More than the food on your plate (a personal tribute on World Vegan Day)
Today, November 1st, is World Vegan Day!
To mark the occasion I could share with you more vegan recipes or I could share with you ‘top tips for going vegan’, or even the logistics of making your first foray into a vegan lifestyle… but, to be honest there are already countless posts on these topics around the blogosphere…
So instead, I decided on something a bit different. Something a bit more personal.
I’ve been following a plant-based diet since mid 2012 (this blog started in Aug 2011 and I was already well on the way at that point) so I’m sharing a bit of a ‘behind the scenes’ of my ‘why’ behind making that switch and how my life has changed because of it. It’s a bit ranty and passionate in places, ha ha, but my hope is that it simply offers you a shift in perspective regardless of your own ‘vegan’ standpoint.
P.s you may also enjoy these posts on my gateway to veganism and the link between creativity and a plant-based diet
Over the last few years, I found myself naturally gravitating away from marketing myself as a health coach (which is what my training labeled me- although BTW I loved that course) and more towards my curiosity with life and mindset being the focus of my coaching.
This evolution came about in part, in both my work and personal life, from a sense of frustration in the conversation about food. I see and I hear in the language that people use the fact that we are still so blinkered when it comes to food and nutrition. We count calories, we study macros, we cut carbs, we focus on weight loss. We want more energy and vitality… but in looking for answers so often we're focusing purely on what's on our plates. We listen to our heads over our bodies, we prioritise numbers and statistics and dismiss curiosity and intuition.
This is not an issue specific to food of course. It a society-wide issue, driven by our ‘paint by numbers’ lives.
We live in a society where there is an immediacy of 'action equals reward'. We want a quick fix. We're constantly bombarded with things in the media that promise that quick fix, but we don't see this bigger picture.
We loose the holistic view of food being about so much more than what's on our plate.
I experienced this massive shift, this journey, that's influenced my entire life since 2011 when I first moved towards a plant-based diet. The change came from a nutritional point of view initially as I wanted to feel healthier and I was curious as to what my partner at the time was doing and the benefits he was seeing in his life following a vegan diet.
I made these changes simply led by curiosity, without really knowing what to expect and yet I gained so much more than I could ever have imagined.
It's interesting because when I talk to people about a plant-based vegan diet, they often fixate on what they'd be 'missing out on' all the things that they will no longer be able to consume. But to me, that's missing the point because there's so much more to gain beyond the food on your plate.
The changes you feel in your body, in your mind, in your spiritual connection to yourself, in the wider universe beyond yourself, if you're open to thinking that far, is just immeasurable. This idea of not being able to eat certain foods just becomes irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things.
I also want to draw attention to the idea of 'loss'. Often, when we initially cut something out, we crave it, we miss it, we are very aware of what we're no longer having. Yet within days and weeks those thoughts and feelings quickly subside. I don't wake up in the morning and think, “oh no, I can't have meat or cheese again today". It's just a non-issue now. I don't even consider it because my life is about so much more than that.
All the things that have been created through making these nutritional changes, are just immeasurable. I had always struggled to put this into words, these deep feelings inside I struggled to share, but now as I'm pulling together the content for my book, I'm finding I'm able to tap into this space much more deeply. And finally the words are coming through for me around the truth that food is just the tip of the iceberg.
What we choose to put in our mouth is literally the tip of the iceberg is it's one percent of the story if you like. I think it's the tangibility as well. Food is a very 'physical' thing on a basic level. We can 'see' what we're eating. We know that if we eat less calories we'll lose weight and it's so easy to fixate on this 'first base' if you like, this initial action and reward state.
But that misses the whole point in my mind. When we make these changes, we align ourselves with the opportunity to live our very best life because when we change what we eat, when we largely cut out refined foods, when we reduce animal products and focus on 'live' foods, and a wholefood plant-based diet, it shifts our entire relationship within ourselves.
We have more space in our minds. We have this clarity of thought, more energy in our bodies and our perception of life totally shifts. When you question the food on your plate, and by that I mean the way we've been taught to eat over the years and the generations passed down before us, the way that the media portray nutrition and all the messages that are thrown our way every second of every day, when we question those things and we step away from them, we allow ourselves to question the fundamentals of our lives, the things we'd unconsciously assumed were just 'the ways it is'.
When we question everything that we've been taught, that we've been conditioned to believe. Everything that society expects of us, we can make a different choice. We can question those things and ask ourselves:
"Okay, so what else is now possible"?
"What other options have I got that I couldn’t see before?"
"What do I really want from my life?"
"How do I want to show up?"
"What is MY truth?"
And through making these changes, initiated by the choice of foods we put into our mouths, we are stepping up and saying:
I choose to do things differently.
I choose to do things my way.
I choose to connect with my body and with the world and step away from the norms and expectations.
This is so incredibly empowering. This is massive statement of intent.
So many people I've spoken to who've made these kinds of shifts, talk about how empowering that was for their own sense of self-confidence. That sense of self-connection, their self-expression, that sense of permission to doing things differently. That way of being ripples out into every other aspect of your life. So this is what I mean when I say ''food is the gateway to your optimal self’, because it's the gateway to living life on your own terms and that is what I'm so deeply passionate about.
The physical, the mental, the spiritual, the emotional, all those changes that take place when you shift your diet (and in my research and experience it is dramatically enhanced when you shift towards a more fully plant-based vegan diet) are incredible. It goes way beyond anything you could likely imagine because until you start experiencing those changes for yourself, it's very difficult to conceptualise and put into words, which the struggle I've had over these last few years.
So often have I sat with, ‘How do I share this experience, one that I am so passionate about sharing and supporting people through, using mere words?’
For now, I simply want you to understand that it's about so much more than the food on your plate, and I also encourage your curiosity and intrigue, because when you question one thing, the flood gates open and you question everything else you thought you knew.
Then the game changes.
What becomes possible in your life when you make that shift?
Ep. 4 Simon Crowe : The fire hydrant of infinite potential
I have connected with Simon a number of times over the last few years, and as I share in the introduction to this conversation, for me Simon always embodies a deep sense of presence and purpose. I love how his energy allows me to really drop down into my body and really ‘feel’ the conversation.
I loved how we start with an ‘uncomfortable’ silence, once in which I found myself not knowing quite what to do with… who would be the first to break it! A courageous start for a podcast ;-)
We talk about permission showing up in everything. The inherent courage in giving ourselves permission and the willingness to be uncomfortable.
We discuss what leaning in to uncertainty looks like and how curiosity is an antidote and how through clarity of vision and intention the school project in Liberia is coming to life.
There are also fire hydrants, spiders webs and cups of tea!
“This is where I give my self permission to not be focussed on the small separated me, but to focus on the big fire hydrant of infinite potential. Developing practices to take me there rather than having to fight my way through the spiders web.” - Simon Crowe
The Permission Podcast Series : Exploring what it means to give yourself permission to live life on your own terms.
I have connected with Simon a number of times over the last few years, and as I share in the introduction to this conversation, for me Simon always embodies a deep sense of presence and purpose. I love how his energy allows me to really drop down into my body and really ‘feel’ the conversation.
I loved how we start with an ‘uncomfortable’ silence, once in which I found myself not knowing quite what to do with… who would be the first to break it! A courageous start for a podcast ;-)
We talk about permission showing up in everything. The inherent courage in giving ourselves permission and the willingness to be uncomfortable.
We discuss what leaning in to uncertainty looks like and how curiosity is an antidote and how through clarity of vision and intention the school project in Liberia is coming to life.
There are also fire hydrants, spiders webs and cups of tea!
Find more about Simon here: www.simoncrowe.com
Listen below or via your favourite podcast platform…
Ep. 4 Simon Crowe : The fire hydrant of infinite potential
Show Notes:
A summary of conversation highlights that stood out for me…
2:40
*the silence!*
4:00
How everything we ever do is the result of the permission we give ourselves and the role of courage to do things we've never done before.
5:22
There is so much about 'doing', but a lot of self-permission is also sitting with the 'being'.
8:30
Creativity is simply the space between knowing and not knowing. Creativity is as simple as just giving yourself permission to sit for five minutes or have have an idea or write something or draw something. Trust that if you have a blank piece of paper in front of you, something is going to happen that leads to a process of action. It's also giving yourself permission that a thing you might initially draw on a piece of paper is not necessarily going to be a thing of beauty, but it's where that takes you.
10:20
Jo talks about quitting her architecture career and the permission needed to do it even thought others might not 'get it'. The permission part in that process was entertaining the idea in the first place. "I could leave". That was the permission process - actually putting the option on the table and once the option was on the table and I sat with it for long enough, it got to the point where it was shouting so loudly, it was just the only option.
14:30
Every day is created through intention, desire and inspiration. I'm giving myself permission, because there's no one else to ask for it. I also give myself permission to our source tasks that we don't like doing in our business.
16:30
We discuss what leaning in to uncertainty looks like and how curiosity is an antidote. " I don't need certainty if I'm curious".
19:00
Leading with curiosity through clarity of vision and intention, Simon shares his real life example of the school project out in Liberia where curiosity is unfolding with a knowing that it will happen, conversation by conversation.
Stay open to the process but not to attached to it happening in a particular way. If you get too attached it reduces creativity and reduces opportunity.
Keep asking questions and having conversations.
24:40
There's a massive difference between understanding something an intellectual level, and then really dropping down into it at a grounded heart level. That's where are the 'shoulds' falls away.
26:10
Being comfortable with being uncomfortable. It's necessary for growth. I've been working quite tirelessly at creating a series of practices and behaviours that when the curiosity does go behind the cloud, how do I get beyond the clouds? How do I get back into that flow of creativity?
29:40
Don't be passive and wait for that mood to shift. Use tools to take action to step back into the flow of creativity. It's incredible empowering.
32:00
Stopping the battle with resistance and stepping beyond the spiders web.
36:40
I give myself permission to not be focused on the small separated me, I instead focus on the big fire hydrant of infinite potential.
Most mornings I wake up feeling anxious and nervous. What's going to happen today? And I think, right, okay well, I've got a choice. It's my responsibility.
39:15
We don't have to believe our own thoughts. It's the permission to not stay stuck, permission to feel differently.
41:20
How we frame our language, even to ourselves can be the difference of curiosity or resistance.
43:20
What's just one small step that I could take right now? It's not even so much about the step, it's the realization that you can take the step. You're not the emotion, you're the observer of it.
44:20
A cup of tea as a mechanism for shifting state.
46:00
Creating an internal shift. From that place you've got a completely different set of choices.
48:50
Start to develop some strategies and some processes to support you stepping out of that stuck space. A habit of doing something creative everyday uses a different part of your brain, uses inspiration and curiosity. An intentional practice creates the choices.
51:20
Give yourself permission at the small 'day to day' level. It's not just about the big things. Its the same muscle being worked.
52:30
We're being run by our habits all the time. Being in a crap mood is a habit. We talk neuroplasticity and how we can change the brain simply by having a different thought.
55:40
The centre of the brain, which is responsible for fear and nervousness, is the same part of the brain that is responsible for excitement and anticipation. When I feel nervous or frightened about something I tell myself I'm excited about it. Because it's the same feeling, it's just the story I tell myself about the feeling.
59:20
When everything looks shit, there's still something which is good. We fall into polarised thinking but it's rarely those extremes absolutely. Develop the ability to a little bit more nuanced. Allow yourself to be present to the spark of possibility.
1:02:10
Our experience is always a result of the choices that we're making and we can always give ourselves permission to make a different choice.
Find out more and connect with Simon here:
“I help successful people to understand their true purpose, so they can experience greater levels of happiness and fulfilment, often in a single conversation.”
W : www.simoncrowe.com
FB: www.facebook.com/simoncrowecoaching
LI: www.linkedin.com/in/simoncrowe
Instead of shutting down to your own limitations, open up to curiosity.
This speech by Chelsea Dinsmore of Live Your Legend really moved me. Eighteen months ago her husband Scott- founder of LYL, was killed in a freak accident by a boulder whilst they were both climbing Mt Kilimanjaro. The news rocked me surprisingly hard as I had been a close follower of LYL as I made my own huge life transitions beginning back in 2012.
Watching her strength bloom this last 18 months has been so inspiring. Maybe it's the affinity I had with the blog from my early days, maybe it's her energy, her passion and curiosity for life, or the fact she is the same age as me.
Or maybe it's none of those things.
This is a 25 minute speech given by Chelsea at the World Domination Summit in 2016. It's very worthy of your time.
These are my takeaways...
"If you stay endlessly curious, it inspires you to get creative. It forces you to figure it out even when you don’t know how. And when you’re able to pair that curiosity with a meaning greater than your own, that is when you become limitless."
"When you spend your time doing the things that you love you give a gift to those that receive it."
"when you question not WHAT you can do, but WHY it's important to you, the HOW reveals itself"
If you were able to let go of your limitations and open up to curiosity what could you create in your life?
Loving you, and creating space for you to embrace your journey. Always
My 'gateway' to veganism
I want to tell you a story.
A moment in time that became the gateway to my vegan journey.
Last night I gave a public talk around the topic I am most passionate about... "nutrition is the gateway to your optimal self”.
Towards the end of the talk I held up this Nakd bar, and mentioned that it became my gateway to understanding that a vegan diet was not just 'kale and cucumber', before then going on to give a 'bliss ball' demo!
Later, as I was driving home and reflecting on and processing the evenings events, I realised that comment held so much more gravity then I’d ever given credit, than I had ever previously acknowledged before in my life.
So, I'm going to tell you a little story...
Grab a mug of tea and get comfy, or maybe bookmark this for later when you have a clear ten minutes for yourself.
In 2010 my life was incredibly ordinary. Everything was very mediocre. Not bad, but really not great either. Towards the end of that year I met a guy, a vegan guy. Those of you familiar with my recipe blog posts from the very beginning may remember this guy often fondly referred to as 'the boy’.
One weekend on our third date, we went for a walk around a park which led into the town centre where his office building was based (he owned a graphic design company). We had grabbed some lunch from Marks & Spencer’s and were debating where to sit and eat it. He asked if I'd like to come up and see his office as it was on the 12th floor of the building and had a great view over the town. We could sit and eat lunch there.
He was right, the view was amazing, as were the wonderful fluttery feelings I was getting in my tummy.
He took the Nakd bar out of his carrier bag and I looked over curiously, since I had already finished all my food! Breaking it in half he held out his hand, with a bemused and slightly quizzical look on his face.
"It’s just dates and nuts and cocoa all smooshed up together…it tastes exactly like chocolate-orange”, he told me.
"Yeah right" I smiled back.
But I very was curious, and to be honest didn’t want to offend since it was only the third date and all! So I took it.
Mind blown. It DID taste exactly like chocolate orange!
In that precise moment in time, as I sat on a chair on the 12th floor of an empty office block with a guy I barely knew… my entire changed. In that precise moment I realised that a vegan diet was indeed about more than just kale and cucumber... I was holding the proof in my hand!
I still vividly remember thinking, 'maybe this guy is not so crazy after all!'
At that time veganism was not at all mainstream (I’d even had to ask him to explain to me exactly what it meant!) Vegan food options were not widely available and Nakd bars were pretty much the only type of vegan treat you could buy, and only typically available in health food shops. Plus they were very expensive!
From that moment forward my curiosity got the better of me. I made vegan cakes and cookies that he could eat at every given opportunity. I went and bought a £20 food processor on Amazon so I could make my own chocolate ‘smoosh bars’. It wasn’t until about nine months later than my ‘Including Cake’ recipe blog was born, by which time I was now in the thick of it, following a 99% vegan diet myself and seeing so many shifts in all areas of my life.
In conversations with others, I often refer to myself as an 'accidental vegan', since it had never even been on my radar.
Life simply presented me with a guy who turned my world around, who happened to hand me a piece of chocolate orange Nakd bar one day.
A memory I will cherish forever, as it was the gateway that set in motion literally everything that I am today.
He lit the light within me to ‘always be curious’. It is now my deepest passion, and I urge you to get curious about everything in your life, especially the small things so often cast aside… they often have the greatest potential for change.
Loving you all.
What will you discover when you are curiously aware?
If you are a regular reader you will know two things about me...
I love food (healthy vegan food to be precise!)
I love exploring what it means to 'get curious' about life.
This is a post about the latter, as earlier today I found a TED talk that I felt summed up so beautifully what it is to be curious AND maybe more importantly the huge benefit this can have for you in your life. For me personally, this is an area of continous growth and exploration and is something that infuses my work with all my clients.
Check out the video below (it's 9 minutes long, so perfect so a mini time out with a cup of tea) but I wanted to share my musings on the key areas below.
"What will you discover when you are curiously aware"
(I wanted to jump up and down around the room shouting yes, yes, yes when I heard that! ha)
Mindfulness is just about getting really interested in getting close and personal with what's actually happening in our bodies and minds from moment to moment. It's the willingness to turn towards our experience and not away from it. This willingness is supported by curiosity. When we get curious we step out of our fear-based habit patterns and step into 'being'.
Notice the urge... Get curious... feel the joy of letting go... repeat!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the curiosity and how are you can bring this habit into your own life. If you're inspired and want to go all out then ping me an email and let's really get this conversation really flowing!
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I am a designer, personal empowerment coach and writer from the UK. I work with health and wellness businesses to bring their mission and purpose to the world. I also help people become the best version of themselves in mind and body.
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