Why did I go plant-based?
I watched What the Health.
But let’s start from the beginning…
Weight Watchers
It was rare to find me eating anything green until college. Salads? EW. Unsatisfied with my weight, at 20 I joined Weight Watchers. I went from 158lbs to 138lbs pretty much thanks to fruits and vegetables. By design, fruits and veggies were zero to very little points so I ate a lot of them while trying to curb my cravings.
After 6 months of Weight Watchers I felt confident I could keep off the weight because of the new, healthier eating habits I created. But then during my senior year I had a rude awakening…
Candida Overgrowth
Candida is a more formal name for a type of yeast. Yeast is a “bad” bacteria that lives within our digestive tract, and although “bad”, is needed to create a healthy balance and overall gut health. With that being said, yeast can easily multiply out of control, losing this healthy balance. This is known as Candida overgrowth.
I realized at 22 that I had likely struggled with Candida overgrowth for the majority of my life. The symptoms are extremely broad and it’s not easy to diagnosis. To put it simply, Candida is mainly regulated by our diet. It is fueled by carbs and sugar, and killed by raw vegetables and leafy greens. The tricky thing is, when it starts to multiply, it doesn’t stop. It’s exponential and extremely hard to regain control.
Rightfully so, in my senior year of college I was doing quite a bit of celebrating. Drinking and late night carb loading. While I was still eating my fruits and vegetables on the regular, it wasn’t enough to stop my candida from spiraling out of control. My symptoms were chronic yeast infections.
At this time in my life I was somewhat forced into eating as many vegetables as possible with the Candida Diet. I even had to remove fruit from my daily intake because although a natural sugar, it was feeding the out of control Candida. It was only after many months of grueling vegetable therapy that I was able to regain control again.
Life After Candida
Knowing that my digestive tract danced a fine line of a healthy bacteria balance, I became more conscious of my routine consumptions: more veggies and very infrequent carbs and sugars.
At 25 I found myself juggling a full-time and a part-time MBA program that left little to no time to think about food. Since I mainly consumed vegetables at this point in my life, I inadvertently became a vegetarian. If I really wanted to eat meat, I would, but my routine made it easy to chose the veggie option.
Then Came Curiosity…
After a year of not eating meat, I felt really good. My weight had fluctuated up since I had lost it back in college, but I lost it all again. I hadn’t been sick in a really long time, not even a cold during the winter. I wasn’t just avoiding meat, I was eating vegetables that were high in nutritional value because of my background with Candida and I got curious if my diet was really enough.
One night after work, I didn’t have an assignment to do so I started to watch What the Health on Netflix. And it forever changed my outlook on food.
I was appalled by the food industry. The mass-marketing and money that fuels what is “recommended” in our diets. I felt wrong, and couldn’t believe the lies we have been fed (all puns intended) for the benefits of others rather than than any health benefits.
I know a single documentary shares only one point of view so I decided I would do a little experiment of my own. It surely couldn’t hurt to stick with vegetables that had only proven to be fruitful in my past experiences. So I tested myself. 1 week as plant-based.
Plant-Based
The week was easy, and more importantly fun. I learned so much about food, I expanded my palette, and I craved good food. That was my indulgence. I was like a little girl in a candy shop, but in the produce section. And to likely no one’s surprise, as the weeks turned into months, I felt even better.
As much as I love animals, I did not jump on the vegan train. I strolled onto the plant-based train that took my health to a magical place where:
- My candida never flared up.
- My stomach would never struggle to digest food – no pains or bloating.
- If I was hungry, I would eat. There were no restrictions and how much to consume in a day. Much like the point system, there’s no counting when all you’re eating is plants.
- I never craved “bad” food and didn’t for a moment miss how terrible I could feel after eating it.
I’m sorry, but no meal is worth any ounce of agony after eating it. That’s not what delicious means to me.
I also don’t live by strict rules. I personally think life is too short for such a thing. So, if I want cheese, I eat it. If I want a dessert that is full of diary, I eat it. And, I even eat fish from time to time because it’s good for my B12. But my lifestyle is plant-based.
It’s Not a Diet. It’s a Lifestyle.
Weight watchers was a diet that taught me how to eat a damn vegetable.
The cure for candida is a diet designed to kill off an overgrowth of bad bacteria through the foods you’re consuming. It taught me more about the vegetables I was choosing to eat.
Plant-based for me is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle. I didn’t do it to lose-weight or be healthier. It forever changed my relationship with food and I now understand how it is designed to fuel us. As a bonus, I got all of those other things in return. I am in the best physical shape of my life, I feel the healthiest I’ve ever been and I LOVE FOOD more than ever.
At 29, that is why I went, and will stay, plant-based.