I haven’t written in a long time. I was rather lost. And every time I wanted to write something on the blog I would convince myself it was not important enough to share it with others. Researching on the web on articles about blogging I discovered that everybody writes about themselves, about things in their lives and about the experiences that they have.
So I sat down and looked at my life and began to search what is the thing that I do on a daily basis regardless of anything, that thing which I don’t even notice I am doing since it has become a part of me. And since I am writing this post you probably understand that I found what I was looking for.
I am a vegetarian. Yes I am!
Not because I don’t want to kill animals or because I am an obsessive ecologist or because my religion will not allow it, nor because I believe I am making the world a better place by refusing to eat meat. Nope! I am a vegetarian because I feel I need to be and because it is the best diet for my particular type of body and metabolism. How do I know that?
It all began when I was little, maybe about 7 years old. My father started practicing yoga and as part of his practice he chose to embrace vegetarianism. At that point mom always had to cook 2 separate types of food, for us and for him. And as usual I always ended up tasting his food, which I considered very very tasty. He followed this diet for 3 years and then returned to being non-vegetarian.
At 13 being incredibly tall, I started having back pain. Low calcium and fast growing bones ensured that they were rather fragile and thin and as a result my spine nerves were touching each other (to put it in a simple way) causing me great pain. I have been to several doctors, have received many checkups, but one in particular stuck to my brain. One doctor decided to check if my back pain wasn’t caused by other things, like kidney stones so he chose to give me an ultrasound test. All turned out well except he told me that my liver was twice as big as a normal child at my age, and when I asked him why, he said probably because it stores to much fat. This phrase “twice as big, … because of fat” remained in my head for several years and it would eventually determine me to change my diet. I was dependent on sugars, oily foods, fast foods, fried foods, synthetic juices and even though I was not overweight I was chubby, unhealthy and very clogged.
Nothing of me is original, I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve met
This is a quote by Chuck Palahniuk that sums up my life and who I am today and which for sure is valid for everybody. To continue my story, while i was in high-school my mother got very very sick and was one step away from having cancer. In an attempt to improve her health, my father decided to send her to a Health Sanatorium he had found while searching for solutions to her problem. With a lot of effort and convincing she finally went. She spent 2 weeks under a very strict diet, of vegetable and fruit juices, sport and eco-therapy. And after returning from there, she was not only healthier but she was also better from a psychological and one might say spiritual point of view. To my family this was a relief and we supported her on her vegetarian diet. And again vegetarianism was a part of our lives. This lasted for a year, then she also returned back to being a meat eater. I was still a meat eater too, I still had problems with controlling my weight and was feeling overall unhealthy and ‘un-alive’.
After finishing high-school and passing the admission exam at the faculty of architecture, I wanted to make a change. And as I went on my first workshop as an architecture student, life had pushed me even further on the path of becoming vegetarian. I had discovered some of my professors adopted the diet, their children have been vegetarian since they were born and then and there all the experiences that I had, all the questions about my health and all the situations in which I found myself in contact with not eating meat have finally made me reach the decision. Vegetarianism is for me. And I embraced it fully. For some reason it was not hard, it came naturally to me and the fact that my entire family was not vegetarian anymore was not a problem to me. For some reason this was the only thing in my life that defined me and was me.
I have been a vegetarian for 8 years now
8 years have passed since and I am not only a healthier person, but I am also a happier person and I have removed any kind of synthetic substances from my diet as well as flour based foods mainly since gluten has become rather unbearable for me to eat. My life on a daily basis as far as food is concerned consists of fresh shakes in the morning rich in protein derived from naturals products and not from powders, a large bowl of salad for lunch made of fresh vegetables, seeds and dried fruits, with cheese and olive oil, and at night something light. During the day I snack on seeds, fruits, vegetables and dink lots of water as well as my detox fresh juices that I make at home. And every 3 months I do a detoxing / cleansing of my digestive system, liver and lymph. I am happy to say, my liver no longer has fat on it and it definitely was worth the effort.
As a conclusion listening to my body and what it requires had made me a happier, healthier person. I have more energy during the day, I sleep better, I feel alive and much lighter. I exercise occasionally, my favorite sport is power yoga, a 1 hour session with Rodney Yee and not only has this affected me in a good way, but it has also inspired my family to become healthier. Listening to your body is the best way to stay healthy and live a longer fuller life. I don’t agree that vegetarianism is for everyone, but in my case it fits like a glove.
If you ever need to talk to someone about being a vegetarian feel free to write to me. I have not had very much support from people and I learned everything I know as I went along, from experience and always listening to how my body responded to the diet.
Stay healthy, live happy!
untill next time 🙂
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