Hi All,
It has been a long time since my last blog. For the past two months, I was back in Sydney for a two-fold purpose: Mum had a total knee replacement and I came back to help, & I took the time to finish my second novel, “Making Friends With Monsters.” Monsters, as I refer to this book, is not a follow up to “Cecilia”. The sequel is coming, I promise. Monsters is a story that had to be told. I had no control over this one – the characters were simply busting to get out.
In any case, I arrived back in the US last Sunday to a brand new diet – I’m vegan. It wasn’t a hard stretch and I probably would have done this earlier if not for my love of dairy – milk in particular. A few years back, I cut dairy out of my diet for about 18months and the only meat I ate was chicken & fish. Back then, I was the fittest and healthiest I’d been in years. I went to sleep easily & woke up feeling refreshed. I slipped off the ‘no dairy’ diet mainly because it’s hard to be one way when your partner is another. In short, I married a Swiss guy and going cheese-less is as close to a Cardinal sin if there ever was one.
While I was back home, my Swiss hubby and his vegan German friend met up for coffee and they got chatting. A few documentaries later (namely “Forks Over Knives” & “Conspiracy”) my Swiss hubby was ready to cut the dairy and the meat. So, for me, when asked if I was on board, it was pretty easy. I just went back to my old diet sans chicken & salmon.
In the one week that I’ve stopped ingesting animal products, I’ve lost weight – mainly that dreaded belly fat that never wants to leave – and I feel 100% better. I believe in a plant-based diet for two reasons: 1. It’s better for you 2. It’s better for the environment. The amount of energy and water consumption producing 1lb of beef is insane.
While I don’t have any of my own children to worry about, I feel immensely concerned for the world my nieces & nephews will ‘grow old’ in. Health care is spiraling out of control and many of the chronic illnesses we face can be fixed by diet. I’m living proof. I had a condition that the doctors couldn’t fix. Instead, they threw antibiotics and narcotics (Tramadol) at me. Finally, a diet of my own design consisting of no dairy, no sugar & minimal animal protein (chicken & salmon) got me back on the straight & narrow.
I can’t change the world, but I can do my bit for my own health and, hopefully, have a tiny impact on the health of the world.