natjtan Recently every time I’ve had processed sugar it affects my mood. I’ve been clean eating for about a year and half, but sometimes when I’m out trail mix doesn’t cut it. Jelly beans yes. If I can’t get my hands on them, the only other non gelatine sweets available are fruit Mentos or Skittles and my body hates it.
I can’t stop at one. Here they don’t sell individual packs, they sell multi packs of 3. I have a sweet tooth. Almost instantly they affect me. I get irritable, antsy, lethargic, a headache that’s not a headache, a sugar coma that can last well into the next day. Crisps and McDonalds French fries that happen every now and then. I’m human I’m okay with them. Processed sugar’s something else.
I’ve been meat free for about 18 years, 16 animal milk free, the last 7 hardly any dairy just Greek yoghurt and cheese. 5 years ago cheese went. Cheese was hard to give up. I loved cheese on toast, jacket potatoes and cheese with loads of tomato ketchup! 2 years ago I cut out dairy completely. 100% vegan or as P prefers to say plant based (I swear that’s because plant based sounds more masculine than vegan! However there’s a difference. Vegan you can still eat crap on. Plant based is clean) and clean eating. No more Greek yoghurt with my porridge, no more bloated tummy. I felt cleaner. Eggs I’ve never really cared for. They were always been too rich and never settled. Thanks to my cooking skills, I’ve been more or less a raw vegan the whole time even back in cheese eating days if that makes sense. The dilemmas started after going 100% vegan aside from honey!
Up until nearly 2 years I still had the occasional milk chocolate bar until I saw a video how cows were treated at a major farm suppling cheese for a popular pizza brand in the US. I know not all farms are the same, but it was enough to forgo even having a little milk chocolate, I’m still contributing to their suffering. I cried watching that video. Next went palm oil. My beloved Palmers Cocoa Butter Lotion was replaced with a organutan friendly, SLS, petrochemical, paraben free, Alba Botanica Cocoa Butter Hand and Body Lotion. Around the time I went ‘vegan’ I read Jessica Alba’s The Honest Life, which was an eye opener to what’s in skincare and cosmetics products. No tears baby shampoo? They add chemicals to numb eyes so the shampoo doesn’t sting!
The biggest change going plant based was running clean, hence when I eat crap or processed sugar, my body doesn’t like it. It affects my mood. This is from someone who has a massive sweet tooth! I replaced milk chocolate with dark chocolate with orange, mint or nuts, but recently I’ve been noticing I haven’t been wanting any or enjoying any as much. I’d rather have a few medjool dates, mango slices or even carrot sticks and hummus! Eating clean affected my taste buds! I’ve still got a long way to go, eating enough energy. It’s not fun if you want to eat out when all you’re looking for is a huge nutritious salad. When P’s here it’s easier. Sometimes I make dinner requests and magically they appear later! I’m not adventurous with food, but I love to load up on salads. When I say salads I don’t mean lettuce and tomato. I pile on broccoli, kale, avocados, beans, quinoa, red cabbage, pepper, spinach etc!
Monday this week was a huge mistral/storm. The winds started Sunday, Monday afternoon heavy rain and wind. Sunny skies returned Tuesday, yet the sea was still full of energy. I wanted to get close the waves but didn’t have time. In the summer, I visit the beach almost daily, take a dip as often as possible. Had a bad day, feel like crap, one swim all worries seem to melt away. If you’re lucky you get prime beach real estate location, a spot right on the shore line to siesta and listen to the waves rolling in. You won’t believe the competition for those spots! Cycling along the beaches everyday isn’t enough, I needed to get close to the sea!
Christmas treats are starting to appear in the supermarkets. The Spanish love turrons, 200g bars of of chocolate wrapped nougat, coconut, marzipan or nuts. One particular one caught my eye Monday. Dark chocolate and coconut. Kinda like a Bounty bar without milk. I loved Bounty bars, so that went in the basket and in my tummy. I knew better, my taste buds thought they knew better. I ate the lot over 2 days. Wednesday I was still feeling it’s toxicity. I pushed myself out for a run. I knew I’ll feel better, but it wasn’t until I stopped for a few moments to watch the waves, smell the sea and fill a spi belt with shells, I felt better. I should when jelly bean moments hit, reach for the sea. Don’t need processed sugar. Just need the sea and near empty zoo to hear the birds and sea to do what processed sugar can’t!
Finally up close!
And if no sea’s around, mango slices and medjool dates on hand!
Do you find food affects your mood? If you eat ‘clean’ did you notice your taste buds changing after a while? Favourite place to reconnect when you need to breathe?
Good for you for giving up so many things. You’re so disciplined. I cut out sugar in my coffee and tea, as well as cut way back on cheese. Not sure if I’d be able to say adios to cheese permanently.
Once I made up my mind to give them up, it wasn’t that difficult. There were days I slipped up, but my main reason for no meat, no dairy is that I don’t like something suffering for me only to flush it down the toilet the next day! Food world gets smaller, yet it got bigger at the same time!
Flush it down the toilet! How true. I saw a movie about the life of Dr. Temple Grandin yesterday. She designed and implemented a less cruel way to slaughter cows in slaughter houses. What she said just stayed with me. ” We use them for food, the least we can do is make their slaughter easier. We owe them that respect.”
It’s not just the slaughter house, it’s how they’re raised I object too. Respect as you say is the idea, but many farms treat them so badly. It’s ironic that male farm animals have it bad as it’s a male dominated industry. Male piglets get castrated with no anaesthetic. Just rip off their bits, throw the piglet back in. Male baby calves probably have it better. They’re usually sent straight to slaughter and don’t have to endure what the girls have to for years. Calves taken away as soon as they’re born, so the mum continues to produce milk for human consumption in disgusting conditions. Baby male chicks are generally left out side to die in large bins or ground up along conveyor belts alive as they have no value. Then the poor girls live in cramped conditions, beaks cut so the don’t pick at each other. I don’t want to be part of that, so I don’t consume them. And yes I get the irony that I’m cooking chicken for the cats as one is ‘ill’. I get organic chicken for them, but it still plays on me. Apologies if I upset you. I know if I were to write about this more, nobody would want to know!
It is very disturbing to read this. I can see how passionate you are. Did you ever consider joining PETA? Your blog is a great platform though to spread this awareness.
Peta isn’t as good as you think. I’ve read they don’t necessarily do as they preach (put shelter animals down when there’s no reason to). They’re a great base to start from. I’ll be honest. I don’t watch many of their videos as they’re too much for me. I also don’t like how they bombard me with emails. I’m not sure how it would come across here. I’d only have a select few followers! I’m gradually working at including it more and letting others make their decision. I think deep down people know whats up, but as they don’t see it, they don’t need to be aware of it. There’s a TED talk, Beyond Carnism I wish people would watch. It’s how I feel and makes sense. There’s no difference eating a cow or a dog. Society and cultures tells us differently. I’ve found that when peoples health is on the line and they read about what meat has done to them or another major life changing event, they switch to the plant side. Rarely is it for the animals themselves. That’s comes later! Thank you for being understanding and not put off reading or following. Hard hitting comes at a cost!
Never would I be put off. It’s a personal choice and important to you. I appreciate and respect that very much. That’s what blogging is all about. I love connecting with such a wide array of lifestyles, vegetarians, pescatarians, raw food vegans, etc. Keep on being you!
Thank you! People don’t always want it rammed down their throat which is what I wanted to say yesterday. And in less words! Otherwise they switch off!
O man I could never cut out foods like that! I do notice foods putting me in different kind of moods though. I usually get sleepy after cheese or bread, I still cant help myself though haha.
It’s not so hard to give up when you’ve made the decision to! I gave up meat and dairy because I don’t like something suffering for me only flush it down the toilet the next day. Bread, that’s one thing I can’t give up. It’s my hungry reach for a PB sandwich staple! 🙂