Deviant Eater

Musings on becoming vegan and the changing perspectives it brings.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Motivations for the switch

The decision to change my diet came about rather abruptly. While I had my doubts about my ability to make the switch (which made the actual transition take a bit longer) , when I look back at it now, the change didn't take very long at all.

I had been thinking about the need to lose weight for a couple of years - as I watched my waistline slowly grow. What I've found about myself is that I have very poor portion control, and not great impulse control. These add up to a weight problem when it's easy to surround myself with quick, but bad, choices for food.

The funny thing is, I decided to try a vegan diet for reasons that had nothing to do with weight. And maybe that's why it worked for me.

The most significant motivating factor that led me to change my diet was when I came to believe that the consumption of meat and dairy products just wasn't natural to the human physiology. This was motivated by one of Steve Pavlina's blog entries. It rang so true for me, that I was able to carefully consider what I felt was right and wrong about my diet, and choose to make a change.

For a long while, my weight had been increasing, and the reaction of my body to the food that I was putting into it was getting worse. I had begun to wonder whether I suffered from irritable bowel syndrome. There were many meals that I liked, but that my body seemed to reject. As mentioned above, I have poor portion control and poor impulse control. I don't like denying myself much. So a change that would work for me would have to be based on principles, rather than on limiting my choices.

So the decision to pursue a vegan diet felt right to me. I knew that it would be difficult, but I didn't realize that the only real difficulty would come in finding easy choices when I eat out. The switch to choosing only plant-based food items has been an easy one, and it has helped me rediscover an interest in cooking and cuisine. It's helped me with my health, and has helped me feel a lot better about myself and my weight.

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