Both my parents came to Australia from Holland in the 1950s. So I grew up eating Dutch food.
Our typical family meal consisted of potatoes and onions, and then my mum added whatever ingredients she had to that to make it go further.
In the late 70s and early 80s, meat was expensive so we always ate the cheaper cuts: mince, gravy beef, pig knuckles, ox tail, tongue – basically anything that the butchers back then wanted to throw away. Pea soup was one of my mum’s favourite meals and she would use pig knuckles to thicken it.
But everything changed when I was around 20 years old and I started to get really sick. I lost about eight kilos and was so fatigued. It literally felt like I was dying. Then, just before my 21st birthday, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
I feared food and didn’t want to experiment with what I ate.
Type 1 diabetes is a where your immune system mistakes the body’s own healthy cells for foreign invaders. You don’t produce insulin or only produce small amounts.
Prior to my diagnosis, my body had been starving. I had a blood glucose level of 33. Anything higher than 20 usually causes the body to go into a coma, so the doctors were quite amazed that I was still standing up.
I started injecting insulin immediately. As part of my treatment plan, I was put on a high fat, low carbohydrate diet. The idea was to get rid of all the sugar in my diet, but that basically made me worse.
During the many years that followed, I got sicker. I became more fatigued and my sugar levels swung up and down all the time. Eventually, I saw a nutritionist and went on an elimination diet (in consultation with my GP) to work out what I could eat that wouldn’t make me feel so bad.
Over time, I learned that I couldn’t process fats very well, especially saturated fats. From 2000-2004, I ate low carb foods, lean meats like fish and low-fat dairy. My next diet lasted 10 years and featured wild meat that was very low in fat, zero fat dairy and a small amount of carbs. Then, in 2014, I eliminated all the fats and processed foods from my diet – including eggs and dairy – and I got a bit better.
Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disease where your immune system mistakes the body’s own healthy cells for foreign invaders. You don’t produce insulin or only produce small amounts.
Why diabetes affected my relationship with food
I absolutely hated food. From 2014, all I was eating were steamed vegetables and four or five oysters a day which were very low in fat. I didn’t eat a whole lot of food outside of that because [every time I ate] my blood sugar levels would jump up too high and I had to inject insulin. My body would go into fight or flight and it became very traumatic.
I feared food and didn’t want to experiment with what I ate. For example, I knew I could have a quarter of a cup of rice and knew exactly how much insulin to inject for that quantity. So for over 20 years, I just stuck to what I knew was safe.
There’s also a lot of stigma attached to being a diabetic, particularly if you’re older. Children with diabetes are looked upon with sympathy but once you start getting over 40 and have diabetes, people treat you like it’s your own fault. They say: ‘why don’t you just diet and eat less and exercise more?’ mistaking type 1 for type 2 diabetes.
How veganism saved my diet
In 2015, I met my second wife who is a vegan. She saw my diet and said to me ‘why don’t you get rid of the oysters and eat tofu and tempeh?’ I’ve been fully vegan ever since.
Becoming a vegan expanded my food options incredibly. I was introduced to all of these new vegan foods that I didn’t know how to cook before because they weren’t part of my upbringing.
I started to eat legumes, nuts and seeds, and more fruit, vegetables and whole grains that were low in fat and anti-inflammatory. These foods stabilised my sugars.
I now have mango spread instead of butter, use avocado for salad dressings, have oat milk instead of cow’s milk, and eat tofu and tempeh in all of their variations.
I know that the food I am eating is good for me. I am also aware it’s good for the planet and for the people around me.
Today, I am the healthiest version of myself my doctor has ever seen, physically and mentally. I am now on an incredibly low dose of slow-acting insulin and I don’t have to inject for meals.
As a vegan, I find it much easier to go out to eat or to functions. When they ask if I have any special dietary requirements I say 'yes I am vegan': it's a lot simpler than saying I'm a diabetic and explaining which type I am and what I can or can't eat.
I know that the vegan food I am eating is good for me. I am also aware it’s good for the planet and for the people around me.
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The vegan lasagne here is so good it's inspired marriage proposals
