BOSH! How to Live Vegan. Henry Firth
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evidence for how much better you feel when you switch to vegan eating.
We can also echo that view. We felt AMAZING almost as soon as we cut out meat and dairy. Within days, we both felt like we’d discovered a superpower, a new feeling of lightness, a new energy that we didn’t have before. We still feel that way today; we’ve never looked back.
The 3pm lull in energy? Not a thing any more. That feeling after you’ve eaten too much fatty food? That’s gone, too. Feeling slow and lethargic in the morning? That doesn’t happen now. Henry’s crippling hay fever pretty much disappeared as well. Before, he used to spend the summer months in misery – streaming eyes, sneezing, feeling tired all the time … popping antihistamines every day. Now, he has maybe four or five days a year where he might suffer due to a very high pollen count. Choosing vegan was the best decision of our lives.
So that’s the good news. And we think it’s pretty awesome news. The one thing that we can all do to reduce the damage to our planet and maybe even reverse climate change, is also an incredibly powerful change to make for ourselves. One that may make you feel better than ever before.
You can have your cake and eat it. As long as it’s vegan cake.
YOU’LL BE HEALTHIER TOO
It is ironic that some people criticise the vegan diet for being unhealthy, when the standard, western way of eating is much less healthy! Highly processed, high in fats, low in fruit and veg … In today’s world of high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure, a plant-based diet is the best way to lower cholesterol. Plants are completely free from cholesterol.[68]
On a vegan diet you’re eating an incredibly diverse range of plant foods on a regular basis. It’s one of the things that makes sticking to a vegan diet so easy – you get to explore and enjoy so many more amazing ingredients than you might if your diet was based around animal products. Plant-based cooking encourages us to be more adventurous and experimental with our food choices – and we love it!
Plant-based foods are rich in fibre, antioxidants, folate and various phytochemicals, all of which are all great for our general health. Often a whole foods, plant-based diet contains fewer calories too, so it’s easier to maintain a healthy body weight, and many people say that any excess weight just falls off (it did for us).
If you’re worried about your energy levels or maintaining your performance at the gym, know that many world-class athletes have made the switch to a plant-based diet, including premiership footballers, basketball players, boxers and tennis champs. They all claim better recovery from exercise and better digestion on a plant-based diet. But perhaps the most persuasive example of this is Patrik Baboumian, the German stongman competitor who has broken world records since becoming vegan. We applaud and admire these amazing, inspiring, ripped dudes and dudettes who are smashing it on a plant-based diet. We are so grateful to them!
There are countless studies to back up the fact that a balanced plant-based diet, or a mostly plant-based diet, is the best diet for your body – it can even reduce premature deaths from chronic diseases by more than 20%.[70] These are studies from objective bodies like the World Health Organization, United Nations,[71] Harvard University,[72], [73] Oxford University,[74] as well as progressive governments – for example, the Canadian government has removed dairy entirely from its list of recommended foods, which is now 90% plant-based.[75]
Processed meats and fish have now been linked to increased risk of breast cancer.[76] Eating red meat substantially raises your risk of death from cancer or heart disease.[77]
A plant-based diet is increasingly recognised as a healthier alternative. Atherosclerosis, or plaque in your arteries, associated with high intake of meat, fat and carbohydrates, is the leading cause of death in the USA.[78]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed red meat and processed meat as carcinogenic.[79]
The US FDA now advise that some fish and shellfish can contain unpredictable and potentially damaging levels of mercury, and is now deemed unadvisable for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers or children.[80]
FEEL CLEAN
A plant-based diet is also really clean! The main foods that are likely to be contaminated if not handled, stored or cooked properly are raw meat and poultry, raw eggs, raw shellfish, unpasteurised milk and ready-to-eat foods like sliced meats, pâtés and soft cheeses.[81] Not plants. To put it bluntly, if you get food poisoning from animal products, it’s bad luck. If you get food poisoning from plant-based foods, then generally it’s because someone in the kitchen has not washed their hands properly.[82]
By contrast, coliform bacteria, which are used as a marker for faecal contamination, typically find their way into your kitchen via meat, which is often contaminated with faecal bacteria.[83] Plant-based foods are inherently cleaner, and a plant-based kitchen is a cleaner kitchen.
The other thing that will be cleaner is your conscience. By choosing more plant-based foods you will know that you are living in a more sustainable way. This peace and clarity of mind is invaluable – something we both experienced when going vegan. The way we were eating synced with our values. We suddenly felt like everything made a bit more sense, and it helped inform a lot of the other decisions we made in our lives.
There is a new kind of consumer appearing, one who is more conscious of their health and the environment, one perfectly happy to make dietary changes, such as becoming vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian to achieve those aims. Perhaps our friend Zanna Van Dijk, a fitness influencer who made the move to a plant-based diet, said it better than we can:
‘Eating plant-based completely transformed my mindset, as finally my actions were in line with my values. I found myself more compassionate towards animals and humans and connecting more deeply with those around me.
‘I found a new appreciation for the environment and a heightened sense of consciousness in all my actions and the impact they have on people and the natural world. I realised that I’m part of a bigger picture, my choices go far beyond myself and that power comes with responsibility to be a good human.’
IT’LL SAVE MONEY, TOO
Compared to a typical meat eater, vegetarians can save much more on food each year,[84] especially if you are comparing plant-based items with high-quality, higher-welfare meat. If you’re looking to keep costs down, then we suggest avoiding processed, packaged ‘vegan’ foods, and instead look to fill your plate with vegetables, grains and home-cooked foods – which is, of course, the best way to eat for your health, too.
When we’ve been short of cash, we’ve both relied on forward planning. And we try to do that now too because it makes good sense (see here for advice on how to meal plan).