Veganism is Wellness

I've heard a lot of criticism around the web, on social medias, and in my personal life concerning veganism. I've heard various arguments, debates, and insults. One of the main arguments being that being vegan isn't healthy or sustainable. Thus, I feel the need to take a few minutes to give my (first and probably last) two cents on the topic regarding whether Veganism is healthy and sustainable. I could sit here and give you reference after reference after reference to tons and tons of scientific papers and research showing that it is healthy and that it is sustainable, but, I think it would be wiser and more beneficial if I just shared my personal experience.

I consider myself more plant based rather than vegan. Yes, I call myself vegan and I do live this way partly for the animals and my love and care for their existence. However, I prefer the term plant based as, firstly, it has less of a negative connotation to it (which is sad because caring about the lives of others should be seen as positive). Secondly, as I became vegan due to my health. Lastly, I remain plant based due to the knowledge I've gained, satisfaction I've felt, and fulfillment I've attained that has and continues to present itself on my health and well being.

I guess I should start from the beginning. Between February 2016 to September 2017 I suffered from Anorexia Nervosa (if you want to hear more about this I have an entire series about it on my YouTube channel, as I will not go into detail about it here). Now, the way that I responded to my illness was as follows; I would go several days without eating. There were some days where I would eat only cereal bars, and then when I got extremely hungry I would finally cave and have a meal (usually by some sort of force from my mother or grandmother). I used to suppress my appetite by smoking about a pack of 20 cigarettes a day. I managed my fatigue by drinking 4 to 6 cups of coffee, although there were times when not even the coffee was sufficient. After a year and a bit of this regime, if you can call it that, I had done a lot of damage to my now weak and hurt body. I say now as I'm still recovering. Let me explain.

I used to be able to lift up an entire arm chair all by myself. This past September (2018) when Georgia and I moved in together I struggled to lift up our boxes. This is because when you do not give your body the fuel that it requires it begins to eat away at its fat storage for energy. But, after a while when there is no fat left to use, it starts using up muscle; this is called muscle atrophy. Saying this, as I do eat properly now and have begun exercising my bodies muscles are building themselves up again - however, I am still not completely where I should be. For example - you know when you laugh so hard that you throw your head back?! Well, whenever I do that I have to take both my hands, grab my head, and put my head straight, as my neck is too weak to lift up my head on its own. But I'll get there.

Another damage, that I do believe I have now fixed, has to do with the way in which my Anorexia affected my Irritable Bowel Syndrome. When I was 12 years old I was diagnosed as having IBS which, put bluntly, means that certain foods irritate my digestive system and causes me average to intense amounts of pain. Like periods cramp, but more random and irregular. Two things that someone with IBS should never

do is A) go several hours without food and B) take or ingest stimulants, and if you recall from two paragraphs ago I spent my days smoking and drinking coffee with not much else. After a year of doing all the things I should not have done, I can assert without a doubt in my mind that I have never been in so much pain in the entirety of my life. Every single day my stomach was aggravated, and when I finally began eating properly again in September 2017, my stomach was so sensitive and so damaged that anything I ate caused me agonizing pain.

But then, I heard that many people who turned to veganism with digestive issues either helped lessen their pain or they had healed themselves completely. So, I decided to try it myself. And almost a year and a half later, of eating as clean and as healthy as I possibly can. After stuffing my face with vegetables, and avoiding fatty and gluten filled foods as much as I possibly could. After eradicating meat and dairy from my diet. I am almost entirely asymptomatic. Even now when I eat things that would have previously aggravated my bowels, (things like; bread, certain beans, sweets, fruits with high amounts of fructose, and spicy food) no longer affect me in the slightest. And if I do happen to have a slight bout of pain it is minimal and it goes away quickly, but this has been rare over the past few months. The pain did not disappear immediately. In fact, it got worse before it got better. But I now feel much better in relation to the past several years.

The reason as to why I share this information is to show that being vegan, or being plant based, isn't just sustainable, but it is healing, it is strengthening, it is the most natural way for us to eat, it is the only way we were ever supposed to eat. When we ingest things that are not made for our bodies, things like meat and dairy, and excessively fatty, oily foods we end up with over weight societies with numerous amounts of diseases and illnesses. Diseases and illnesses that didn't exist thousands and thousands of years ago. When Hippocrates, a Greek physician of the year 460 BC stated "let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food", I do believe this is exactly what he was mentioning. Because even before the age of Christ people knew how much power comes from eating the right foods. They knew and understood that by eating as naturalistic, holistic and purely as we possibly can, avoiding pure fats with no nutritional benefits our bodies can be powerful, strong, self-healing, energetic, vigorous, active, robust, resilient, and trim. When we eat whole plant foods packed with vitamins and nutrients our bodies become happy, healing, healthy machines, that function at their most optimum.

Having become plant-based has not only healed my tummy and stopped me from fearing eating or putting on weight, but it has also helped me become happy, productive, energised, enthusiastic, more spiritual, and more connected to the planet (in the sense that I have learnt to care for it and want to help take care of it). Plus, I can exercise more than I used to for longer than I used to, and recover faster than I used to without any asthma attacks (oh yeah, I have asthma, which also seems basically asymptomatic on a vegan diet). I could sit here and give an extensive list of all the pros of being vegan, but one of my favourites has to be the fact that I no longer hurt when I eat, I can eat what I want, when I want. Through eating the right foods, I healed my body.

In other words, Hippocrates was right!