We’ve been continuing our education on food and how our diet affects us and to be honest, it’s scary, really scary what I’ve been shoveling down my throat for the past 30 years.

You believe, quite rightly too, that the food that is on the shelves at the supermarket are suitable for eating, you would never stop to think that in many of the processed foods out there, so many of them are filled with chemicals and additives that are harmful to our bodies.

I remember working 9-5, finishing work and getting into the car to drive home, being stuck in traffic, stopping at the local supermarket and grabbing something for dinner, usually items that were quick and easy, a ready meal or some some frozen meat and oven chips that I could pop in the oven while I’m in the shower or flaked out in front of the tv.  I never once gave any thought to the nutrients and vitamins my body needs on a daily basis to heal itself and to keep me in good health, so when I was feeling lethargic, napping all the time, skin outbreaks, colds, I automatically believed there was something actually wrong with me.  All that was wrong, was my diet, so simple, yet eating the wrong foods can have such a dramatic affect on our physical and our mental well being.

Imagine, when your car runs out of petrol, it stops moving, so you go out and fill it up, not with diesel, because you know that your car doesn’t run on that kind if fuel, but with the fuel you know is best for your car.  Our bodies, in essence is the same, it needs the right fuels to run correctly. Our bodies might get by on the ‘foodlike” products, fast food, ready meals, processed products, for a while but when you go for your personal MOT you find that things on the inside have been deteriorating.

It really is never too late to start making better food choices. Although we’ve taken the decision to follow a vegan diet 100% of the time, many may not be quite there yet.  We started off slowly at first, changing 2 of our days to vegetarian (even then we’d still have a ham or cheese sandwich for lunch, so wasn’t really a “proper” vegetarian day) but we soon found that we were making really delicious dishes that we enjoyed more than the meat counterparts. We then increased our main meals to 3 or 4 times a week vegetarian and it’s only in the past 6 weeks that we have actually stopped all meat, dairy and processed foods, but because it was a gradual process for us it was a lot easier to make that leap from part time vegetarian to full time vegan diet.

It’s really hard to convince people, even friends that this is a healthier life choice and that in changing our diets now, we’re hoping to build a better foundation for old age, but the media, even the internet is geared up so that most of the information we’ve found out by hard research, is actually very difficult for many to find when all the advertising from big corporations blocks the way to the truth.

All I can do is keep trying with my friends and family, show them where to get the best recipes from, keep them engaged in how good a clean vegan diet is and what they will gain from it, mainly more energy, lose some weight, reduce their chances of getting diabetes, cancers, heart disease.  It’s no problem to me if people choose not to change their diets, all I ask of them is to learn a little more about the food they eat and make ‘informed” decisions.

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to our health.

Here are just a couple of references to get you thinking:

Why animal protein should be eliminated (or severely restricted) from our diets – http://www.thechinastudy.com/

Why drinking cow’s milk isn’t all that good for you – http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/