Our transition to a mostly plant-based diet began well before the day of Arnaud’s diagnosis.
Actually, I had started my own search regarding nutrition about a year earlier. The reason for this was my skin. Since the age of 25, I have suffered from rosacea, a chronic skin condition. I tried just about everything there was to try: creams, treatments, advice, and multiple laser treatments. I regularly saw improvement, but sooner or later, the redness always returned.
At a certain point, I read about the possible connection between the skin and the gut. That stayed with me. My gut had been a point of concern since my youth, which made me increasingly curious about the role nutrition might play. The question that kept coming back was: could I also give my skin and gut more rest from the inside out?
So I began to immerse myself in nutrition, quietly and step by step. What does highly processed food do to your daily diet? Why is fiber so important for your gut? What happens when you eat many more different plant-based products? And what does that actually look like in a normal kitchen?
And then came Arnaud’s diagnosis
According to the oncologist, spots were visible on the PET-CT scan that could indicate possible metastases. The image was described as a kind of string of beads. That brought a lot of uncertainty, fear, and grief with it.
In the period leading up to that, Arnaud had, of course, noticed how much I had already read and researched about nutrition, the gut, and health. After that scan, he began to look at it differently himself. We didn’t know at that moment exactly what those spots meant, but he wondered if nutrition could play a role in the way he supported his body. Specifically, he wondered if he could use nutrition to support his immune system as much as possible during everything that was happening in his body at that time.
From that thought, he wanted to start with what later became our Leef in Regie Smoothie. It gave him something tangible to do himself during a period when so much was outside of our influence.
An experience that set something in motion
After about a month, another scan was performed. The spots that had previously caused so much tension later turned out to be consistent with reactive lymph nodes following the surgery. The relief was enormous.
We are not drawing any conclusions about nutrition or the smoothie from that. For us, however, it did become a turning point, because from that moment on, Arnaud began to look at his own eating habits differently. The question was no longer just whether plant-based eating would be for him, but whether he really wanted to give it a fair chance.
He said: “I want to try it all the way for three weeks. Because I can’t really judge it if I haven’t truly tried it.”
That was remarkable to hear from someone for whom meat had naturally been part of a meal for years. He wanted to experience for himself what it was like to temporarily let go of that familiar pattern and give plant-based eating a real chance.
From trying it to eating plant-based
The first few weeks primarily made it clear how deeply meat was woven into our diet. As soon as that fixed centerpiece disappeared, the question immediately arose: what do we eat instead?
We had to learn to think about a meal all over again. Making different choices in the supermarket, coming up with something on a busy weekday that was actually tasty and easy, and accepting that not every new dish was an immediate success.
Our taste also had to adjust. We found some flavors and textures really difficult at first. After a week or two, we noticed that many things began to taste more familiar, and we naturally started to appreciate what had felt strange at first.
Slowly, the focus shifted from what we were missing to everything that was being added: more flavor, more color, more fiber, and much more variety. Some dishes became staples, while others disappeared from view after a single attempt.
A month and a half later, I noticed how much had changed by then. During his work Christmas dinner, Arnaud chose the vegetarian menu of his own accord. For someone for whom meat had naturally been part of a meal for years, that was quite special.
Over time, Arnaud also noticed that he occasionally wanted to continue consciously choosing organic beef or chicken. Meat is no longer an automatic habit, but a conscious choice. When he chooses it, he finds it important that it comes from a farm where the animals are well cared for and animal welfare is taken seriously. That flexibility fits with how we now approach nutrition and with what feels right for Arnaud.
Small choices that shape our direction
That is how we went from being true meat eaters to a mostly plant-based diet.
My search began with my skin and my gut. Because of Arnaud’s diagnosis, nutrition took on a different meaning and became something we started to look at together more and more consciously: what do we eat every day, why do we choose that, and do we actually want to keep doing it that way?
Nutrition does not determine everything. It is, however, one of the areas in which we make choices every single day. For us, that is where part of taking charge lies.
Our change also didn’t start with a decision to eat plant-based from now on. It began with curiosity, a lot of research, trying new things, and constantly looking at what suited us. A different product in your shopping cart, a meatless meal that turns out to be surprisingly tasty, or suddenly realizing that something is on the table mainly because you’ve always done it that way.
Ultimately, more changed than just what was on our plates. We began to look differently at habits that had been taken for granted for years.
After all, how much of what is on your plate every day have you ever consciously chosen?
