How Changing My Diet Spurred Spiritual Growth

I have now been a vegetarian for a total of two weeks. My reasoning for eliminating meat in my diet is two fold: 1) I have a very sensitive digestive tract and needed to make some sort of change, and 2) One of the five yamas (self-restraints, or moral and ethical guidelines for yogis) is Ahimsa, or non-violence, and I wanted to more deeply integrate this practice into my daily living in a way that was meaningful to me.

I began with a one day Ayurvedic cleanse. Ayurveda is essentially a
"Science of Life" that originated in India (like yoga) and marries yogic
philosophy beautifully. Ayurveda teaches that the mind and the body
are inextricably connected.

The Khichdi cleanse is basically comprised of soft, easily digestible
foods, tea and lots of water. It's meant for three days, but I didn't eat
much meat to begin with, so I felt one day was sufficient for me as a
digestive reset. For breakfast, I had plain oatmeal, and for lunch and
dinner Khichdi loaded with spices, including Turmeric. Turmeric is a
natural detoxifier, has anti-inflammatory properties and many other
health benefits.

Diversity is naturally a big part of my diet, so I needed a bit more and
allowed myself some papaya and roasted beets in the afternoon as
well.

I felt great the next day and for the next three days, and then on
Wednesday I decided to indulge and had a couple donuts from a new
chain in town. By Thursday my sensitive self was paying for all the
sugar and non-nutritional calories. I was sluggish and feeling
depressed. This continued until Saturday. Having eliminated meat
without sufficiently substituting proteins, I began to crave more dairy
and by week two I was eating more cheese than ever before. I paid
for this too.

Unwilling to give up on this change. I sat with my struggles in
meditation. I'm a big believer in synchronicity and around the time I
became willing to make a change in my diet, my higher power was
nudging me toward spiritual growth as well; my switch to
vegetarianism became a big part of it.

I am now 7 months and three days clean and sober, and it's been quite
the spiritual journey. With this, I've gone through some really painful
stuff, but it's been a process of revealing and peeling back outer layers
to heal the root cause of my grief and suffering. I see now, that my
problems with alcohol were but a symptom of something deeper. In
high school, I suffered from bulimia and food was the substance that
controlled me. Having worked through the episodes of binging and
purging, I still had an unhealthy relationship utilizing food for comfort.

This has all become something greater than me. Today my journey to
becoming vegan (the goal) is more than my digestive health and
nourishment, it's about healing my soul and growing spiritually. It's
about honoring my food as transformational energy.