My Story to a Plant-Based diet.
Hi , I’m Kalyani- Mom, Wife, Business Entrepreneur, Plant-Based Baker, Philanthropist, Bhakti Yoga follower and an ardent nature lover.
My Story
After my education, I worked as an air stewardess in MAS. To many, it looks like a glamorous job. The ability to fly all around the world free of charge, visiting all the places that most people only dream about. But many are not aware of the work related issues especially on health.
Working as an air stewardess, you are on your feet most of the time. Sometimes, you do not even get the chance to sit down and eat. Just grabbing whatever is convenient to stop the hunger pangs is usually the norm. Irregular eating times is another issue.
You can only eat when you are free. As those who have travelled will know , air turbulence is quite common and chances of falling are high. I have fallen several times leading to many bodily injuries. Once I was warded upon landing in Los Angeles due to severe …… pains.
Being an air stewardess also means you have to look good. After giving birth to my two beautiful boys, I had some excess weight to lose. This further increased my stress and anxiety.
To carry on my duties, I started popping pills whenever I experienced pain. My diet was unhealthy although I was a vegetarian because I always opted for something that can be fast and the most obvious choices were processed food.
This went on for several years, until in 2008 when I met with an accident and experienced cervical whiplash. The doctor who examined me told me that if I continued with the habit of popping pills to relive pain, I will not be around for long.
He then referred me the pain management center in Selayang Hospital. The team of doctors counselled me and taught me how to relieve my pain using my mind instead of medicine.
From this experience, I learnt that the mind is the controller of our body. We need to send the right signals and information to the mind to have a healthy body.
This led me to self compassion. I learnt not to be critical of myself. Normally we are most critical towards ourselves. We tend to notice all the negative things only, I am too fat, my belly is bulging, so many wrinkles on my face etc.
How many of us actually look at ourselves in the mirror and say I am beautiful, I am happy to be alive, another great day to look forward to and smile? This change in mindset was the start of my journey back to good health.
I started to do a lot of research on nutrition and found that the best way to improve myself was to be mindful of what is going into my body. I started to go for a plant based diet. All dairy, oils, sugar and processed food were eliminated from my diet.
As with all things, starting to change the diet was very, very difficult. Disciple and perseverance is needed. What helped me was my “Big Why” – what was I doing all this for?
It was to live a healthy and pain free life enabling me to be happy and be able to do all the things that I desire. To be there for my family. This gave me the inner strength to persevere and continue on this path.
Today, so much has changed for the better. Now, I do not consume any pills and visits to the hospital is now a thing of the past. The change in diet has also helped me to reduce my weight.
I have lost almost 10kg and my health now is much better than in my twenties/thirties. Key is keeping the food simple and natural. More important than that is to stay joyful.
My journey has taught me some very valuable lessons. We can reverse many things in our life if we have a strong purpose. We must always be grateful and joyful because although there are some negative things in our lives, there are definitely many positive things as well. Food is the greatest medicine.
We need to be careful what we put into our bodies. The closer the food is to being natural, the better.
Plant based diet offers us that choice. It’s made me a new person and I am now pain free and looking forward daily to all the wonderful things that life has to offer.
Enlightenment is not just one state
Our products are full of fiber, no refined sugar, diabetic & immunocompromised friendly as well as nutrient-dense and most importantly, made with lots of love!
Eating a diet higher in plant foods and lower in animal products can have many health benefits, including weight loss or maintenance and a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes. Additionally, it allows you to do your part in preserving the environment for the future generations.