First, let me just say that I am from the school of thought that believes that everyone can do whatever they want as long as that resonates and/or works for them. I'm not writing this post to promote being or not being vegan. Also, we live in such a fucked up world that even being a vegan or eating organic can have unethical consequences in another part of the world or to another being. Having said that, the likelihood is that being vegan is probably less harmful to more beings around the world. I've been both, vegan and not vegan as well as vegetarian, pescatarian, raw "fooder" and pretty much anything else you can think of. I like to explore when it comes to food and see what works and doesn't work for me. I think it comes from the fact that my stomach has always been a sensitive area for me. It is where I feel a lot of my emotions and anxieties.
I grew up in France, eating all the cheese and all the butter :), as well as meat and fish. My mum loves gardening, so luckily we were exposed to organic vegetables very early on, somewhat salvaging the French food diet. Then I became a vegetarian for 7 years after I left France, went vegan a couple of times (the first time I didn't have a clue and didn't eat a well-balanced diet, the second time came around after going on a vegan yoga retreat where I learned to eat vegan well), experimented with the raw food diet, went vegetarian again then ate whatever I wanted when I felt like it and the last experiment is the blood type diet. I must mention that I don't use the term diet as a fad to lose weight, I use the term to describe a choice of lifestyle better suited to my needs. We are in constant change, and therefore I have come to notice and learn that what I eat may, and most likely will change, from what I ate 10 years ago in comparison to now or next year. As a matter of fact the blood type diet came about because I was feeling very off eating mostly vegan.
My diet has always been mostly plant-based through every kind of diet, but I began to feel really tired a couple of years ago – I was eating mostly vegan then. Not tired: I need a nap, tired: I would fall asleep in any moving vehicle or anywhere that had me still for more than 2 seconds. Anaemia runs in my family, so I went to get myself checked and, indeed, my iron levels were super low even though I was eating a lot of plant-based, iron rich foods. Around that time my mum was given a basic blood type diet food map by her physio and I decided to try it out for myself as well. Turns out that a lot of grains are not the best for my blood type and that some animal protein is needed. And I must say that a lot of the "to be avoided" foods listed were foods that I had noticed were difficult for me to digest. A few weeks on this diet and my energy levels were back on track and I felt much better. I didn't go full on carnivore, as I don't really like eating a lot of meat; However, a little animal protein here and there felt very good for my general well-being. Since then, I have kept to a mostly plant-based diet and eating according to my cravings (if I feel like having animal protein one day then I will have it) and keeping away from certain grains, wheat and certain foods listed on the blood type diet. Something which has worked very well for me so far.
Then a few weeks ago, I decided to try out being full vegan again and see how it goes this time around. So, here we are, in February, and I am going full vegan again :) I want to see if I will be really affected by not having any animal products in my diet. The thing about being vegan that was really bugging me was that I needed to take a ton of supplements to balanced it out, something I try to avoid doing as much as possible. I much prefer getting my vitamins and minerals from my food intake only. Let's see how February unfolds, and if being full vegan is something I can contemplate again. Ethically, I want to do it, but I also don't like to drive myself nuts about things I can or cannot have in life. Vegans out there will probably be outraged at that comment, and that's OK, we are all entitled to our opinions.