How I became vegan (and then healthy), by Cristian de @lapastanoengorda
As you're probably wondering who I am, I'd like to introduce myself. I am Cristian, ambassador of Komvida and defender of the mamarracheo by flag. You will see me invading this blog from time to time to tell you little things. I hope you find them interesting and that you learn without even realising it while you have a few laughs.
I am vegan. I'm not one of those vegans who starts by introducing myself as a vegan and saying how many years I've been vegan to make me look cool, but in this case it makes sense for me to do so because of the story I'm about to tell you.
We are brought up to believe that eating animals is okay, but I remember as a child that something about the whole thing made me squirm, especially when I saw the animals we were going to eat move. I'm sure you have a similar story: the turkey at your grandmother's house, the rabbit you liked and the next day it was in the paella, you know. At 16/17 I decided that I wasn't going to eat any more animals and so I did. What a relief for my conscience.
In those days, information didn't fly around as much as it does now. Vegetarian recipe books were a bit rubbish. The photos on the blogs at that time made you want to report the person who had taken them for unsightly damage more than for making them. So, with the little information I had, I decided that I could feed myself on hummus and sachets of ready-made pasta.
Rice with mushrooms in wine, prefabricated pesto pasta, rich bread with tomato, hamburgers that came ready-made and were terrible. That was my diet and over time it took its toll. I was tired and lacked energy (it's no wonder I was in zombie mode nowadays, given how badly I ate).
By chance, I came across a video on YouTube of two mamarrachas who said that oats had soothing properties and that awakened something in me. I thought we were eating to fill our bellies and not be hungry, not to nourish ourselves as such. I started reading nutrition blogs and I understood that we should eat pulses, vegetables, fruit, cereals, seeds and nuts. It sounds terrible, but with a little art you can do amazing things. In those days (read in an old lady voice) it was all very difficult to find and obviously very expensive.
I would lie in bed and read boring nutrition stuff that I found fun. I took notes and understood that eating well, as well as being able to change my life in the long term, was also a way of loving and caring for myself. Loving yourself is very important.
Every week, my little fidgety butt and I would go to some organic shop and spend 20 euros buying 4 things. Now those things are super affordable (I'm talking about mung, buckwheat and chia seeds, don't think I'm talking about Harry Potter roots, far from it).
I've always liked cooking but that's when I started to like it more, it was like starting from scratch. Deconstructing the things my mother had taught me and understanding how the things I bought worked. Obviously nothing comes out right the first time: stone burgers, things with indescribable flavours and textures that you don't know what to do with. If these things happen to you, I'll give you a tip that will change your life: oregano.
I have been cooking and experimenting for many years, in fact I ended up studying Herbodietetics, where I put together the knowledge I had been reading in random books and I understood that it was not only about eating well and tasty, but that fermented foods were also an essential part of our diet.
I don't know if you know that about a kilo and a half of our weight is bacteria. The gut bacteria are very important for life, the gut is directly connected to the brain, they are born from the same stem cells and work in a bidirectional way. Has it ever happened to you that something bad happens and suddenly you have a tummy ache? Well, that's why.
Eating lots of fruits and vegetables is important, eating varied, local and adding fermented foods on a daily basis. Komvida is a great way to do it and it tastes great, it is a vegan kombucha that will help you take care of yourself without realizing it and enjoying it to the fullest.
Photo by: María Caparrós
