Category: My Journey of becoming Vegan

Happy birthday to me 🙂 today is my Dairy Free Birthday!

1 year today since I made the best decision of my life!
The best decision for my Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual Self.
Never underestimate the power you have within, you can surprise yourself! believe me I have!
It all started with a post it note, yep that’s right a post it note 🙂 its amazing the power a post it note holds! An affirmation, a statement to your subconscious mind.
In this last year of becoming vegan I have experienced massive shifts and changes in my self and my life!
I have more energy than ever before, I have discovered you do not need to eat no where as much as we fool ourselves we need to.
I find the lighter more nutritious I eat the better I feel. The old Stella wouldn’t leave the house without a veggie snack, for fear of going hungry 🙂
The old Stella wouldn’t be able to have no solid food for a few days. I have been vegetarian for a large part of my life. This last phase which is here to stay has been 7 years. I struggled to eat meat as a youngster and to be honest it gave me some OCD type behaviours. I would struggle to swallow whilst eating which was really awful and embarrassing especially when at a friends house etc I used to start to think of the little lamb or the cow I had in my mouth and I couldn’t swallow, I also didn’t like the texture of meat. If I see a vein or bone I would make excuses not to eat the meal, I didn’t like the smell of meat either. Unfortunately for me and all children who are natural vegetarians I didn’t have a choice. My Parents didn’t have much money for food. My Dad grew his own vegetables in the garden which was a blessing. I learnt to enjoy homegrown vegetables and through helping my Mum and Dad in the garden I’ve grown up loving gardening and growing vegetables. I have and allotment, a poly tunnel and raised beds in the garden. I Love producing my own food from quality heritage seeds. I love nothing more than getting my hands in the soil and working with the seeds, witnessing new life emerging. It always brings me back to my roots of being human, it also symbolises changes in my own life. Growing your own food experiencing the cycles of nature, the cycle of birth and death.
I started experimenting with Raw Food 7 years ago after going on a Raw Food Tai Chi retreat in Assissi. I had never experienced eating purely fruit for a whole day then exercising and walking up mountains. It was pure bliss! I felt amazing 🙂 I underestimated the power of myself!
I have discovered how powerful our subconscious mind is! The little demon that sits on our shoulder nagging in our ear, the scared demon acting from fear. Whispering that your a failure, you cannot achieve, you should go back to your old ways. The key is manifesting a little Angel who sits in pure joy and comes from a place of love. She whispers to your subconscious mind how wonderful you are, she whispers to you, yes you can! she brings you back to a place of love <3
A year ago today I made the decision to go 100% Dairy free/ egg free/ vegan (whatever label you want to stick on it) alongside my Vegetarian diet.
I wrote a post it note with 1st April no dairy or eggs. That was it simple, I had slowly been transitioning over a couple of years to less and less dairy. I had become more and more uncomfortable about the way the animals are treated and the quality of what I was consuming. Realising that some animals never see daylight, that baby male chicks are thrown in bin bags live! Just so I can feed my desire for cheese, eggs, milk etc. I started to become more and more conscious of this, I researched information to clarify how animals were treated. I was quite angry at myself at one stage for not becoming Vegan years ago. I do appreciate some dairy farmers treat the animals with care and respect. Even so I now would not eat or drink dairy produce as I know it’s not good for my health.
Since becoming dairy/egg free and introducing a high raw diet my health and vitality has improved immensely. I have been healthy for 15 years since I moved away from the pharmecutical drugs but that’s another story for another day. Its amazing how you think your healthy, then you make changes and you realise you was not as healthy as you thought.
I have lost two stone in weight with no effort at all, it was a great side effect.
Below is a before and after picture.

Men you can switch off for the next bit if you like 🙂

My periods are now not a problem at all 🙂 after suffering for 28 years and I mean suffering! Sometimes having days off school/work, dreading my period arriving each month. Sleepless nights in agony, days spent with hot water bottles, taking pills from the doctor (when I was younger) oh I’ve tried it all. I actually hated my period it was not unusual to hear me say ” I wish I was a Man”
Since going dairy/egg free and high raw foods they have been virtually pain free. This happened within a month, I now occasionally get a small griping pain and that’s it! I now embrace my periods, I no longer dread them arriving each month. I forget I’m on my period. I am thankful for having them and being a woman. For those of you that suffer every month I know you will understand exactly where I’m coming from and I’m sure that includes men who suffer 😉
I have since had emails from people sharing that their periods became pain free after going vegan so I know I’m not alone.
I have so much more energy now than ever before, my skin is clearer, my eyes brighter and my waist 4inches smaller which is a bonus.
My girls who are 21 and 18 have been a great support to me especially now I no longer buy or have any meat foods in the house. My Grandson who is 2 particularly love fruits dried in the dehydrator. Everyone supported me at christmas joining in on a nut roast Christmas Day which everyone loved. My sister Heidi made me a lovely vegan pizza recently. My friends are all very supportive meeting me in coffee shops or at the Railway Hotel Pub that serve vegetarian/vegan options I feel blessed to have the backing and support of my family and friends.
Bring on the next year
Stella xx