My habits have changed so much – my resolve to have all of my 5 a day is unshakable at the moment. I turned down the offer for BF to cook so that I could make sure I had my final portion and ended up with dinner containing two portions each of veg. BF is even coming up with ideas of how to do this so that I could rest after a hectic day with the array of now easy to grab 1 portions of fruit laying around the house.

This challenge was definitely the best decision I have made – I am finally feeling in control of my food, enjoying it and managing some form of healthy aspect to it. At the end of it all I know that I will be a different person and moving forward from now on will be so much easier. I am going to keep up this (minus the blogging everyday) and I know that even after another month of doing it that it will be a habit much harder to break!

Today I had the chance to watch Vegucated on Netflix – I wasn’t what it was about but with lots of fruit and veg on the image and such a title I assumed it was a fruit and veg pro documentary. I was half right as in the end it was a documentary about 3 people going vegan for 6 weeks exploring how they could do it, as well as the health, environmental and emotional reasons to do it. Most of the documentary was around more about the negative treatment of modern farm yard animals (which I was aware of from other documentaries and Vegans at school) but the information surrounding comprehensive studies on how meat within diets suddenly increases rates of cancer and heart disease. I still will be eating meat – sorry but I have enough issues finding supertaster food as it is to try and add veggie or vegan in the mix.

The other interesting aspect though was how the documentary raved how “awesome” New York was to have almost 150 veggie or vegan restaurants. It seems Brighton is a veggie haven with so many around or options at all the others – you lose business if you don’t have something for either when so many locals have chosen one of these diets. Even today I was able to pick up a fruit smoothie (though is it a smoothie if it only contains fruit and ice) and I walked past various other places that offered a similar service. I don’t have enough fingers and toes for how many veggie/vegan restaurants or shops I passed today in my brief walk through the North Laines. I think this is why BF who is a veggie (not by choice but an allergy to meat) never has an issue to find anywhere to find something to eat, and probably is a massive reason to why he loves Brighton so much.

It is though more obvious now as I walk swiftly through town – my eyes and stomach seem to be drawn more to these fruit laden shops compared to the sweet and milkshake shops that otherwise caught my attention. It was harder to resist sitting in a newly opened restaurant for a salad than walking past Cyber Candy for a browse of their sugary array of products.

It really is becoming the norm and this was only replicated by those who took part in Vegucated’s vegan experiment. All three people said that their tastes and habits changed and it was just so easy to not turn back. At the end of the documentary they return to find that all three had become veggie or vegan, and quickly checking on the documentaries website afterwards shows that even now they have kept this up!

I can only hope that I have maintained this long enough and have the passion for me to keep this going and going. If they are anything to go by I think that I have a good chance of managing this permanent positive lifestyle shift.

If you are not a fan of blood and guts (I am terrible so I struggled to watch the screen at certain points) then avoid watching it – it does after all cover a lot about how animals are poorly treated in modern farming. I am glad I did today though – at one point one of those taking part was really struggling but kept it up. In the end she was able to make the change permanently but for her it was the desire to reach the end of the challenge with her head held high that helped her do so and make that permanent change.

I guess that is why I have been so successful and so driven to make sure that I get all of my portions each day – it is a short term challenge that gets easier as the month goes on. Now only 3 days lay ahead of me but that isn’t really how I see it any more, it is only 3 days until I have to start blogging about sign language rather than food!

Have you seen Vegucation – did you find it interesting? What food documentaries would you recommend? Leave a comment below as I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.


Annabelle

Annabelle has lived in Exeter, Bournemouth and London but now live in Brighton as a freelancer. With a love of baking, sewing and social media, she is now starting her own blog.

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