Chapter 3: Veganism

The debate on what the healthiest diet is eternal and the last thing I want to come across in this post is that I'm one of those passive aggressive vegan activists. However, over the past couple of weeks I have been come more conscious of what I am putting into my body, where it comes from and the effect it has on the environment.
I suffered from disordered eating in the past as some of you will know if you've been reading my blog for a while. One of my main problems was the nutrition of the food, as well as calories, and I would follow what I thought of as "healthy and controlled diet"- aka. low carb, high animal protein. Although I had a lot of veggies and would pile my plate high with beans and greens, I was also consuming lots and lots of animal product.
After about a year of recovery I tended to stay away from meats purely because I had lost the lust for them but was eating a lot of dairy and other animal products. Although  my weight returned to a healthy number I would still continue to feel very bloated and self conscious.
Over the past year or so however, I have become a lot more appreciate of my body and have been seeing it as more than just an aesthetic. I have learned to look at it as the thing that carries my personality and conscience.
After reading more into the benefits and reasoning behind the vegan diet and started to transition into the what I call "aware" mindset of what I was really eating. I soon started to feel disgusted at some of the ingredients that were in my everyday diet. I couldn't put myself through watching the footage taken from farms and slaughter houses and had to ask myself why that was. If I couldn't bare to watch how my dinner was made, how on earth could I be eating it?
I understand how animal products have become such a staple in the diet of the majority of the population, but after having many discussions with my meat-eating friends, I soon realised that there was no good side to eating animal products that couldn't be at least balanced out by a plant based diet. By changing my diet I feel so much happier and more comfortable with my meals and as though I'm genuinely making a difference.
This is not to say that my diet is perfectly healthy as there is definitely such a thing as an unhealthy vegan and I have stilled accidentally eaten milk or egg ingredients in foods but you live and you learn, eh?
So this post isn't meant to make people feel guilty or belittled by their diet but hopefully give you something to think about.

Francesca


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