Why i'm embracing plant based living: Matthew Kenney
If you've read my food story before you will know that I've been a Pescetarian since I was 7. I guess this was the age where I became more inquisitive about my food and started asking questions like: 'has that lamb come from the field outside?' and 'what do you mean beef comes from a cow?' and so on. I had a really 'rural' upbringing in the English and Welsh countryside and spent a lot of time outside climbing trees, collecting produce from my nan's extensive vegetable garden, loading punnet's of 'pick your own' fruit with my mum, going horse riding every week and enjoying the peace and serenity of the beautiful part of the world I grew up in.
Going 'pescetarian' was a really big deal for my family and I and at the time I had wanted to go vegan but my parents suggested I eat fish and dairy while I was growing and then I could make my own decision as an adult. I really respect my parents for this - they wanted the best for me and back then (quite a while ago!) the vegan and vegetarian diet had nowhere near as much nutritional information and recipes as we are all lucky enough to have today.
I have stuck to the Pescetarian diet since then and I've loved experimenting and playing around with healthy recipes in this diet. However, recently I've had amazing exposure to plant based/vegan cuisine and I've decided to adopt this approach on more of a full time basis. The main reason I wanted to share this with you is because: a) you are all such a supportive community and I want to be honest and transparent with where I am at in terms of the things I write about on here such as food and health; b) my future recipes will be mainly plant based and vegetarian, although the odd pescatarian recipe may feature c) you might want to hear my reasons for being inspired by plant based cuisine and d) I would LOVE to hear your feedback and your stories if you are currently plant based or thinking of making the switch.
I am learning and growing with this new approach just as we all are and I think each and every one of us has different body types with different needs. I feel like it's really important to be open minded when it comes to your own diet and see how your body responds. It's a personal thing and I will never judge anyone on their food choices - some of my best friends are meat eaters!
I think our main contribution to earth can be to live an organic, free-range and sustainable life as much as possible limiting processed foods and plastics. Eating from the soil and fields is where we need to make the main changes not only for mother earth but also for ourselves to feel good, live longer and have more energy, clearer skin, less skin conditions (do I need to go on?).
I am in my final week of the Raw plant based course I have been doing with Matthew Kenney Cuisine and even though I have been creating mainly plant based recipes on my blog for quite some time I feel like this level of expertise has increased my knowledge tenfold. Also, I believe when you take the plunge with any course it can leave you feeling all sorts of ways. This course has left me feeling so ignited and inspired to learn, experience and educate in this area and I have so many ideas I want to develop and share with all of you :)
**this post is NOT sponsored x
Please let me know your feedback on this post as I love hearing from my community!
Wearing Cotton On Body
Photography by @sophilosia
