News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A meat-lover has shared just what happened when he decided to go vegan for a month.

Wales Online reporter Aled Blake set himself the challenge of sticking to a plant-based diet for just 30 days .

He admitted it was a difficult test for someone "who's always devoured meat, eggs and all kinds of dairy with carnivorous enthusiasm."

Now he's shared his story - and you may be surprised at his results.

Aled said ....

I didn’t want to do it. I thought it would be tedious and I’d be hungry, and how would I get my protein?

We’d sat down in front of Netflix’s What The Health (admittedly as loaded and subjective a piece of film-making as you’re likely to watch).

(Image: Getty)

My wife, who’s been slowly giving up meat and dairy for months, had urged me to watch.

In the fog of propaganda, there were – seemingly – some compelling messages about the effect of meat, animal fats and dairy on our health.

“Meat is paralysing and stiffening our arteries, the number-one dietary source of cholesterol in America is chicken, there is a strong link between dairy foods and autoimmune diseases.”

Worth, at least, a try for a month.

Within the first week, a surprise result. A patch of eczema had cleared up from behind my ear.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

(Image: Eat Not Spend/News Dog Media)

Within a couple of weeks I had more energy to tackle a day looking after my exuberant 14-month-old son following a sleepless night.

Within a month, and without doing any vigorous exercise, the weight has fallen off – from just over 13st to 12st 6lb.

And just as we mark the four-week point, I’ve started running again after years of niggles, pains and depressing injury setbacks.

As I put on my running shoes I feel as full of vim as I did in my late twenties, when I could run 13 miles in an hour and a half – so far there have been no ankle twinges or back spasms.

In those terms, veganism’s been fairly miraculous.

(Image: Getty)

It’s not been without its difficulties. Not being able to grab a packet of pork scratchings on the late shift was really irritating in the beginning, as was the hunger after lunch before I realised I wasn’t eating enough carbs.

I’m not suddenly the perfect specimen of a human being. But I feel better. I have a bit more zip.

More difficult than executing a meat and dairy-free diet has been telling others.

“But... what about protein?” is the most-asked question (beans and pulses like chickpeas, mainly, which make a cracking curry. And after a lot of research, I’m no longer obsessed with consuming stacks of protein anyway).

My mum’s used to me demolishing her amazing pork dinners, and trying to eat most of the salty crackling on the uncarved joint and she couldn’t believe I’d make it a week without an omelette.

Last week she baked her first vegan cake, for my dad’s birthday, and every time we go up there’s a new vegan recipe being trialled.

(Image: Getty)

It’s made me completely re-think eating.

I’ve always approached food and its production with arrogance: the industrialisation of meat and dairy farming, I told myself, is the result of a necessary advance in food production technology to feed a growing population.

Eating meat, I believed, is natural for humans – and why we’ve become the world’s pre-eminent species; drinking a pint of milk an even more benign act.

The daily deaths of millions of animals, their short lives lived in the unnatural habitat of hangar-like barns, is worth it if it means humanity survives.

This has been compounded by the belief that meat and dairy are vital components in those ubiquitous balanced diet diagrams you see on doctor surgery walls and in NHS leaflets about eating well.

(Image: PA)

I’d read about the World Health Organisation classifying processed meats like bacon and sausage as carcinogenic but listened to the follow-up assurances that they were fine in “moderation”, and ignored the warning.

And I started to consider the ethics of dairy farming – the removal of calves from their mothers and their subsequent slaughter, the forced pregnancies, the intrusive operation of extracting milk, the antibiotics, the polluting effects of all that cow dung and the effect on climate change from their collective and prolific farts.

I guess these are things we all know about, but dismiss, because we love cheese and butter so much. Is it any wonder – they’re delicious!

But is it natural? Marketing has done its job to make us believe that.

And we think dairy is a source of calcium we can’t get anywhere else. Yet a study on how we absorb it found that when compared with a leafy green, 32.1% of calcium from cow’s milk was absorbed by the human body, versus 40.9% from kale.

(Image: East2West)

It’s now difficult for me to feel comfortable splashing milk over my cereal when I’ve spent time really thinking about how and why that milk was produced – whether that was organic, free range, intensive or whatever.

In the last month I’ve thought more about the food I eat than I ever have before.

I care more about the stuff I’m giving to my son, too.

My diet has been more full of vegetables and fruit and wholegrains, more pulses, nuts and seeds and it’s never lacked interest or imagination.

Our house is cooking with freedom and not the boredom of wondering what else to make on a Tuesday night other than a spag bol.

Like famous new vegan Bill Clinton, I’ll return fish to my diet, for iodine (which is difficult to source elsewhere, although of course you can take a supplement) and as an easy hit of omega 3.

Bill (who says he’s overturned health problems by going plant-based) obliges his doctor’s recommendation that he has organic salmon once a week.

But will I go back to meat and dairy? For the moment, I can live without.

It’s taken 38 years for me to try this most fashionable of trends – veganism has risen in Britain by 360% in the last decade and it’s probably never been easier.

And I feel like I’m giving myself the best chance of seeing at least another 38 years happily and healthily if I stick to it.