At the end of December I decided for the second time in the space of a year to give up meat, mainly to reduce the symptoms of endometriosis. I first became vegetarian in December 2007 for a mere 4 months, becoming unstuck after tucking into curry goat and rice as part of a birthday meal. It was downhill all the way after that.
I became helplessly addicted to the taste of flesh and my willpower had all but diminished, with months of hard exercise going out of the window as my weight ballooned from 12 stone 4 lbs to 14 stone 2lbs. By Christmas I was really feeling the ill effects of my gluttony. I had a painful hip, which an X-ray revealed was due to loss of cartilage in the hip joint; I was constantly out of breath and the symptoms of endometriosis had worsened to the point that I was forced to take up to 12 painkillers a day, just to function.
I had started teaching in October and as my weight increased and my clothes became tighter, I began to feel self-conscious standing in front of my students feeling fat and frumpy. I also thought about my forthcoming birthday in April when I would reach the grand age of 45 and really did not want to look over the hilt. I thought of the saying “if at first you don’t succeed...” and decided to try again to become a strict vegetarian.
I was not aiming to diet by drastically reducing calories as I was living proof of the fact that most dieters put back all the weight they lose and more. I put all my efforts into getting re-accustomed to eating and enjoying vegetarian meals. My daily intake of food consisted of porridge for breakfast, soups such as mushroom, tomato or French onion for lunch and mackerel, salmon or vegetarian sausages with couscous or egg noodles and assorted vegetables for my evening meal.
I also ate plenty of fruit such as apples, bananas, red grapes, plums and mixed nuts as snacks. Alcohol was strictly off the menu, so I drank plenty of peppermint tea and no sugar squash and only decaffeinated coffee. I realised that modifying my diet alone would not be enough to kick-start weight loss, so I started taking high strength cod liver oil capsules and glucosamine to improve my hip joint and took up running.
I live directly opposite a park, which according to a local gym instructor is about a mile long. Three times a week I would get up at around 6.00pm when virtually no-one was around to see me huffing and puffing my way around the park, spurred on by uplifting tunes blaring out of my mp3 player. It was really tough, not just because most mornings it was freezing cold, but because my legs tired after only 50 metres but I always forced myself to do it as I contemplated a life of ill health and sagging body parts.
Three months later I have lost 2 stone 2lbs, dropping from 14 stone 2lbs to 12 stone. The benefits, aside from lower blood pressure, no asthmatic symptoms and very minor symptoms of endometriosis are the compliments from people and pleasing glances from the opposite sex! I no longer walk with my head down in case anyone recognises me – but stride confidently. It’s always disheartening when you bump into someone you haven’t seen for ages and they say “You’ve put on a bit of weight, haven’t you”?
When I went to have my nails done for my birthday, the beautician asked me how old I was and when I said I was 45 she drew her eyebrows together in disbelief and told me I looked ten years younger. That really made my day! But the most important aspect of my vegetarian journey I would like to share, is that you do not have to starve yourself or spend money either on special diet foods or gym sessions. It cost me nothing to run around the park, which incidentally, at first took me 10 minutes to complete. Now it takes me around 8 and half minutes, so I am gradually improving my stamina and level of fitness.
As a herbal physician once told me – food can be your medicine, or your poison. If you’re carrying excess weight that is hard to shift, why not consider going vegetarian – you’ve got nothing to lose – except a few spare tyres around your midriff!
Copyright © Deborah Gabriel 2009
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