I was a normal kid, basically. I was a little odd, but who
isn’t? Anyway my mom always had organic foods in the house. She raised me on
what is considered healthier foods in America such as whole grain cereals,
whole milk with omega-3’s, fruit smoothies, multigrain bread, homemade foods,
fast food as a treat, etc. Even as a kid I appreciated what my mom was doing,
but I still wanted what my friends had in their house such as pop tarts, fruit
rollups, beef jerky, soda, Oreos, fun cereals, etc. Even though I enjoyed the
“healthier” foods that my mom always bought I still liked what my friends had
in their house, which were the exciting foods that you’d see on Nickelodeon's
commercials. Like most kids & most people in general, I was always so
excited to see what my friends had in their fridge. So whenever I was at
friend's houses I got to eat those fun foods. I think that if my mom taught me
about health, nutrition, food, & how certain types of foods can affect my body
physically/mentally in a positive or a negative way I would have had a better understanding as to why
she buys those foods & why I shouldn't eat those bad foods that looked fun. Little did I
know that she herself knew little to nothing about health & just listened
to what marketing is telling her as to what are the healthy things to be consuming. I always tried to choose the “healthier”
options during public school lunch or at least the options that looked
healthier than others. I, myself always had a little part of me that was
interested in health. Whole Foods was & still is my Disneyworld, it has always been a magical
place for me. That being said at a young age I had a tiny health
seed inside my brain slowly growing.
I was about 13/14 years old when I discovered a blogger by
the name of Audrey Kitching. I kind of feel in love with her style, I read her
blog religiously. I either may have just been lost in her dreamy pink hair or
her genius mind but nonetheless I was fascinated by her. As I got more obsessed
with Audrey I started to follow her in Twitter, Instagram, Ask.fm, etc. I found
her insanely intriguing. The more I knew about her the more I wanted to
incorporate her style of life into mine. Audrey would retweet tweets about
health facts & post on her blog insightful information on health healing. It
made me more & more interested in what this whole health thing was about.
Audrey is the one who woke me up to all the magical health truths I've come to
know. She helped enlighten me on my journey to knowledge. I am forever grateful
for that.
One day I found out she was vegan, whenever she posted a
picture of her food hauls or recipes I would buy/make whatever was in her
photos. I was beyond inspired; it was so fun for me to buy/create new foods. At
the time I was vegetarian, but before I knew it I basically became a vegan. I
had the almond milk, the Daiya cheese, refined sugar/gluten free vegan waffles
every weekend, Follow Your Heart sour cream, strawberries on gluten free rice
toast, & all the yummy things Audrey had shared on her social media sites.
It became this hobby of mine. Whenever I went to a new place I would always
look for a nearby health foods store of some sort. It was always thrilling to
discover new vegan brands or products.
It wasn't a huge shock because I slowly became a vegan.
Before I was even a vegetarian I was a pollotarian, which meant I ate
everything but red meat. I became a pollotarian because I wanted something
interesting about me so that whenever I went to an acting class of some sort
I'd have something interesting about myself that I could say of the top of my head when we'd sit in a circle say our name & share something interesting about
ourselves. Then I became a vegetarian which didn't last
long because I unawaringly became vegan. But in a way it was a shock because
every time I went out to eat I'd always order a steak. I also loved orange chicken, Hawaiian pizza,
& beef jerky. I never thought I could give up those things because at the
time I thought that they were so good. But once I cut off all meat products I
soon found things exactly like steak, orange chicken, & beef jerky that
took place of the dead, cooked, flavored flesh. As a bonus those things that
tasted like orange chicken & such, were much healthier for my body because they were plant-based.
As a result of my discovery of a plant-based lifestyle I am
a better version of myself. Whenever I eat something I think about what the benefits are & if there aren't benefits I simply don't consume it. Therefore I am
aware of the things that I eat & how they are affecting my body either
positively or negatively. I am my own science experiment. I like to see how my
body reacts to certain foods. I like to see improvements, so if something helped
someone else on their plant-based health journey it may help me. I'll never
know unless I try it for myself. From this health journey I discovered
something that is now a major passion of mine, it takes up most all of my days.
I am writing, experimenting, reading, watching, & researching health at
all hours of the day. I have learned so much from this lifestyle & I look
forward to so much more that there is to learn. I care about more about health than I did
before discovering the joys of a plant-based lifestyle. I can now say I love
animals truthfully without hypocritically saying I love animals then go eat
some eggs & bacon. I understand the effects of what people choose to eat. As well as I understand
how a small choice of food can effect the earth. I learned more about the human body way more than I knew before. I know
how the body can function properly with the proper human species specific diet. I
have also learned that illness of any kind & disease is not supposed to be
"normal" or usually caused genetics, it is most likely linked to something the
person has done to their body overtime. I also enjoy sharing my love for
fruits, vegetables, & health on my Instagram, YouTube videos, Twitter,
Blog(s), & any other social media sites I happen to use. It's made me want
to share with everyone the joys of fruits & vegetables. Overall I found
this craving for health & knowledge which has benefited me in even more ways
than I can think of.
