Going Vegetarian - My Story

In the spring I went through a few months where I was feeling really lousy. I was absolutely exhausted! All. The. Time. I couldn't get out of bed in the morning. I was sluggish all day, I didn't have the will to care about things that normally excited me. I had no energy whatsoever. After a month or so of this constant exhaustion, I started feeling really depressed and frustrated. In my despair, I realized that there was something really wrong with me. It wasn't just some type of cold, this was something serious. It was getting worse with each passing week, and it had lasted for months! Maybe it was thyroid? I knew I wasn't pregnant, but maybe my hormones were all messed up? Maybe a light case of mono?

I was baffled. My diet had never been better. I had slowly transitioned to a vegetarian lifestyle over the past couple of months. I had gradually upping my intake of whole carbohydrates, vegetables, and non-meat forms of protein, while I gradually decreased meat.

If there is one thing that I know to be true about the human body, it's that it is smarter than we think. It is smarter than our mind, because it knows when something is wrong with us before our mind knows something is wrong. It is also smart enough to communicate with us. And my body was absolutely communicating with me, I just could not figure out how to fix the problem.

Usually the first thing I do when I'm not feeling well, is to improve my diet. No matter how well I'm eating, there is always room for improvement. Nine times out of ten, this solves my problem. This time though, my diet was better than ever. I thought my body just needed to "catch up" with my new vegetarian lifestyle so I kept pressing on.

After three months of continued exhaustion, that had only gotten worse with each passing month, I finally had a breakthrough. I was meeting with a client, and we were discussing the Metabolic Type Diet. This diet is based off of the theory that their are three types of human bodies, when it comes to metabolism and digestion. There is the body that thrives off of protein, the body that thrives off of carbohydrates, and the body that needs equal portions of both. To find out which type you are, you take a lengthy quiz. As I was discussing this with my client, I began to wonder if maybe I was a person that thrived off of high levels of protein consumption.

I went straight home and took the quiz for myself. Turns out, not only does my body thrive off of high levels of protein, but I am so dependent on protein that I need both meat, and non-meat forms of protein at two out of three meals every single day in order for my body to run efficiently. It was like a light bulb had come on. All of a sudden it all made sense. As I had been decreasing the animal forms of protein from my diet, my energy levels had slowly decreased with it. Even though I had been making sure to eat non animal forms of protein with each meal, it wasn't enough for my body. My muscles had been weak, sore, and shaky for months, and my hair hadn't been growing (I'm growing my hair out, so it was really starting to annoy me that it was NOT growing at all for months on end. If you've ever grown your hair out, you know what I'm talking about). My body had been trying to communicate with me. It had been trying to tell me that it wasn't getting the right nutrients, it wasn't getting the foods it needed to grow and repair cells, it wasn't getting what it needed for me to have enough energy to make it through the day. Instead, I had been upping my intake of whole grain health carbs, which, according to my Metabolic Test results, do nothing for me. My results showed that my body is abnormally inefficient at digesting carbs. They basically go in one end, and out the other.

Immediately I switched my diet. I added crushed nuts to my oatmeal in the mornings. I started eating more eggs for breakfast. I started having meat for dinner every single night. I went crazy over protein. With DAYS I felt a difference! It took about two weeks of eating animal protein everyday before I really felt "back to normal."

I've always been a big believer that one size doesn't fit all when it comes to a diet. Ultimately it is more useful to listen to your body, versus a health professional (including myself!) because your body knows what it needs in order to be healthy. After this vegetarian experience of mine, I now believe this even more strongly! Do I think going vegetarian is bad? Of course not! Some people really thrive off of a plant based diet. Do I think going vegetarian is right for everyone? Of course not! Other people need animal forms of protein to thrive.

No matter what the current diet craze is, listen to your body first. It will tell you what it needs in order to thrive.

If you're interested in taking the Metabolic Type Quiz for yourself, click here to sign up!

Wishing you all Health, Hope, & Happiness
Abby