Inflammation Relieved By Becoming Vegan.

I’ve been a Remedial massage therapist for 21 years. 5 years ago my elbow became really inflamed and sore, it was so bad I could barely move it. I was trying everything, Yoga, massage, Chiropractic and acupuncture. I would get minimal relief for a short time. I came to the conclusion that I’d have to retire from massage.

I went to yoga teacher training in Bali, 2015. I had the most relief while I was there, I was meditating and practicing yoga for 3-4 hours a day, the pain didn’t completely go, but I was able to use it better every day. Before I went to Bali there had been some news at home about dog meat being served, so I stayed away from the meat while I was there (just incase).

While there we learned about the 8 limbs of yoga and in one of those limbs is Ahimsa (in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainist tradition) respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others. I remember my teacher saying that  some Yoga teachers take that as to not eat animals, this was so foreign to me, I had no idea that people chose not to eat meat! (Ignorant I know).

When I got home, I started back on my regular diet, the pain came back worse than before. I assumed it was because I was back to doing 25 massages per week and I was back at square one.

4 months past and my housemates brother came to stay from England, he asked me to watch a documentary about veganism, I was like, ‘I’ll watch it, but I can’t give up meat or ice cream!’

The tears were streaming down my face, I was sobbing so much the dog came and sat on my lap to lick my tears away. I couldn’t stop thinking ‘what’s the difference between you (the dog) and the cow I just watched having it’s head chopped off on TV?’ It just cemented all of the things I’d learned in Bali.

I went to the fridge, threw anything that had come from an animal away. I ate baked beans on toast for a week straight, because I didn’t know what to eat! Within 4 days the pain completely went away and hasn’t come back since. I found a naturopath who could tell me why (I didn’t have much luck at my Drs office). I had a build up of animal protein which was causing too much uric and lactic acid and a major dairy allergy.

That was 3 and a half years ago, I’ve truly never felt better. This is my story, you have to do what’s right for you. ✌🏽