Kevin never thought about eating differently and when he moved out and first lived by himself, his cooking was what he was used to. He had his go-to meals that he knew from when he ate everything and he liked it.
In 2016 he started reading more and more about health. Every time he did scientific searches on this topic it brought him to information about a plant based diet. After researching a plant based diet, he decided to make a change towards a wholefood plant based diet.
Meatless Movement recently had a chance to chat with Kevin.
He told us that he threw out all the dairy and meat he had and never looked back. After that he was sucked into the vortex of veganism and for the last couple of years he has been reading anything he can get his hands on regarding veganism, health, ethics and fitness.
Please tell us more about yourself, please.
Hi, I’m Kevin (29) and I live in the Netherlands. My main job is for a company in healthcare that focuses on postural care. This job requires me to read a lot of scientific literature to keep up the quality of our care.
Switching to a plant based diet is not that hard, but feeling better, fitter, healthier and staying with it is where it gets challenging.
Kevin Gevers I blogs & vegan recipes
About 9 years ago I was reading papers and found myself in a storm of dietary research. For some reason most of the data circled back to a whole food plant based diet for improving health and for the lowest footprint with regards to climate change. I remember starting reading up on this research somewhere after dinner and kept reading until 5 in the morning. From that moment I went from omnivore to veganist; cold turkey. I never looked back. Still to this day I see this choice as one of the best choices I’ve made in my life.
When I was growing up I didn’t care much about food and cooking. When I was living with my parents, somehow food magically appeared once I sat down at the dinner table. I wasn’t very picky, so I ate what was put in front of me. As I was going to college, I moved out of my parents house and into my own apartment. Here I found out what it entailed to prepare my own meals.
So I started making the meals I knew from before. Meat and dairy were always involved. And because I ate meat and dairy, my options were limited to the meals my mother made me back at home. From the day I became vegan, the culinary world opened up to me. I started eating fruits and vegetables I had never heard of or seen before. My grocery bag, my fridge and eventually my plate became more and more colorful and appetizing.
The challenges I faced when I first became vegan were finding healthy vegan options. Nine years ago veganism wasn’t as well known as it is today. For instance; I needed to go to a special store to buy hummus. Now I can find five different flavors of hummus at my local grocery store. So the shift in the good direction is noticeable for sure.
This is also true for my friends and family. At first they thought of me as weird for giving up all animal products. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I didn’t gradually turn from omnivore to vegetarian to vegan, but went vegan overnight. My brother once (jokingly) referred to my diet as a condition when making reservations at a restaurant. I overcame these challenges by making sure I stood behind my choice and maybe even more so because I noticed the enormous benefits it had for my well being.
The thing I noticed at first was the improvement of my skin. I struggled with acne my entire puberty. This just vanished after ditching animal products. Besides my skin, I felt more energized and my energy levels were more consistent throughout the day. I used to have periods during the day where I had tons of energy, followed by times where I felt the opposite. Since I adopted a plant based diet, I feel an energy baseline from the time I get up in the morning until I go to sleep at night.
Another great benefit I felt was the disappearance of muscle ache after working out. I move quite a lot during the day. I do my vinyasa yoga practice every morning for 45 minutes before going to work. 3 times a week I do calisthenics at the gym, 2 nights a week I play soccer at the local club, once a week I play futsal with my friends and sometimes I squeeze a game of padel in there. So it would be logical for me to experience muscle ache once in a while. But ever since I power my body with plants, muscle aches have become a thing of the past.
I try to be understanding and stay away from trying to convince them into a plant-based diet.
Kevin Gevers I blogs & vegan recipes
I’ve noticed that when people, who are not vegan/vegetarian, talk to me about food, they are almost apologetic for still eating animal products.
I am a firm believer in the fact that everyone should make their own choices in life. But on that note I also feel that people should have the right information about that choice. If someone chooses to smoke cigarettes, they should know that it causes lung cancer. If someone chooses to eat a hotdog, they should know that processed meat increases the chance of cancer, type II diabetes, hypertension, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, and other illnesses. Also, for that person to eat that hotdog, an innocent, living being had to give their life.
More awareness towards a more healthy and sustainable future.
Kevin Gevers I blogs & vegan recipes
Most people I know completely separate the process of producing meat and diary from the actual piece of meat on their plate. If you ask me, this should not be the case. When someone chooses to eat meat, they should be content with everything that has to happen to the animals before they end up at the end of a fork and knife including the horrific act of slaughtering this sentient being.
Most of the time this is not popular information, but necessary to be transparent about in my opinion. Most revolutions started from a point of unpopular opinions. So if you are content with the animal abuse and the way animals are killed, by all means continue eating them. But if you consider yourself an animal friend, or can’t stand the cruelty and want to become more healthy in the process. Maybe a (more) meatless diet is something for you.
In this day of age, there are so many delicious and healthy plant based recipes available online. I would recommend trying out a lot of recipes with different fruits and vegetables, and see what you like. On my instagram and website I have posted some easy recipes to start off with. Once you figure out what kind of flavors you like, you can look for recipes with those flavors.
When first trying out new meatless or even vegan recipes my advice would be to make sure you get all the needed nutrients. I hear it often when people give veganism a try, they end up feeling tired or even sick so they stop. These people often miss out on essential nutrients because they put themselves on a salad and smoothie diet.
So if you want to give a plant based diet a real chance and want to feel the benefits, I would recommend using the Dr. Greger Daily Dozen app. In the app you can see what you need to stay healthy. It is easy to use, and especially in the beginning a helpful tool. I used it for the first month or so to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important.
This is, in my experience, the biggest misconception about a plant based diet: you can’t get everything you need. But if you read up on what you actually need and what the sources of these things are, I’ll guarantee you will be able to get everything you need from plants. From protein to vitamins to minerals to fiber to iron and all the rest. With the exception of vitamin B12 (which is actually a bacteria). But since about 70% of omnivores have a B12 deficiency and B12 is supplemented to animals as well, why not take the supplement yourself (or start drinking unfiltered water where the B12 bacteria is still present.. Just kidding).
What I would say to everyone who is reading this and is thinking about a (more) meatless or a plant based diet: you will do yourself, the planet and especially the animals a huge favor. The way we are treating our own bodies, the planet and all the non-human animals is not sustainable nor is it with compassion. So this is the chance to make a change and to make a conscious choice to be kind to all the human and non-human animals.
Hi, welcome to
Kevin Gevers I blogs & vegan recipes
WITLOV
If you like to read more check out my website at www.plantbased-witlov.com for scientific based blogs and easy recipes, or go to my Instagram (@pb.witlov) and follow me there for more inspiration. If you like you can support my company with a donation (check my instagram) so I can bring plant based diets to schools in the form of cooking workshops.
The company is non-profit, so all the donations will be used to keep the costs for the workshops as low as possible. Thanks in advance and a big thanks to the meatless movement for the opportunity to share my story and I hope that I can welcome everyone on my website and/or Instagram.
Kevin Gevers I blogs & vegan recipes
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