Converting from the soil, to soul consumption.

Converting from soil to soul consumption.

By: Akil K.

My childhood was somewhat alien in the way that my parents, especially my mom was quite health conscious. Focused on raising me and my brother, to mirror her unique lifestyle philosophies as closely as possible.

Although, my older brother by six years strayed from the vegetarian path over a decayed ago, I only converted earlier this year. At the time I am writing this it has been about 6 months, and I have not regretted this somewhat spontaneous decision at all.

As you can imagine, immediately the options of my cuisine expanded dramatically. What was usually just a few aisles of viable choices, became the entire 15 aisle grocery store. I tried everything, filling my fridge with shrimp, and sausage, salmon and eggs, chicken and Beef open to every meat but pork.

I cooked heavy meals and gorged myself as much as I could throughout the day, focused on consuming calories. My main reason for the transformation, being a desire to gain weight in the form of muscle. An ideal that is already challenging enough, without the added complication of an incomplete diet.

It's not hard to believe I spent my life up until this point debating in defensive of the vegan, and pescatarian. Preaching as representative of the doctrine, that meat is not necessary in order to live healthfully. While this is true to an extent as I lived a very active lifestyle and am grateful to this up bringing. It is also true that meats generally contain a dense nutritional content difficult to acquire with a plant-based diet alone. Still, it is possible, but challenging.

When paired with my extreme distance running, as well as a consistent fasting practice, and high metabolism it became clear to me I was putting myself into a nutritional debt. Years of starvation, and exercise had begun to take a toll on my body especially my knees. I attribute long term nutritional debt as a contributing factor to me needing a cane at only 25. Whenever I would do a two day fast, at the 48 hours mark, like clockwork my knees would begin to hurt, and want to give out. Later on, it was my knees that seemed like they would not be able to support me for more then a quarter of my life.

This was a clear sign to me; I had taken this practice to far and it had in fact become unhealthy. Not only this but now looking back I can see that starvation was affecting my thinking, causing me to make illogical decisions, and pursue dramatic or fantastical thinking.

It can be hard to recognize when we are not getting exactly what we need, as we may be getting just enough for our level of activity. So, by increasing activity, physical or mental strain even emotional stressors, then we begin to feel our true lack.

The more Qi we burn, the more that must be consumed, therefor the beginning to succeeding in any task is fueling yourself with the proper nutrients. We cannot complete a marathon faster by skipping water breaks. Sure, for the first mile you will be fast, but what about the next 10.

In this way one must think of sustainability when it comes to their energy in, to energy out, somewhat like a bank account. Otherwise, we will quickly find ourselves in debt. My father has owned a carpentry business my entire life, and still seems to have learned something new every time I speak to him. Recently, he was astonished to tell me how many small businesses aren’t making any money and are actually unaware of it. This can be true with our own nutritional state as well.

I was surprised that my transition was relatively easy for me, consuming more meat in 6 months then my entire life did not have much of a negative effect. I have felt more passionate, satiated, and grounded, all while working out twice a day. No longer running, I focused my training on body weight calisthenics, and haven't experienced profound knee pain since the transition.

I believe my mental state made my shift less difficult as well. Having a conscious desire to eat meat communicated an acceptance into the cells that make up my digestive organs. Just as the belief a food is toxic or gross can create real discomfort, this subtle shift in attitude can make a huge impact. Although I did find myself more tired after eating for the first few months, especially when it came organ meat.

Since I didn't grow up with meat as a regular part of my life, it has a unique reverence to me. To say it is unfortunate how livestock is treated in this country would be an understatement, it is a tragic display of humanities in ability to become cohesive with the network of life. Still the majority of human beings and cultures around the world have always and still do eat meat, as it is for many an indispensable source of nutrition. In this way veganism, like several restrictive diets are a privilege. They can have very helpful effects on the health of an individual when done correctly, and several negative effective when done neglectfully.

Overall, the health of an individual is dramatically affected by their diet, yet any particular dietary path can produce both positive and negative results. Furthermore, there is not a one size fits all model when it comes to eating. As the amount, and contents of one’s diet are extremely connected to their lifestyle and unique personal constitution. For this reason, it’s best not to associate with any label, and simply eat the foods that feel right for you, avoiding the ones that cause irritation. As the most valuable diet is the one that is balanced and in harmony with an individual's personal needs rather than polarized by politics or popular opinion.