Why do I eat a vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free diet?

I eat this way because I realised that dairy, sugar, gluten and meat made me feel ill all of the time. For years I did not feel myself at all and I looked and felt exhausted!

I have always been intolerant to milk from when I was born. I used to have to drink goats milk instead of cows milk because it gave me exczema, I never realised that I could be drinking soya milk instead! However I still used to eat chocolate and ice cream all the time, I was completely addicted to sugar!!

3 years ago I started getting tummy ache a lot of the time, and I also had tonsillitis very regularly. I tried all the medication in the world and different herbal remedies, and I still didn't get any better. I had my tonsils removed, and I still got tonsillitis even after I didn't have any tonsils! I had to have a lot of time off school which put me very behind with my school work. I was on antibiotics for a whole year, I was tired all of the time which meant I had to have half days at school and sleep for hours when I came home.

On top of this I was still getting tummy ache all the time and we didn't know why. I decided to stop eating gluten because I noticed I would often get tummy pain after I'd had bread or pasta. It was really hard at first, I would often slip up and eat a biscuit or have some bread at school if there was nothing else I fancied to eat. It took a few months for me to get used to eating gluten-free and for all of the gluten to be out of my system (it can take up to 6 months for your body to get rid of it all!). After the first few difficult months I felt so much better. I had a lot more energy and found it easier to concentrate at school, and best of all my tummy ache had gone and my tonsillitis stopped coming back!

At the same time as this, I began experimenting with refined sugar free baking. This was a coincidence, as I noticed a lot of gluten free recipes are from health bloggers like Deliciously Ella and only use natural sugars. I realised that when I ate a cake or biscuit that only had natural sugars in, I didn't get a sudden energy rush followed by a crash because my blood sugar levels were stable. Although these treats taste exactly the same as cakes containing gluten and sugar, they are so much better for you as every ingredient nourishes your body and gives you the good energy you need! Soon, all of my baking was completely gluten free and refined sugar free. I felt happy and energised all of the time and barely had any days off school. I felt about 80% better.

I also became vegetarian because I love animals and I didn't want to eat them anymore.

Dairy products were the easiest thing for me to give up. I have never liked milk or cheese, which I realise now was my body telling me that it's bad for me by my taste buds rejecting it! However I still ate chocolate all of the time until about 1 year ago. Even though everything I was baking at home had no refined sugar in, I was still eating chocolate when I was out and about or as a treat.

I pretty much gave up all dairy products apart from chocolate, so for a while I was vegan with the occasional chocolate bar! However once I began to realise more about where cows milk comes from and the dairy industry, I decided that I didn't want to play any part in cruelty towards animals anymore. I also began to read about how milk is sold to us as healthy, even though in many cases it isn't at all. Even though I love milk chocolate, knowing where milk comes from and the health effects of it made me give it up completely about 6 months ago. I now felt 100% better.

I now eat absolutely no dairy products, meat, sugar or gluten whatsoever and I feel amazing. I never have days off school, I no longer feel tired at all during the day and my skin is brighter, my hair is growing longer and thicker and best of all I feel happy and full of beans all the time! At the beginning, we were worried that eating such a 'restricted' diet wouldn't give me all the vitamins and nutrients that I need but I can tell that my body is thriving off a plant based diet because of how great I feel. I do take a B12 supplement as it is very hard to get sufficient amounts of B12 when you don't eat meat.

Whats surprised me most about my diet change is that before, when I used to eat white bread, chocolate and ice cream all the time, I would think that things like kale, quinoa and date syrup were disgusting and weird health foods. But now they are some of my all time favourite foods! I think this is because when I eat healthy foods, I feel so fantastic that I just want to keep eating them! People ask me if I slip up and eat gluten, sugar and dairy but because these foods make me feel so rubbish its very easy to keep on track eating healthy meals and snacks.

I really hope this has inspired you to examine your diet and the foods you eat and maybe consider eating less meat, dairy and sugar and try some of my recipes!

Love Moo x