Why I went vegan.

Here is a guest blog post by my close friend, client and fellow type 1 runner Mariam El Keraby. 

A bit over a year ago I decided to be bold and go vegan. Something about being vegan interested me!

I watched a bunch of documentaries about veganisim and about plant based diets and the one thing I saw in common was how people following this lifestyle had endless amounts of energy and the love and appreciation they had for their body…the two things I seemed to crave. During that period I was in a dark place with my type 1 diabetes management and completely burnout. I was eating a ton of junk, not caring about my blood sugars and omitting my insulin regime. I felt very insecure about how I looked and how I felt, I knew that having high blood-sugars meant I was losing weight…definetly not in the healthiest way but for some reason I was just happy to lose the weight even if I was very low in energy.

After watching all these documentaries on Netflix and talking to a few people who followed a plant based diet I really felt it was a great way to grab control of my blood sugars and diabetes again, start building a healthy relationship with my body, and feel more alive.

So just like that I decided I will go vegan overnight (and to all those who say I can never do that…trust me I was a chicken lover!!!).

Going vegan was such a great choice, and while I chose to be 90% vegan, I remain 100% vegetarian.

The first few weeks of going vegan I started having much more energy, I started feeling better each day and more focused. I slowly started gaining better control of my blood-sugars with more and more in range numbers, and gained a better perspective about living with type 1 diabetes.

Over time my perspective and image about myself improved.

I no longer limit my carb intake to 65g a day. I no longer guilt myself for treating my cravings and more importantly I no longer weigh myself 1000x a day.

Instead I enjoy the food I eat, I workout and run for the joy it brings to me not as a way to “burn” calories.

Eating plant based has done wonders to my diabetes management, much more predictable blood-sugars and less fluctuations due to the low glycemic foods that plant based foods have to offer. Cutting meats, poultry, eggs and dairy out of my diet reduced my fat intake significantly which in return made me much more insulin sensitive. When I first went vegan my insulin needs basically cut in half despite eating more than double the carbs I used to it.

These are the reasons I decided to eat a vegan, plant-based diet and I am so glad I did.

*All photos taken by Mariam.