I decided to switch from being vegetarian to vegan to see if it would improve my health. I was struggling with depression, anxiety, obesity, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Initially, I was eating a lot of vegan junk food and I only noticed an improvement in my anxiety levels. Once I got used to eating a plant-based diet and had a good variety of healthy recipes to use, I largely ditched the highly processed foods and that’s when I started to lose weight, experience reduced levels of pain, increased energy and improved mood. I did also stop drinking alcohol, which I sure helped. I’m now a healthy weight and my health issues are managed without any medications. A vegan diet may not always be a silver bullet, but I do think it can make a big difference. Perhaps part of it is that when you care enough about yourself to put mainly good, natural food in your body, then you’re likely to look after yourself better in other ways too. I am very happy to live without eggs and dairy in exchange for greatly improved health.
I have been vegan for only one and a half months but I already have noticed positive changes. I have always suffered from anxiety and depression but since becoming vegan I feel much calmer and more content. I also sleep very deeply now whereas before changing to a vegan diet I would wake up in the night sweating and often wouldn’t sleep very well. Having read an article by Dr Elizabeth Blackburn about changes that can happen after three months of a vegan diet, I hope that further positive changes may happen for me and I hope that this is only the start of an improvement in my health and well-being.
In my late thirties, I began to get wheezy and chesty. I also had a near-constant cold. I was prescribed a brown ‘preventer’ inhaler and a blue ‘reliever’ inhaler, both of which I used regularly.
I always considered myself to be fit; I had run regularly during my twenties, a few injuries and niggles meant that I slowed down in my thirties but I still hiked, walked the dogs, etc., and so thought I was quite active. My wife and I had been vegetarian for years then but she made the decision to go vegan. I’ll admit that I wasn’t very supportive initially, I didn’t understand veganism and why she wanted to do something so ‘extreme’.
She didn’t try to influence me, knowing that it would likely have the opposite effect, but I ate all of the meals she cooked and so my dairy intake naturally decreased. I also glanced at the odd Viva!life magazine strategically placed around the house. I then came across a series of books about long-distance running Born To Run by Christopher McDougall, Eat & Run by Scott Jurek, and Finding Ultra by Rich Roll. Suddenly a vegan diet wouldn’t just allow me to run; it would help me to run.
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