I have been eating meat my entire life. People say how good it is for you with all its protein, so I didn’t think anything was wrong with the meat. I ate meat as if it were candy, and I love meat, but not as much as I used to before I found a documentary on Netflix called What The Health. The documentary explains what is in processed and/or red meat and what it does to your body and health.

Studies show that processed meat such as sausages, hot dogs, salami, ham, and cured bacon is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 carcinogen. Cigarettes, asbestos, and plutonium are also in this group. Unprocessed red meat is classified as a Group 2 carcinogen. Dr. Neal Barnard explains in the documentary, “When people eat dead meat-bacteria toxins, within minutes you get a burst of inflammation within your system that paralyzes and stiffens the arteries, which they are not able to relax.”

My mom and I were really disgusted by some of the information that was provided in the documentary. We were so unaware of what we were taking into our bodies that after watching the documentary, I couldn’t even think about meat nor eat it.

I decided to change the way I ate and started to watch what I put into my body. I started an all-plant diet. I haven’t been eating anything but salad and fruit. After a week, I noticed that my acne was going away really fast, making my skin very clear, healthy, and glowy. I also noticed my body feeling healthier and I became more active.

I’m not taking this new journey by myself though. My mom is right here with me. She started getting her appetite back after a week of an all-plant diet.

You might be thinking, How are they lasting on just salad and fruit? Well, protein does come from plants, and we aren’t necessarily fully giving up meat — we are just cutting down the amount of meat we take in. Every other Sunday, we treat ourselves to a little meat, basically rewarding ourselves for changing the way we are eating.

I don’t think I can possibly stay away from meat permanently, but I sure can give myself a limit to how much I take in. I am still very young and I can always change my diet, but I might as well start adapting to it and detoxing my body from the last 16 years that I have been eating meat.