I went plant based for 2 months
... and here is what I learned
by Tavita Lealiiee - - - 15 minute read
Alright listen up, I’m about to go over my own personal experience trying a plant based diet and what i learned, but first you got to understand where I am coming from and why cutting back on eating meat was a challenge.
Generations of meat eaters on both sides of my family. My dad is from Samoa where God, family, and food are life. In the culture, we love getting the whole squad together and cooking up some delicious food in particular meat, we’re all about it.
My mom’s side of the family and where I was raised is from Texas. Once again another culture that is all about the beautiful art of big bar-be-ques and heavy meals. In fact, my meal of choice will always be a nice medium cooked cut of steak and creamy mashed potatoes with some gravy on it, And that’s on mommas
Simply put my family loves meat, I have been surrounded by it my whole life, and I myself love meat as well, cannot deny it. So you can see how difficult trying a plant based diet would be… it would be very difficult to say the least.
How I came across plant based
I’ve always known that there were diets and lifestyles that are vegetarian and vegan but I never really paid attention or minded them. In fact I always subscribed to the idea that eating that way would never be for me, until I started noticing athletes that I loved watching changing their diets and lifestyles.
A trend of athletes in the NFL and NBA making the move to plant based and seeing wild results in their performance and other health benefits that seemed too good to be true.
Before this I never even took the time to even learn the difference between different diets and this term of “Plant based” was completely new. So I did some research on this, I listened to a ted talk and watch a documentary on Netflix called Gamechangers and this opened my eyes to what
Plant based does not mean veganism or vegetarian, it simply means more plants than meat. You just incorporate more vegetables, fruits, and plant based things into your diet, but it does not mean you have to cut out meat completely.
Another key aspect of a plant based diet is that you are also trying to cut out all processed foods as well, all the foods that contain nasty chemicals, sugars, preservatives and sugars that destroy your body in the worst ways
Why It Resonated With Me
In the ted talk, I heard a guy that battle with joint pains from sports he played, asthma and allergies that he battled his whole life, went away with this plant based diet. I myself was going through the exact same thing, waking up with pain in my knees, my joints popping like little fireworks.
Hearing that a change in my diet could fix that, did not seem that difficult of a change. Not only that but other important organs receive some amazing benefits.
On my dad side I have 10 aunts and uncles, and if look at their health 10/10 have health complication ranging from heart, liver, to diabetes. Struggling to put on shoes, walk a mile, and other small things that people in their 50’s to 60’s should not be struggling with.
I saw this and reflected, “is this my future?” Nah that ain’t it chief.. I did not want this to be my destiny, so I took these struggles I saw them going through and decided that is not what I wanted
From my research and discovery I learned this diet would change what I thought was my fated potential of health, so I was down to try it at least to see if I could do it.
Going Plant Based
I decided to try it, for two whole months I went plant based. Now I did an abridged version, Monday through Friday I was whole food and plant based. On the weekends I could eat meat and maybe treat myself to something sweet.
The beginning of this journey was different, Difficult to change the mindset of “what will I eat with the chicken, steak, or etc.” my body had to adjust to the diet as well but after about a week I felt great, I was able to perform totally normal everyday activities than just a normal diet.
My joints didn’t feel as stiff and I felt I could move increasingly better by the end of it. Another awesome thing was that the digestive system felt amazing throughout it as well. I felt I didn’t really have a problem with it in the beginning but after I got to this way of living, it was like a problem I didn’t even know I had been dealing with. I didn’t know I could improve and feel better.
By the end of the first month, the weekend would come and I didn’t even feel the need to eat meat or have cravings for it. I would get full on smaller portions, and wouldn’t order food the same way.
My body felt better.
After all this, the two months of dieting and the amazing benefits I felt in my body, and even the money I was saving on not buying junk or too much, I decided this was a lifestyle that I was going to get into. A real lifestyle change to improve my overall state of life.
Looking at my future, I could give up a few things now, so I’m not giving up everything later on.