Thirteen to Thirty Three

Was my vegetarian period

Which has now come to an end

Bye bye being able to say I am vegetarian

Hello new journey in the world and new food to go with it

I chose to be vegetarian because of the influence of my aunt janell

Who of course is my cool aunt janell and everything she does is cool

Like helping me understand animal rights and animal cruelty 

And a persons right to choose the type of lifestyle they lead

And so for the longest time I have either been vegetarian or even vegan at times

Originally against eating lovely animals, and their cute furry friends

And saving all my babysitting money to send to the WWF or any other nature cause

I was the model vegetarian as a young person

But, over the last few years my brain has been changing

And my body as well

It was going to Japan that tipped the scale

While travelling around europe (where there is not much of a language barrier)

I found it quite challenging at times to be a veggie

France especially, when I was vegan

So when we booked our trip to Japan, I didn't want to miss out on anything

Including the food

So knowing that they used dashi, or fish broth as a base for most things

I decided that on this occasion I would not concern myself with what might be in the food

As there was a lot of 'vegetarian' options anyways

And, it was fine

Coming back to the uk, made me realise there are actually quite a lot of foods I like

But generally don't eat, due to either meat, or my wheat allergy

(Which coincidentally has been written off as idiopathic urticaria)

And I think that was when the penny dropped

I'd made that lifestyle choice so long ago, that it didn't really match my current life

Shortly after our trip, I started up pilates, boxercise and swimming

Then after we moved house I began running and using the free gym

Then when we moved again I joined a proper gym

After that, and loosing some weight

I realised my diet needed to change

Partially due to the fact that I needed the extra protein

And partially because I felt like I was missing out on some good food

Scratch that, great food, as far as london is concerned

And as I move to Hong Kong, I know I want to be able to experience it to the fullest

And for me that means eating everything in sight

Now, I know I will never give up some of my vegetarian ways

I still prefer to order veggie options instead of meat

And more than anything I am interested in having a healthy diet

(Please ignore all the cake posts on Facebook)

But, I want a happy and balanced lifestyle 

And for me, that means changing the way I eat