Category: Life

Over the past couple of years we’ve (Beloved Husband and I) been becoming more aware of issues around food. It comes after years of eating as students and, at various times, struggling with money, health, stress, and all those other little things that make healthy eating a struggle.

We started watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the River Cottage programmes. We became more concerned about the fate of animals bred for slaughter and wanted to eat meat that had been sourced from a reputable place. Various things—money, resources, energy—put paid to that, and we gradually slipped into habits not, perhaps, as bad as they had been but we certainly weren’t model dieters.

Fast forward a couple of years, and that’s had its inevitable effect. We’re both heavier than we’d like to be, not all that fit and health issues weigh on your mind more. Being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes right at Christmas finished it off.

For a few months, if we’ve been out for food anywhere I’ve been choosing the vegetarian option most of the time and going into full-fledged vegetarianism was a natural progression at a time when health issues, environmental issues and ethical concerns converged. Beloved Husband joined in enthusiastically and although we both had a little meat at Christmas (don’t judge, we’re still brand new) we haven’t looked back. I’ve lost several pounds in just a few weeks so that’s a nice bonus! We’re both interested in veganism too – it feels like the next step although we’re not there yet.

So what’s helped? Realising that vegetarian/vegan food is delicious! We’ve splashed out on both the Deliciously Ella books, The Happy Pear by the Flynn twins, and—perhaps my favourite— Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin. The recipes are gorgeous, simple and healthy and I recommend all of them highly.

It’s a one meal at a time thing; we’re both fairly confident calling ourselves vegetarian now, but although being vegan is something I’d like to explore, I’m not quite ready to take the plunge yet! We’ll see…