Sophie Steevens - Raw + Free: Plant-based Living for Health and Happiness

Contents

My
Story

Growing up in New Zealands largely meat- and dairy-based food culture, I was lucky that both my parents were vegetarians. They also had a great awareness of the health benefits of wholefoods and organic produce, among other things, so I guess the seeds were planted at a young age for the way I eat now. My parents decided to part ways when I was around six years old, which was also around the time that my vegetarianism came to an end. I followed the behaviour of those around me and navely began to introduce meat into my diet.

When it came to healthy eating, my teenage years saw a downhill spiral. I became addicted to all things sugar and dairy, and then eventually copious amounts of black tea and coffee. I remember consuming blocks of chocolate as if they were the last food on Earth, completely unaware of the detrimental effects it was having on my body.

I had my first child, Eli, at almost twenty years old, followed by my second, Milo, a few years later, and giving birth to my boys definitely re-ignited some of the health awareness I had as a childalthough nothing was going to stop my sugar addiction. I endeavoured to feed my boys the same way my parents had fed me as a young toddler, but I was still neglecting healthy eating myself.

It wasnt until I was about 25 years old that something within me clicked. I vividly remember sitting at the dinner table looking at a freshly cooked chicken, when suddenly the thought of eating a dead bird completely repulsed me. At that moment, I made a conscious choice to never, ever touch meat againand I havent since. My partner, Ricardo, was a heavy meat-eater at the time, but not long after he too became vegetarian, along with my boys Eli and Milo.

A year later, our young family decided we would pack our things and move to Bali, Indonesia. Ricardo travels as a professional surfer, and the waves there are some of the best in the world for him to train in, the weather is amazing year-round compared with the chilly New Zealand winters, and we thought it would be a great experience for the boys, aged four and six at the time. For a short time everything was amazing. We were having so much fun adventuring and experiencing life immersed in a completely different culture, but, unbeknown to us at the time, things were about to change.

While Ricardo was overseas competing in South Africa, I suddenly became extremely ill. Initially I self-diagnosed this as a standard Bali bug.