I opened my world to the idea that true health was not bound by physiological adjustments but rather a lifestyle commitment to embody vitality through mind, body and spirit.
I was just 21 when I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. A crippling bowel disease I had acquired through an intrinsically linked set of epidemiological circumstances that occurred throughout my life as a child. That, I would come to learn later.
I remember how sick I was, pumped with steroids and a slew of anti-inflammatories that would be my life for the next six months. As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, I drifted through university with a ‘moon face’ – a hideous side effect from the steroids that often left me in tears and I wasn’t sure what I hated more; being publicly sick or the self-reproach, mingled with humiliation.
I’m a seventies child. I grew up on silver-top milk, processed cereals, packet food and copious amounts of meat and dairy products. But that wasn’t the flick of the dominos for me, just the direction the dominos would go in.
I was just three years old when I contracted whooping cough, bursting both eardrums and causing glue-ear and grommets that would govern my life for the next nine years. I was marched in and out of the ENT clinic so often, I was on first name terms with the specialists. I was also prescribed copious amounts of antibiotics to deal with ear infections and surgery.
I couldn’t blame my parents for their significant lack of nutritional judgement. It’s just the way it was. You either survived the pathogenic onslaught or you didn’t.
The first sign that my body was suffering from the inside out was when I developed acne as a teenager. Naturally, I was given Retinol A and prescribed the contraceptive pill as an obvious course of action.
No questions asked
Suffering from a bowel disease was one thing. But suffering from a bowel disease during my pregnancy years was another. I was back up to a rattling nine pills a day to control my symptoms which now included hair loss, chronic fatigue and anaemia.
To make matters worse, following a colonoscopy procedure, shortly after my third child was born, my specialist hit me with further bad news and changed my diagnosis from Ulcerative Colitis to Crohn’s Disease.
Ulcerative Colitis affects the large intestine only. Crohn’s affects the entire GI tract. Prior to my pregnancies, I consciously avoided any information about my health, preferring denial as a means to cope.
But now I felt a great responsibility to owe it to myself and my children to find my way back to health.
I had a digestive disorder, so it was pretty easy to start linking my condition with food. I began reading books and researching whatever I could to fully understand Chronic Bowel Disease (CBD). I began correlating highly processed foods with my ‘flare-ups’, and began the Simple carbohydrate Diet (SCD) shortly after reading ‘Breaking the Vicious Cycle’ and ‘GAPS’ (Gut And Psychology Syndrome).
I did experience reduced symptoms, but I was never completely free of my medications, however, for the first time, I was taking charge of my health and that felt really good.
It’s been a little over three years now since I was first prompted by my very supportive husband to research the benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. His story is just as compelling!
Together we started immersing ourselves in documentaries, interviews and podcasts about the enormous benefits of living a whole food plant-based life and the countless ways that animal agriculture is not only inhumane, and damaging to the planet, but also a fundamental cause of many chronic diseases we face today.
Cupboards cleared out
After watching Fork Over Knives, What The Health, The C Word, The Need To Grow and Plant Pure Nation, and others, my husband and I were pretty swift to clear our cupboards out of processed packet food, ditching dairy, meat, eggs and heavily processed sauces and replacing them with fresh or dried whole foods.
This switch didn’t happen overnight, but it certainly happened fast enough to keep the devil on my shoulder quiet.
In as little as 3 months, I grew stronger, I came off my meds entirely and my energy levels shot up. I started to feel the best I’d ever felt in years. I began my journey back to health and found the beauty in other lifestyle changes too such as yoga and meditation.
I opened my world to the idea that true health was not bound by physiological adjustments but rather a lifestyle commitment to embody vitality through mind, body and spirit.
My recovery is what motivated me to advance my own understanding of nutritional health and wellbeing, spending most of my free time researching as much as I could about the positive effects of plant-based nutrition.
I continue to be impressed that the more diseases we study, and the more underlying biological mechanisms we research, the more new reasons there are to explain why simple lifestyle changes are so powerful and transformative.
Ironically, the basis for much of this research is now 40 years old, first pioneered by Dr T. Colin Campbell when he began The China Study back in 1980. He realised that something as primal as what we chose to put in our mouths made a difference to the fate of our health.
His dedication to support this and the countless other physicians, doctors, specialists and professional advocates who have since come to realise the profound and transformative effects of plant-based nutrition, is really coming to the fore and finally beginning to emerge into mainstream media. This way of living has certainly empowered me to imbue these changes with meaning.
But let’s get one thing abundantly clear here – my story led me to my intentions and not everyone’s story will do the same.
Life has changed
There’s no doubt that my life has irrevocably changed as a result of healing through a whole-food plant-based diet. But I’m not a purist. I still get knee-jerk rebellious tendencies to eat vegan junk food, and occasionally I will. It just doesn’t have the same appeal as it once did. It’s almost a dying habit and somehow, through practice, I have managed to drown out the sound through immutable intention.
I don’t practice yoga and meditation on a daily basis and I have days where I sit behind my computer and realise I haven’t got up for over four hours. But I come from a place of honest intent with clear objectives to at least try.
And over the last three years I have got better at trying. My own actions in response to my health have altered my thoughts, my choices and my beliefs. And through my actions, I have finally conquered the disease. I have been symptom and medication-free for over three years and the freedom to live without disease has driven me to share my story with as many people as possible.
I, along with three others who share the same passion, vision and dream, started a project two years ago called Plant Strong Living. We set out to inspire and motivate others to discover a deeper level of understanding of nutritional health and well-being.
We aim to cut through the vast amounts of confusion and help people achieve real results through cooking demos, seminars and courses (still to come).
On our team is Dr Martyn Williamson, a general practitioner with a special interest in the health effects of plant-based nutrition who is available to offer expert advice as well as answer questions on health topics.
We have now launched a whole food plant-based food box with delicious recipes, designed to teach people how to cook this way without struggling for ideas or know-how.
Health means everything
My health enables everything I do. It is the underpinning foundation on which I live my life. Without it, I have nothing.
I don’t take it for granted.
I have learnt that where my food comes from can impact not just my health but the world around me. I now know food matters. So, for those people who live with chronic disease, I want to show them too that it’s absolutely possible with time, kindness and patience to cure or reverse chronic disease through a whole food plant-based lifestyle.
If I can do it, so can you.
To health, wellness and your own personal journey to recovery
