I started squishyplum.com back in November 2013 as a 1-year experiment eating a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet. I had the idea that my experience could help others who wanted to explore a healthier, more conscious way of eating. As it turned out, I did help people. But not how I intended.

As it happened, the wheels came off my experiment after a few months of my newfound WFPB lifestyle. I lapsed into eating shitty processed vegan foods, gorging on vegan cupcakes and cookies and fries—oh my! Ironically, it was my lapse into emotional stress-eating that helped others the most. They realized they were not alone in their imperfection. I struck a chord with people, mostly women, who were making an effort to improve their health, the health of their families, and the health of the planet, but who “failed” in some perceived way or another. I heard a common refrain of: “I suck”; “I can’t do this”; “What’s the point? I never stick with anything”; and my favourite, “I’m not ______ enough.” WTF people?

That initial year has come and gone. In fact, it’s 2016 now and here I am. I’ve been through a job that sucked the life out of me, the end of a relationship that broke my heart, financial stresses, a rollercoaster ride of weight gain and loss, the death of a close friend—and I’ve made it out the other side. Today, I’ve transitioned back to my freelance career which makes me so much happier. I’ve moved from a condo that never felt like home to a calming, homey, rough-around-the-edges old house. I’m working on piecing my relationship back together, slowly, cautiously, hopefully. I’ve extricated toxic people from my life. I’m taking long walks along the water and getting out the yoga mat. And I’m feeling stronger and more grounded for it. Settling back into myself.

image of pink cherry blossoms

My fabulous coach recently reminded me that I am the most important person in my life—a fact that I somehow forgot along the way. For some reason, I’d been equating putting myself first with being a selfish cow. But how wrong I was. Turns out that living your life to please other people—and always being worried about what other people think—is not actually living. So now I’m making decisions based on what makes me happy, naysayers be damned.

And what’s making me happy these days is putting whole-food plant-based foods into this body. Who knew that hummus could bring such contentment? I’m kicking off my return to blogging with a symbolic 3-month WFPB project, in honour of the reason I started this blog in the first place. Come join me on my journey. And hopefully some of my insights will help you on your journey into plant-based living.

Squishyplum: All plants. All the time. Now that’s livin’!

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