As I’ve alluded to last week, eating the baked goods made me sick. However, that didn’t stop me from trying a couple of other unhealthy snacks I didn’t want to miss out on. It was only later that it finally clicked. I had to stop sacrificing my health for the momentary joy of eating toxic foods.

I never tried a strict vegan diet before because I didn’t want to limit myself to discovering new foods I might like. Though over the past several years, this has excluded meat, fish, and chicken. Some stop eating animals because of their health, others because of compassion and karma. While those reasons kept me vegetarian, I initially made the switch after being served an undercooked steak. I felt pure disgust, and stopped thinking of animals as food.

Now that I see how negatively dairy and refined sugar affect my health, it’s time for another change. As much as I love cheese, cutting dairy won’t be as hard as cutting refined sugar. I usually opt for the vegan option anyway, but many restaurants use refined sugar in their foods and drinks. At home though, I already use maple syrup or dates as sweeteners.

As I’m learning to let food be my medicine, rather than poison, I heard that an omnivore relative of mine is sick. I stayed up wondering if I should bite my tongue or risk sounding preachy. I’m not a nutritionist, dietitian, doctor, or scientist, but I felt it was important to share the little knowledge I have based on my own experience. Maybe they will be annoyed and ignore my recommendations. But maybe it will make all the difference.

These are the suggestions I shared:

• Have 2.5 – 5 teaspoons of turmeric every day.
  • Among the many benefits, turmeric fights and prevents free radicals.
  • You absorb turmeric better when paired with good fats and black pepper.
  • Turmeric tastes good in most foods, including: tea, salads, stews, and rice.
• Take B12 Supplements
  • Helps regenerate red blood cells.
  • Increases energy, and lowers depression (especially when combined with foods rich in Vitamin B9).
• Read plant based nutrition books.
  • Relearn healthy eating habits from trustworthy sources.
  • Seek experts that can help you design a meal plan based on your own body’s needs and that is compatible with your prescriptions.
• Cut out sugar, salt, meat, and dairy.
  • Replace sugar with unrefined sugars, including: dates, maple syrup, and coconut sugar.
  • Replace white salt with pink himalayan salt.
  • Replace meat with chickpeas, lentils, nuts, and beans.
  • Replace dairy with almond, cashew, soy, oat, rice, or hemp milk. For calcium, have almonds, kale, or sesame seeds. For vitamin B, have nutritional yeast. It has a cheesy nutty flavour, and can be mixed into many savoury foods before or after they are cooked.
  • Add chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and/or hemp hearts to every meal.

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