about me
CAMY ARRIOLA
Hey There!
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My name is Camy and I'm so glad you stopped by! I love to travel and I absolutely LOVE cooking. Far before I swapped to a fully plant-based (well vegan if you don't count the honey) I loved making super flavorful food that truly feeds the soul. Has this changed at all since cutting the meat and dairy? Not a chance and I can't wait to share my passion with you and show you all I've learned.
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WHY DID I GO PLANT-BASED?
The short story - because of health reasons.
About 2 years ago, I made the switch to eating (and cooking) a fully Plant-Based diet - that means I cut out all meat and all no dairy...just plants.
After seeing several doctors for stomach and digestion issues, I came up empty-handed and was advised I should "try to lose some weight" and to "go on a keto diet". My dad had some great success on that diet, so I decided to give it a shot - like many other diets I tried and failed. It made me feel HORRIBLE. My stomach pains got worse, even after stopping the keto diet, my health continued to worsen to the point where I could not eat much of anything without having issues. Bread? Nope. White rice? Not even! Then came the food poisoning....
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On a trip to London, I ate some fish & chips (as you do) and it changed EVERYTHING. Did you know that you can't taste or smell bad fish?!? Me neither, and boy was I sick - 1 sleepless night and a gruesome oversees flight later I still couldn't eat much of anything but bread and rice for about 3 weeks while I recovered. The good news? I unintentionally "cleansed" my body for 3 weeks by cutting virtually everything out (because I couldn't digest anything) and upon my recovery back to "normal food" made the discovery that my stomach issues were tied to dairy. Who knew all this time I was just totally allergic to dairy??? It makes total sense why the additional butter and cheese on Keto wrecked my system...
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I also realized meat didn't make me feel too great either, so I made the commitment to give eating fully Vegan a try for 3 months - just to see what happened. I FELT GREAT!! My stomach and digestion issues were completely gone after about a month, and by month 3 I was naturally losing bloat and losing weight. There was no going back - so I made the switch permanently and applied my passion for cooking to all vegan food. I focused on swapping out all the ingredients for the recipes I loved to fully plant based so I wasn't missing the favorite foods.
Like I mentioned, delicious food is a MUST - which I didn't think would be possible eating all vegan food - but it is! I hope you're encouraged through my journey that you too can eat healthily and still enjoy the food you love. I've reworked all my favorite recipes with only plant-based ingredients and am so excited to share all I've learned with you and invite you to join me along the journey - we're all in this together!