The very brave first participant of my new self-discipline series is Jocelyne Kelsey Leach who lives on the East coast of the UK, just a short 10 minute walk from the ocean.
Jocelyne is a wife, mother, grandmother, yoga instructor, life coach, mystic, and vegan. We had a great conversation about how and why she became vegan, what early challenges she faced, and what keeps her motivated after all of these years.
Carla: What preconceived notions do you think the general public has about vegans?
Jocelyne: So often people think that vegans are freaky, weird, rabid people who pressure others into being vegan. I assure them that while there are some of those, most vegans are not like that. I like to make it known that veganism is something that I do and I’m not wasting away, I don’t look sickly, I’m energetic, I can do yoga, exercise, and lift weights. I like to be an example of what most vegans are actually like.
Carla: How did you get started on this path?
Jocelyne: About 12 years ago I spent 3 years as a raw vegan. It was “out there” and a bit different yet my lifestyle was such at the time that I could do it quite easily. The reason I began to eat cooked food again was that I got bored and I was a bit lonely. I’d go out with friends and, at that time, there would be nothing for me to eat as a raw vegan but I could order cooked vegan food and I would eat the odd egg, omelet, or piece of fish. For the last 3 or 4 years I’ve been fully vegan again, both cooked and raw. What’s different now is that all of my family is doing it too. First it was my daughter who was a big meater before that. Then it was my mother who was 80 at the time and previously enjoyed meat. They did it mostly for the animals and not so much for their health though it was a consideration. Then my son, who worked as a fitness trainer in a big London hotel, went vegan. And then my husband went vegan and now we’re all vegan together and have a big vegan household.
Carla: What inspired you to first become vegan?
Jocelyne: From the age of 14 I called myself vegetarian which was “out there” 45 years ago. That happened because one Christmas my mother asked me to put a knife in a joint of meat (pork or lamb, I can’t remember) and insert prunes and almonds into the alternating slits. And as I was putting the knife into this meat, I thought “I can’t do it” and I started crying. As a child I didn’t like meat from land animals anyway. I avoided it if I could. I’d only eat fish.
When I was in my early 30’s I learned about Harvey and Marilyn Diamond’s book Fit for Life and I started eating along those lines which was largely raw fruit during the day. It was very healthy and gave me a taste of eating a lot of raw food. And I found it suited me and my body. From the age of 30 onwards, I was eating a lot of raw, some cooked, occasionally fish, and occasionally eggs. Cheese would creep in and out of my life depending what was going on.
So it wasn’t a hard thing for me to jump fully into raw vegan because I was very health oriented. At first, for me, it wasn’t about the animals. It was about all the health benefits about which I had read. I was juicing and doing spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass and flooding my body with all these nutrients and I felt fantastic!
I have to confess, I’ve gone off the boil [Carla: for the non-Brits that means “into a state that is less good than before”] recently and I’m just starting to get back into doing more sprouting and smoothies. It’s actually hampered me by having the rest of the family vegan (laughter) because they’ve started cooking vegan meals and so often there isn’t room for me in the kitchen. So now I’m getting back into the way I prefer to eat which is high raw food vegan which just feels so good to me.
Carla: Would you describe yourself now as a vegan for health, the animals, and the environment?
Jocelyne: Yes. When I was raw vegan 12 years ago I did it for health and then for the environment, then for the animals. My husband and I from the late 80’s were recycling even when it was hard to recycle. Environmental issues have long been important to me, almost as much as health.
Carla: It sounds like most of your vegan foods of choice now are whole foods or minimally processed plants. Do you eat many of the vegan taste-alike meats and cheeses?
Jocelyne: When I was the only vegan in the house, I would never eat the analogs because I wouldn’t buy them. My family enjoys them and, as far as I’m concerned, they eat too much of them. I think these kinds of foods can be enjoyed occasionally but not daily. When I cook for my family, I cook bean dishes and vegetable dishes from scratch. I prefer a wholesome, whole food variety of cooking. When they cook, they may have faux meat but then it’s typical that we’ll have six different vegetables with it.
Carla: What keeps you on this path?
Jocelyne: There’s so much information about the environment now in the news that it’s easy to stay motivated to eat a vegan diet, utilize reusable cups when away from home, and recycle for the benefit of the natural world. It helps that there are so many people in my family now talking about these issues.
I do like to read health books not so much to keep my resolve but to keep my interest. I probably spend more time looking at health books, cookbooks, and recipe books than I do reading about the environment.
It’s easy to get overloaded when I check in with the animal rights movement. What I see and read upsets my nervous system, it’s just so horrid. At the moment I’m trying to click past but other times I’ll take a look and it doesn’t take long to remember why I got away from eating animals and their by-products in the first place. When my daughter was becoming a new vegan, she was distraught so I had to re-process a lot of the information again to help her through her transition. And now I have so many more friends who are connecting the dots too and they bring issues to my awareness so I rarely have to go looking for any information regarding all the many reasons to not eat animals or their by-products. Once you know, you know. You can’t unknow these horrors once the information has become a part of you.
Carla: How does your relationship to self-discipline play into your commitment to this healthful, compassionate, eco-friendly lifestyle? What are your health goals and how does self-discipline help you meet those goals?
Jocelyne: I came to this for health reasons though I never had bad health and I don’t want bad health. I have an aversion to hospitals, doctors, and any kind of interference with my health. When I was younger and pursuing a career in dancing, a lot of my motive for eating this way was that I wanted maximum nutrition for the minimal amount of calories. As I get older I can still maintain a slim figure because of my early foundation and understanding of the premium nutrition in fruits and vegetables.
Self-discipline is something I have cultivated during my life. It’s not natural for me and I don’t think I am particularly self-disciplined. But this has become a habitual way of living for me. I’ve done it long enough that not too much self-discipline is required at this point. I don’t have the typical temptations of sugary treats or alcohol. My goal is to live a long, healthy life.
I find that most people come to a more self-disciplined life though fear or pain. It’s also my observation that people come to a particular age and they or someone very close to them has a critical health scare and they are shaken to their roots. They realize suddenly that they have to clean up their diet, stop smoking, start exercising, and adopt an overall healthier lifestyle in order to not cut years from their life. It’s great motivation but it’s too bad it has to come about in such a drastic, unfortunate way.
Self-discipline can be hard because I think a lot of people find themselves addicted to cigarettes, caffeine, alcohol, or sugar which keep people repeating the same unhealthy habits. I heard recently that it’s easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet and it’s probably quite true. There’s a lot of addiction, lifestyle habits, and peer pressure that keep people stuck where they are.
Social pressure is real. Back in the 80’s when I was working at a bank in London, I would bring a whole melon or whole pineapple with me for lunch. I’d go to the staff room and start cutting it up and a crowd would gather around me. I was very shy then and I was eating this way because I wanted to stay trim. I happened to like how it made me feel. In the end I’d have to go find somewhere else to eat because there would be so much chit-chat about what I was doing. “Is that all your eating? Are you going to eat the whole thing? How can you eat so much? How can you eat so little?” I’d just want them to leave me alone.
Pushback is real and so common. As a child I was called a faddy eater and the only vegetarian in town. So I got used to it at a young age. I must have a stubborn streak in me because I just continued. I feel lucky that I persevered. When I see others who struggle with making changes or persevering through a change, I am eager to support them. Less lecturing and more encouragement is what I find to be helpful.
Self-worth may play a role in self-care. I know that when I was younger, my eating would slip too close to anorexia when I was feeling less worthy. When I had more self-confidence I would eat to stay trim but not edge toward an eating disorder. Sugary foods like cake used to trip me up. If I had one slice I would panic because I felt lacking in self-control and I’d want the rest of the cake out of the house. Good quality whole food, even if I’ve eaten too much, I don’t want to get rid of it. It doesn’t make me panic or feel out of control. When I value myself, I value the high quality food that I eat.
When all my food choices are healthy choices, I don’t struggle with trying to control my life by using food. If anything, eating a wholesome vegan diet has helped me stave off any eating disorder tendencies or unhealthy addictions. I am committed to making my healthspan as long as my lifespan. I want to fully live until I die. This is what motivates me.
Carla: And that is a beautiful sentiment on which to wrap this up. Thank you Jocelyne for sharing your story with me. I enjoyed our conversation!
Readers, to access all the posts in this interview series, please click HERE.
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