how to be a vegequarian

You know what's coming next.

Either it's going to be an exhaustive analysis and Lynchian synopses of each and every episode of Lost, or it's going to be a bullet-pointed nutritional advisory sheet.

Those are the two subjects I can really only speak about at the moment (oh, and my wedding, which will crop up sporadically over the next few months), so try to bear with me.

I come bearing knowledge. Which I wish to impart.

Please first take this from whence it comes. For those of you who have read my blog from the bitter start (2005 and onwards), will know what this began as. As a 25 year old good time girl, who loved going to parties/making parties/being the party, being very sociable and salacious, smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, didn't do anymore exercise than running towards a free drink at a bar. You'll know that this healthy stuff hasn't always been my vibe.

I only really started to get healthy over the last year. A number of factors changed this, but I'd mostly put it down to me getting old, getting a Heathrow Injection and wanting to get rid of it, my aunt dying of cancer and imparting lots of knowledge to me over the years about what feeds cancer and what doesn't. I also want as much energy as I can possibly gain naturally, because I need it. I work fucking hard, and I don't get nearly enough sleep I'm supposed to.

And, once you start changing things and seeing results it feels fucking amaaazing. I'm not preaching. Just know that. I'm merely passing on what I've tried and tested.

The books I have read about diets, lifestyle and nutrition, over the last year are below. Among endless press articles, WeightWatchers guides, and printed health journals.

The China Study
Six Weeks to OMG
Skinny Bitch

I don't agree with everything the OMG book says. However, all three books pretty much say the same thing. Some are more technical and scientific, while others try to lay it out in a more frank, layman's term style.

You won't like it. But with this in mind, here goes.

PEAS' CANCER FREE, SKINNY-MAKING, LONGEVITY, ENERGETIC LIFESTYLE DIET. 

Diets should never be extreme. None of this "only eat melons for six days" or "only eat protein" bullshit. Honestly, that'll work for a week and then what? It has to fit into your lifestyle and it has to be, above all, HEALTHY. 

Let's start with the first food group: PROTEIN 


Meat
The backbone of your diet shouldn't be meat. Meat is acidic. It's often, sadly, filled with hormones and antibiotics. Studies show (above) that animal products can help to grow cancer. Taking out all animal protein is quite hardcore unless you want to be a vegan. So I opt to remove the pork, beef, chicken varieties (unless a special occasion), and I keep eggs and fish. 

Dairy
Dairy is really bad news. Sorry. But after my endometriosis op, my surgeon himself backed up what I'd already read. Dairy forms mucus, which is a cancer grower. It also affects the reproductive system. This is because it is often also full of hormones, antibiotics and a protein that has been linked to cancer, casein.
If you're lactose intolerant, you'll also feel shit after eating dairy.
It's the hardest to cut out. I can do without yoghurt, I can do without milk, cream, I do without mayonnaise. It's the cheese I cry about. It's really, really difficult.
But after all I have learnt, it's better to eat an entire cow carcass of cow than eat dairy products.
It's also fucking fattening. Dairy is created to feed babies. And fatten them up. Humans decided to carry on eating milk products after they outgrew nappies, and this is why we have issues.

If you want to be thin, decrease your cancer chances....

Veg
So if you can't eat lots of red meat, and you can't eat dairy, where will you get your protein? Because you should eat tons of protein, especially if you're wanting to lose weight, you want more energy and you are cutting down your carbs. Protein is definitely not only found in meat. And neither is calcium only found in dairy.

Hummus, pulses, lentils, beans - that's protein.
Oily fish like salmon, trout, sardines, tuna, prawn - protein.

Say hello. You're a pescatarian. A vege-quarian.

You're eating like the Japanese and Chinese do. Which is why some of them live to be over 100. *

* If that's what you want of course. Maybe you don't. 

* I once was a full vegetarian at boarding school. Because the food was better. My excuse was that I didn't want to kill animals. While I still love animals, the reasons why I am turning to a mostly plant-based diet is for health reasons, not animal ones. Straight up.

* Also couldn't give up sushi. Fuck no.