I wanted to share my vegan journey with you below.
That is not something I have opened up before on my blog, but I have shared about my vegan journey on my Instagram before.
Today I will dig into when and what made me become vegan.
Well, I have been vegan since May 2016.
I can definitely say it was one of the best decisions of my life. Like they say I only regret not becoming vegan earlier.
Especially when I first decided to have children.
What made me become vegan?
For me it was after my twin pregnancy in 2016. I wasnt feeling my best and wanted to eat healthier. One evening I watched Cowspiracy on Netflix and this was my motivation to try a vegan diet for 30 days.
From the next day, I became vegan. It has now been almost 5 years since I have had any meat. It was for health and environmental reasons first for me. I loved how eating vegan made me feel health-wise.
Becoming vegetarian or vegan was always something I had wanted to try and watching the documentary and seeing how much impact skipping meat can have on the environment and the animals really helped to convince me to try it.
Overnight I went vegan and found it quite enjoyable and easy. I loved learning to be more creative in the kitchen to come up with recipes.
I already had a food blog by then and my instagram account so I was already creating vegan recipes.
To be honest I think becoming vegan was also trendy in the food blogging/instagram world back then. Most recipes I created were already vegan on my page as they were more popular.
It was after the clean eating/sugar-free trend and everyone was becoming vegan. I did it for myself but I can say now that it also definitely helped me grow my Instagram account. I also made a lot of vegan instagram friends during that time.
My vegan journey as a nutritionist:
Me becoming vegan also happened at the same time as I started studying nutrition. I studied for 3 years to become a nutritionist and now focus in plant-based nutrition.
I really believe anyone can benefit from eating more plant-based. And the planet and animals too!
My degree wasn’t solely about vegan nutrition but a lot of the information covered in my course reinforced my belief in plant-based nutrition.
Benefits of my vegan journey:
There are a lot of benefits from eating vegan/plant-based. As mentioned before the environment and my health were my major motivation in starting my vegan journey.
Apart from knowing I am helping the environment by saving water and animal lives by eating more plant-based, I also know I am keeping my heart healthy by avoiding saturated fats as well as reducing risks for other chronic diseases.
Weight loss:
I personally noticed a big difference in my weight when I did my 30 days vegan.
After having my twins, I was struggling to lose my twin pregnancy weight and pretty much got back to my pre-baby weight after the 1 months of trying eating vegan. I was very happy with this as it also felt very effortless.
Gut Health:
My gut health has also improved a lot since making the switch. I used to suffer from bloating daily terribly (looking 6 months pregnant).
I could never find it if was the dairy, the gluten or garlic, onions, fruit etc. Since then I barely suffer from bloating.
Healthy cycles:
Another personal benefit I found by eating vegan is a decrease in PMS symptoms, more regular cycles and a big decrease in hormonal acne. I used to really be in pain during my cycle and have lots of cystic acne as well as very long cycles.
These days my cycles are regular, no pain, light and I only have the odd pimple.
My vegan pregnancy:
As I mentioned above I have more regular cycles after becoming vegan and 18 months after making the switch we decided to have another baby. I found it a lot easier to get pregnant this time around and I had a vegan pregnancy with Annabelle.
By then I felt confident in my nutrition knowledge for pregnancy and the benefits of having a vegan pregnancy. I had a very easy pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby girls (3.6kg) and had a great breastfeeding journey too (despite Annabelle’s infant allergies).
To find out more on how to have a healthy vegan pregnancy check out my Vegan Fertility & Nutrition Guide!
Raising kids vegan:
When I first started my vegan journey I didn’t feel confident to raise my twins who had just started solids on a fully vegan diet. I transitioned them slowly to a predominantly plant-based diet since.
Raising children on a vegan diet requires a bit more nutrition knowledge and planning from the parents.
This is why I recommend that you read this guide, to help you make sure your child won’t lack any nutrients.
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