My husband and I started an official plant-based journey in 2019. We had been building up to changing our lifestyle for many years before that. I grew up in a family that ate meat and dairy daily. My family also had a fair amount of processed foods and tv dinners.
When I started college, I noticed that something was affecting my body. My stomach was aching daily, and I realized it must be food that was causing my problems. After some trial and error, I figured out that dairy was the culprit. I started eating less dairy and found some lactose free milk. However, I found it hard to avoid all the foods I loved, especially when all of my friends were eating it. I tried using Lactaid pills to see if that could help my stomach issues but found it only caused other stomach pain. I thought that I was just stuck with stomach discomfort for life.
In 2017, I found out that two of my siblings were also lactose intolerant. That same year, I was teaching 3rd grade and found out that more than half of my coworkers were also lactose intolerant. We also noticed that more kids that year weren’t able to eat dairy. I wondered why the problem seemed to be growing. I started to ask questions about why the milk was affecting so many people.
That year I met a friend who lived a strict plant-based lifestyle. She surprised me with how committed she was to her diet, so I asked her some questions about it. She told me that she had hypothyroid, which means her thyroid gland was under-performing, and she had a slow metabolism. The problems were so bad that her doctor had prescribed daily medications that caused other problems and made her feel horrible. After struggling for a long time, she read that a vegan lifestyle change could help her, and she decided to try it out. After switching her diet, she was blessed with more energy, lost weight, and lowered her dose of medication. She did not think that was going to be possible with her condition. She said that she had never felt better in her life. She also told me about countless other people that the lifestyle had helped as well.
I was very interested in the changes that she had made, but I still didn’t want to commit to a plant-based lifestyle at that time. I was too happy eating my delicious cheese, dairy desserts, and tasty hamburgers! But every time I did, it felt as if my digestive system was tied in knots. I remember clenching my stomach in pain all the time. I went to my doctor’s office, and they took my blood and found out that I possibly had a thyroid problem and high cholesterol. The doctor told me that I needed to get my cholesterol checked every year and that I should avoid eating red meats.
I was discouraged. I wasn’t even 30 years old yet, and I had high cholesterol and possibly other problems. My friend again encouraged me to change my diet, but I didn’t want to give up my favorite foods. The thought of not being able to eat ice-cream, cheese, and yogurt did not feel fair. I was cursed, and being on a dairy-free diet was going to be one of the worst things to happen to me! It took another year of issues and ever increasing cholesterol for me to realize that it was time to make some changes.
I started making lifestyle changes after I watched the “Game Changers” documentary on Netflix. In the documentary, they showed athletes who improved their performance on a plant-based lifestyle. These athletes were able to increase performance when switching to a plant-based diet. The documentary mentioned many reasons why we should not consume animal products. It all made sense to me, and I decided to commit to an animal-free diet. I wanted the health benefits that came with the lifestyle.
However, that was just the first step. I shortly discovered that I needed to strengthen my reasons for living this way. I learned that it is easy to go back to old food habits if you don’t have better food habits set up to take its place. I wanted to commit 100%, but I still had so much to learn. We started by just adding new recipes to our weekly rotations. As we gathered recipes we figured out how to cut out meat without difficulty. Dairy and eggs were the tricky part for us. Eventually we found great substitutes for most of our regular recipes, and we are enjoying the increased variety in our meals.
As I accepted my fate and changed my diet, my stomach pains vanished and I also lost a lot of excess weight. After feeling better for so long my opinion has changed. I realized that my life wasn’t over and now I have pain-free foods that I love! Getting to this point took time, commitment, and a willingness to try new things.
A large part of the commitment has come from studying and gaining knowledge I previously didn’t have about dietary requirements and plant-based foods. I’ve read countless articles, peer-reviewed journals, medical studies, books, watched many videos and movies, and have even done some spiritual studies on the topic. It was shocking to see how many sources point in the direction of a plant-based lifestyle – and I was never even aware of it until a year ago!
The last thing that furthered my commitment was getting my blood taken this year in 2020. I was completely surprised when I received the results. My cholesterol went from 208 in the “borderline high zone” down to 154 in the “normal zone.” It went down by 54 mg/dl after just a few months of dedication to a plant-based diet. That decrease was a HUGE deal to me.
I felt like that test result was the last thing that I needed to commit completely. A few other things have also changed since we started changing our diets. My stomach has completely stopped hurting, I have finally known what it feels like to feel full but not stuffed, and my food cravings have disappeared.
All the information was great, but the real proof is trying the lifestyle out for yourself. My blood test was confirmation that this change in food does work. I am happy with my new lifestyle, and I would love to help you come to the plant side too! Let me know if you have any questions or need any help!
See ya on the Plant Side,
Chantel
