Guest blogger: Lawrence Mitchell talks about why he chose to become a vegan

I’ve asked Lawrence Mitchell, one of my fellow directors here at Green Rewards, to talk about the factors that drove him to dramatically change his diet and lifestyle over five years ago now. I hope you enjoy his story.

Best, Graham

The label 'vegan' often conjures up images of people in purple trousers, banging tambourines around camp fires. Well, I don't own a pair of purple trousers (and never have done), and am happy to be labelled a vegan as I now live on a plant-based diet which I started transitioning to in 2006, shortly before my son was born. Why did I do this? Put simply, for health reasons, both my own individual health and the health of the environment, given that food production and distribution is one of the most significant sources of greenhouse gases in the UK.

At first, the change was a big challenge; I focused far more on the things I was giving up: meat, bread, and coffee. However, then I discovered the rich variety of locally produced fruits and vegetables, wonderful recipes that I had never tried before; fantastic vegetarian restaurants and, above all, a community of globally-based passionate people, connected by the web, all committed to doing as much as they can to improve their own health and the health of their environment.

Today, I live primarily on a raw, living foods diet and enjoy many benefits from this way of life: more energy, stronger immunity, clearer thinking, as well as lower carbon emissions.

Where do you start?

Knowledge
My journey started simply by attending a seminar on raw food nutrition, where I heard about things for the very first time. What I heard made so much logical sense to me, that the very next day, I created a new diet plan for myself which didn't include chicken (I hadn't eaten red meat or dairy for years), refined sugar, coffee, processed foods. In hindsight, I made the change too fast as my body started to emit stored toxins too quickly which caused me to get very ill with flu for a week. However, once that was over I felt better than I'd ever felt. I had a lot more energy and my mind was clearer than it had ever been.

Tools
The next big step was researching and purchasing the correct tools to support my new lifestyle. I bought a Vitamix blender and a Greenstar juicer, both of which have been used almost daily. I also acquired a dehydrator from my cousin, and a whole new set of knives. For a year, I got used to this new way of eating, and stuck to my principles despite the weird looks I got from friends; the difficulty of eating out.

After a year, I felt more confident as I had got used to eating this way; could justify my choices and importantly, felt better than I had ever done before. My experience started to influence others, who started to make simple changes and I became thirsty for knowledge, reading widely and attending seminars both in the UK and the US, culminating in studying for a certificate in Living Foods Nutrition in 2010.

Obstacles to be aware of
Along the way, I encountered many obstacles which could have prevented me getting past first base:

• Friends who just didn't/don't get it;
• Feeling like an outcast;
• Being unsure if you're getting the correct nutrients and minerals;
• Not knowing what to eat;
• Not having the equipment to prepare anything pleasant...the list goes on

To help you with your own personal journey, here are a few tips of things that you need if you are to get past the first base and realise the many benefits that a living food life-style will bring:

1. Commitment to change - if you're not committed for the long-term, you won't realise the benefits.
2. Support - living in the information age, we're lucky as we have access to forums and websites that provide inspiring and practical information and connect you to other people.
3. Recipes - you need to prepare and think ahead. A living food diet has so many great things to choose from - just consider the number of fruits and vegetables available, but you do need to be armed with recipes and have some staples in place to replace more normal foods. For example:

• Crisps become flax crackers, I had some delicious ones yesterday that were just like nachos
• Biscuits - become raw chocolate biscuits, or carob biscuits - or any that you chose to make
• Cakes - become raw cheese cake, or chocolate cake or the peach and data pie I had yesterday
• Ice-cream - becomes banana ice-cream which is so simple to prepare and so like real ice-cream, it's unbelievable
• Pasta - become vegetable pasta
• Sauces - so many recipes to make to transform a salad

1. Tools - you'll need a blender (such as the Vitamix), a juicer (such as the Greenstar) and a dehydrator (which can come later)
2. Knowledge - a basic answer to the inevitable questions of where do you get your protein and calcium from will help as you'll get asked this a lot!
3. Ingredients - a list of super-foods and ingredients that you can order every month in bulk to get discounts 

Further references 
More about the raw living foods diet: http://www.raw-coaching.com/apps/videos/videos/show/7363806-go-raw-now-trailer

More about the raw living foods lifestyle: http://www.raw-coaching.com/

How to start the raw food diet http://www.raw-coaching.com/apps/videos/videos/show/8922801-how-to-start-the-raw-food-diet-how-to-transition-to-raw-

Source organic food and drink: http://www.greenrewards.co.uk/products/Food+%26+Drink

Watch: Simply Raw, Reversing Diabetes in a month: http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/45033/Simply_Raw____Reversing_Diabetes_in_30_Days/

Contact: Lawrence.mitchell@greenrewards.co.uk