A plant-based lifestyle

Kim Coley of Soul Happy – Peterborough’s new, not-for-profit wellbeing centre in the heart of the city – on the benefits of veganism

With bacon and other processed meats being officially classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organisation, and with a lot of animal products taking its acidifying toll on the bodies of many, more and more people are joining the happier and healthy vegan wave. Eliminating animals and animal by-products from our diet lifestyles isn’t just a seasonal trend; the number of vegans in Britain alone has risen by a whopping 360% in the last 10 years! It’s the largest ever decade for veganism.

People are re-connecting with their food, and asking more questions about where their food comes from, what’s is in it, and how the animal has been treated. Whether people are reactively changing through health scares or just wanting to try something new, the huge array of health benefits are being seen on scale (lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, lower rates of Type 2 diabetes, lower body mass indexes, a lower risk of death from heart disease, lower acidifying food intake and lower overall cancer rates).

From these mass benefits, it’s inspiring many others. And so continues this cultural shift! When I cut out cheese and eggs, I lost half a stone and reduced my period pains and PMT too. I felt lighter, cleaner and had more energy. I now know why: my previous love of cheese made my body too acidic. My blood protects my organs by storing access acids in fat cells to keep the organs safe, and won’t let go of these fat cells easily until it’s pH balanced again. And with all the cheese I was eating I was adding way to many unnatural hormones to my body. It takes only two years for a calf to grow to an adult size cow. It takes humans over 11 for children to reach puberty. The amount of hormones needed to get a calf to grow that quickly is a huge difference. No human needs that many hormones! I can’t believe I didn’t work it out before now.

There are many health, environmental and animal welfare reasons for making the switch, and more people are realising that the reasons for going more plant-based, far outweigh the unnecessary food habits we have been brought up with. And no, vegans don’t eat rabbit food. Just Google vegan recipes and you have over 48 million results! It’s never too late to create positive change in your life. Positive change is positive change, no matter how small the steps are.

If you would like some help with veganism, there is lots of help available locally:
● Link up with the established ‘Peterborough Vegan and Vegetarian community’ on Facebook.
● There are monthly vegan bring ‘n’ share food and social meet-up groups through the wellbeing centre too.
● This is all as well as Google being your friend with endless vegan recipes you can find to suit your needs and timescales. Of course you can eat healthy and ‘up’ your alkalising foods (your fruit and veg) but with vegan options for burgers, pies, curries, pizza, cheesecake, biscuits and chocolates, you can easily enjoy a huge variety of foods which include SOME of your naughty treats too. (the rule should be 75% alkalising foods, and 25% acidifying foods in your lifestyle).
● Argo Lounge, Pret A Manger, Sundays, the Ostrich Pub, The Pizza Parlourand Chai Peterboroughare just a few places that cater for vegans locally.

● You can read the full story about processed meats being carcinogens here: www.cancer.org/latest-news/worldhealth-organizationsays-processed-meatcauses-cancer
● If anyone wants any help or support with moving onto a plant based diet in a way that works for them, please email for a free chat, and we can also put you in touch with our holistic nutritionist Helen for a fee consultation too.

Image: www.freepik.com/free-vector/green-sketches-vegetables-background_899769