How healthy, difficult and time consuming is a vegan lifestyle?
- By Geertje (Gre) Haak
- 13 Jan 2021
What can a vegan diet do for your health, and is switching to a plant-based diet difficult and time consuming? With the Vegan Challenge this month, now is the time to get answers to these questions. I asked Ewa Jasinska - personal trainer and vegan - about her personal experience with a plant-based diet.
About Ewa Jasinska
Ewa is 52 years old and born in Poland. She has lived in the Netherlands for 34 years and works as a personal trainer. Nothing special so far, were it not for the fact that Ewa combines a vegan lifestyle with bodybuilding. This is - unfortunately - still considered impossible by some. Nothing could be further from the truth! At 52 years old, Ewa is exceptionally muscular and shows that this is indeed possible.
A few months ago I also spoke with Jurgen Verweijen who developed his own vegan protein (Silverback Protein) and gotten about 3 meters wide and muscular ;-) on a completely plant-based diet. Read the full article here
How Ewa came into contact with a vegan lifestyle? Intense!
Ewa had been a vegetarian for 20 years when she came into contact with a vegan lifestyle and this was anything but a pleasant experience. Via Facebook she received a video from a former acquaintance. The video showed her in a few minutes how things work in the milk industry. The accompanying text read: Are you a woman? Are you a mother? Then why are you letting this happen? I hear the emotion in her voice when Ewa says, "I was in shock! I watched the movie over a hundred times and couldn't sleep for nights on end, so horrible ". That same day, Ewa decided to opt for a plant-based lifestyle.
The response from Ewa's environment
Her mother, daughter and husband initially reacted negatively to her decision and found her "extremist". Still, all animal products that Ewa had in the house went into the trash. Ewa says: "Three months later my daughter also opted for a vegan lifestyle. Not my husband, he still eats meat and dairy products, but only a fraction of what he used to eat. I am not forcing him either, that only arouses resistance and it must be a voluntary choice. "
"Thank you for opening my eyes!"
Months after Ewa chose a vegan lifestyle, she contacted the lady who sent her the video at the time. "I personally thanked her for opening my eyes. I am very grateful to her for that. In the meantime I have already visited her home in Geleen a number of times to exchange experiences. "
The effect of a plant-based diet on Ewa's health
There is a lot of speculation about the effects of a plant-based diet on our physical and mental health. Now I will not comment on this, after all I am not a doctor or nutritionist, but I am very curious about Ewa’s personal experience.
Intestinal problems and rashes
"Years ago I had a lot of intestinal problems, which often resulted in a stomach ache and bloating," says Ewa, "since I eat plant-based, I have no intestinal problems at all". Her daughter also benefits from a plant-based diet, since then she no longer suffers from a rash that popped up every now and then.
Excessive hair
What I find most striking is that Ewa indicates that both she and her daughter have less body hair since switching to plant-based food. "I used to be very hairy and I had to keep up with this by waxing, shaving and whatnot," says Ewa, "but this has changed completely since I started eating plant-based. I think this is because of the hormones you get from meat products."
The energy of an 18 year old
Ewa is 52, but full of energy and zest for life. She laughs and says: "I am sometimes labeled as an ADHD person, but I just have a lot of energy since I eat plant-based.'' From her environment she regularly receives reactions to her young, muscular body and energetic appearance: curious how I do it anyway. There is only one answer to that and that is vegetable food in combination with a lot of sports. Since I eat plant-based, I also have much less acidity during exercise and I recover faster. "
Vegan diet difficult?
It is often thought that a plant-based diet takes a lot of time and there is little choice. Ewa says that this is absolutely not the case: 'Nowadays there is so much choice in vegetable substitutes that you do not have to miss anything and by looking for information on the internet and via Facebook and Instagram pages, you make it easier for yourself. It is of course a learning process, but a very nice learning process and it is nonsense that it would take more time. ”Ewa has now turned into a vegan kitchen princess and if you use her Instagram- or Facebook page follows, you will be regularly surprised with a delicious creation of her hand!
Are you still in doubt? Here's a tip from Ewa
With the Vegan Challenge this month, many people have temporarily switched to a vegan diet. After such a Challenge, many wonder whether it is a good idea to go completely vegan. For those people, Ewa has the following tip: "Take the time to bring about real change. So do not give up after a few weeks, but persist for at least 3 months to really experience what it does for your body and mind. You will not be disappointed! "
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