feeling generally terrible. The doctors thought I had a parasite, but eventually after amount 18 months of tests and research I discovered that the antibiotics which were being pumped into the animals were building up in my body and causing an allergic reaction. 

Was it easy?

Hell no. I tried to give up meat for over a year before finally gorging on turkey and various other meats at Christmas and becoming so sick that I couldn't get out of bed for 4 days. That was the day I decided I needed to educate myself on what meat had been doing to my body. Changing your lifestyle in a dramatic way is never easy and it's often a case of 'un-learning' what you already know.

image source

Education

Education was the only thing which was standing between me and a healthier life. Now because of what I know about the meat industry and the impact consuming meat and animal products, I am able to monitor how my body feels after eating these kinds of foods. Not great, is the answer. That alone led me to being able to quit meat.
My advice for those of you looking to change your eating habits is research, research, research. I don't just mean watching Cowspiracy once, but actually spending time into understanding the human body and how it processes foods. (More on documentaries and scaremongering another time).

Issues

Although as mentioned I am vegan most of the time, I do eat fish and cheese every now and then - maybe once every two weeks. I've managed to switch over to almond and coconut milk instead of dairy and i've completely gone off the whole idea of eggs.
The main reason I haven't cut out fish yet, is living in SE Asia it's quite hard to, especially when eating out. Fish sauce is in a lot of dishes and often the restaurants will not know if their food is vegan or not.
At the moment eating fish and cheese doesn't make my body feel any worse, so it's harder to cut out. I need to go back to the education part here and really examine why I shouldn't be eating these things, besides the obvious.

image via @gringalicious 

The Aim

I'll be returning to the UK at the beginning of May on a more permanent basis. I have some exciting projects coming up there which i'm looking forward to sharing with you guys! I hope that when i'm there it will be much easier to manage my diet and switch to a completely vegan lifestyle. Cooking healthy, fresh food at home is much cheaper in the UK than Malaysia and at the same time eating out is much more expensive than Malaysia. Both of these things could really help with my vegan transition. 

Are you vegan or struggling with becoming totally vegan? I would love to hear from you!

More about vegan alternatives, scaremongering, intuitive eating and much more coming later in the series!

Yasmine