Welcome 
I’ve been eating a plant-based diet for over 3 weeks now. I thought I might list some of the main points I’ve noticed in myself:
- No after kai (food) crashes or slumps anymore
- I feel fuller for longer
- I’m slowly losing weight
- I have more energy & focus
- I feel happier in myself – I know I’m eating well
- I haven’t felt excessively full since eating this way
It’s still early days so I’m keen to explore what other changes I’ll notice in myself over time. Just to throw a picture at you, here’s my pizza I ate the other night which absolutely delicious (even without cheese!):
For those interested: I used a wholemeal wrap for the base and literally threw on veggies I could find and alfalfa sprouts! I added my 7 Veg sauce for good measure and topped it with BBQ sauce. Very tasty!
So, I used to listen to podcasts but that went out the window there for a bit. I’m trying to get back into it! In my job I spend quite a bit of time driving some days and I like to use that time to listen to interesting podcasts and learn something new.
One of my favourite ones’ is Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose.” Jay has an interesting background and, after going off the rails for a bit, found his first calling when he became a monk. He then found his second calling after rejoining the general population and wanting to share his knowledge with everyone.
The recent podcast I listened to was a conversation between Jay and Dr Rangan Chatterjee (I hope I spelt that correctly). Anyway, Rangan (let’s keep this informal, it’s far too hard to type out his last name repeatedly) has been doing some amazing work in regards to helping his patients with life-style changes and aiming to get to the root cause of whatever is causing their issues. He moves away from prescribing medication unless it’s the last resort. He also starred in a BBC documentary called “Doctor in the House” which I’d love to watch at some stage.
Anyway, Rangan wrote a book on the four pillars of health which I’m keen to get my hands on! In his book, he devotes a large section to stress, and what stress is. He explains it really well. Back in the day, we used to experience stress signals when we were exposed to danger. What happens is that our blood sugar rises in a moment of stress, and one part of the brain (the amygdala) starts working over-time. This is referred to as hyper-vigilance, so in simple terms we’re super aware of what is happening in our environment.
In our modern life, this causes all sorts of issues including anxiety, diabetes, fatigue, etc.. Rangan talks about micro & macro stress doses, e.g. a macro stress dose would be a major incident like the loss of a loved one or a relationship break-up. Micro stress doses (MSD’s) are little bouts of stress we experience throughout the day. There are ways of doing preventative work to limit the amount of MSD’s we’re exposed to in a day. Here Rangan talks about the 3 x M’s – movement, mindfulness & mindset.
For example, you might start your morning with 2 minutes of deep breathing, 5 minutes of affirmations & 5 minutes of stretches. This sets you up for a better day as you’re starting it with intention. As well, doing this builds your resilience for the day. Compare this start with you waking up, snoozing your alarm twice, then jumping out of bed in a mad rush. I think of it as setting the foundation for the day!
I guess what I’m really trying to highlight is that food is just ONE part of the picture. If we’re eating well, yet we’re constantly stressed, lonely and lack purpose, the food aspect is clearly not enough. We need so much more! Find a hobby, something you’re passionate about or you’ve always wanted to learn. Connect with friends and family and deliberately make time for it. Put your phone away when you’re with people (guilty – I need to work on that one!!) and be fully present in the moment.
I’d love for you to listen to the podcast, the one annoying aspect are the ads but hey, there’s still great learning and it’s for free! I honestly didn’t explain it nearly as well as Rangan (and it would take too long – my technology time for the day expired 11 minutes ago eek).
On that note, I’m getting off the laptop to finish this slight rush job. 
Auf Wiedersehen,
Carly