buudaz

Today marks 1,850 days of my certified soyboy saga. It's an arbitrary number, but any reason to celebrate is a good one! I want to share my (admittedly long) story with this wonderful new community.

For context, I come from a heavily meat-centred family, where the only greens were the garnishes brushed off the food. Heavy drinking was also commonplace.

After a severe concussion that took me out of sports, I didn’t have the best time with my health. I suffered chronic migraines, insomnia, high blood pressure, abdominal pains, constipation, fatigue, and a dying liver on top of mental health issues. I would still eat an athlete's share of favourite foods, and I ended up gaining a lot of weight; my depression worsened, I began to drink more as a coping mechanism, and I abused over-the-counter painkillers to numb the effects.

Having asked Doctors for help, I was prescribed painkillers, beta-blockers, sleep aids, etc., and nothing was helping without causing another issue in its place. I was running out of motivation and willpower.

One morning, many moons ago, I got up and thought, “I’m in university studying biological science, I’m doing my own experiments, and I have more research resources than I could ever ask for — why don’t I do some research to better myself?” Unsurprisingly, my most significant issues weren’t the pains, fatigue, lack of sleep, or other symptoms. The biggest problem is the root of it all, what was causing the symptoms in the first place: my diet (like DUH, how could I miss something so literally, painfully obvious?? Some science guy I am, geez...).

I spent weeks combing through research papers and journal reports, trying to find the best course of action for myself. Eventually, as much as I had initially despised it and even mocked others who followed it, I simply could not ignore that the plant-based diet was the best option for my recovery. I was faced with the dilemma of starting a vegan path and being ostracized by my family and friends or slowly dying in pain as an ignorant fool. Thankfully, I chose the former.

I immediately started eating plant-based meals (which initially consisted of just salads and rice bowls—props to all you vegan chefs out there for providing such amazing recipes and getting me out of the boring foods, lol). And I slowly weaned off all alcohol over the course of a couple of weeks.

It was real hard for the first month, and I’m not going to lie, being vegan was not NEARLY as torturous as being sober. I had a couple of meat cravings now and then, but my joints and muscles would be in physical pain craving certain liquors. To my surprise, by the time I had worked through my alcohol cravings and pains, I was already three months plant-based. After that, I started to cook more interesting and tasty dishes and fell into my love for cooking again — except this time healthier. It felt amazing to have any form of passion again. Almost all of my symptoms had disappeared: my pains faded, my BP dropped, my sleep improved, and I had so much ENERGY. I felt amazing. I felt unstoppable. I am more active and physically capable now than when I was training for sports.

I then went beyond the diet change and decided to hear what all the fuss about ethical veganism that I had previously shunned was all about. I watched many documentaries, including the infamous one, which I still haven’t managed to watch until the end (you know the one), and stopped purchasing any new animal-derived/involved products and clothes. Adding environmental reasons could not have been easier, considering my passion for the natural world and my newfound awareness of anthropological factors.

I am so incredibly thankful to be here, healthy and pain-free. Even on bad mental health days, I find pride in my journey. And the vegan lifestyle beyond food has left me feeling motivated, fulfilled, and kind. I am so happy to be able to share part of my story with you all on this sweet platform.

Big love, Daz.