Jess' story: How my choice to eat meat again changed my life.
👋🏼Hey guys and gals! My name is Jess & I’m Libby’s PA.
I recently asked Libby if I could jump on here to chat about my experience as a vegetarian turned omnivore. I want to start by assuring readers that I’m not here to say one way is better than the other, or that my experience is to be the same as yours.
This is just what I’ve gone through (so far) and how my latest decision to incorporate meat back into my diet, has basically changed my life. 🥩 = 💗
This is still a relatively fresh decision! I’ve only been eating meat for about 6 months and already, the changes are significant.
First, let’s go back to the start ⤵️
For roughly seven years I was a hard-core vegetarian. You see, when I was in high school I had a pretty big group of close friends and they were ALL vegetarians 🥬.
Naturally I decided to join in with the whole vego thing as it seemed like the appropriate decision to make (the rest of them were so I should be too, right?🤷🏼♀️). I suppose it pretty quickly became part of my personality, lifestyle and something that I truly believed I was meant to be 🙄.
At this time I definitely didn’t have my passionate interest in nutrition / health & wellness (as I do now), I was lazy and uneducated! And I really “didn’t have time” for researching things like “how much protein is in a soybean” or “do I REALLY need iron?” So I carried on with my faux meat “substitutes” & endless amounts of tofu for a pretty long while.
Here’s me back in 2017 - turning a blind eye to how my diet was impacting my body ↓
Fast forward a couple of years and I thought I was going strong! I was going to the gym, cooking good looking food, working full-time, heading out on the weekends… You know, living a balanced lifestyle. I convinced myself that I was healthy and happy but unfortunately, this wasn’t my reality. I was getting sick all the time, my weight was fluctuating and truthfully, I spent those first few years out of high school really unhappy. Of course there are plenty of additional factors aside from my diet which caused this, but it absolutely had a lot to do with it.
Despite the fact that I ate shite-loads of vegetables, tofu, tempeh, beans, legumes and so on I just constantly felt depleted. I struggled as well with other things in the realm of disordered eating (as shown above), which led me to finding my saviour and friend Libby.
In March 2021 I booked myself an appointment for Nutrition Coaching. Essentially I wanted to feel alive again. I wanted to learn how to nourish my body and get professional help with my not so healthy habits. I wanted answers as to why I felt like crap even though I’m working out and eating “healthy”. I had no idea that this was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship and a whole new way of life!
When I told Libby that I was a vegetarian I could see her brain ticking away. She never criticised me for it, she never forced me into changing my diet or anything like that but throughout my 3 month journey of coaching, Libby really helped me open my eyes to a more substantial way of life.
She slowly encouraged me to add fish back into my diet - so I did. And this is essentially when I started to dip my toes into the world of nutrition!
This increase in protein was the first step to a healthier me! I started to gain back energy, see progress in the gym, sleep better, feel better, eat better - the list goes on. Overtime I started incorporating other animal products in my diet too. Whether it was bone broth, sardines or beef supplements for iron, I was on a totally different path than I was in high school and I was loving it. It was at this moment when I discovered a new passion of mine. Learning about how whole, nutrient dense food, supplements, sunlight, enzymes, broth and L-Glutamine can make a REALLY positive impact on our health! It was fascinating! From growing up in a household where we are told to take a panadol at the drop of a hat, then discovering that you should be looking for a root cause instead!! I was hooked 🤯🤯🤯🤯.
Let’s fast track to this year when I took a trip to Melbourne with my boyfriend! I was SO excited to just eat a bunch of yummy things, walk around etc etc. I think it was the first night down there when I had my “fu*k it” moment. We were at a restaurant and my boyfriend was eating this delicious looking dish (I think it was beef noodles or something) and I had this overwhelming desire to throw away the last bit of my highschool narrative and just eat the damn food! So I did. And that’s when it started. I was officially converted.
Me in Melbourne
SAYING YES TO THE GOD DAMN FOOOOD
And as I said this decision wasn’t made overnight, it took about one year of conscious decision making that led me to saying YES. Not just to food but to life in general. Below are a few things that increased / improved when I started eating meat again 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
My mood (holy moly - this is at the top of the list for a reason)
My energy
My libido
The ability for me to make decisions (literally brain power)
Being able to stay awake for an entire day without falling asleep (I could honestly fall asleep anywhere)
My knowledge of nutrient dense foods
Working out became fun
My skin cleared up
My hair & nails grew
The list really goes on and on.
Overall I wanted to write this to share my experience with making what I consider to be a pretty big decision. To be honest I’ve only been able to admit this VERY recently. One of the main things that held me back from this was my fear of judgement.
I haven't heard of many people making the switch like I have as it can be a really controversial space.
So if anyone reading this is out there wondering what it’s like on the other side, it's pretty freakin’ awesome. You won’t be judged, you’ll be congratulated! With a big bowl of chicken wings 🍗 and a side of STEAK 🥩!!!