SUBSCRIBE
Mon, Jul 4, 2022
Health For Mzansi
  • Trending
  • My Health
  • Conversations
    • Podcast
  • Grow It
  • Recipes
  • Choices
No Result
View All Result
  • Trending
  • My Health
  • Conversations
    • Podcast
  • Grow It
  • Recipes
  • Choices
No Result
View All Result
Health For Mzansi
No Result
View All Result

What you should know before going on another crazy diet

by Noluthando Ngcakani
5th Aug 2021
in Conversations
Reading Time: 8 mins read
A A

Food relationships are complex, but it is possible to foster a thriving relationship with your food. Food blogger Nondumiso Phenyane (30) did and so can you, this week she shares her journey with Health For Mzansi. Photo: Instagram @Vegan_Attempts

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Whatsapp

How do you feel about food? Do you sometimes lie awake at night wondering if you eat enough fruit? Or maybe you are guilt-ridden because you broke your fast with that stale piece of red velvet in the fridge.

There is no recipe to the perfect diet, believes food blogger Nondumiso Phenyane. In fact, your journey to wellness and a healthy relationship with food is all about finding your own motion.

Healthy living: Nondumiso Phenyane (30) is the founder of wellness blog Vegan Attempts. Photo: Supplied/Health For Mzansi
Nondumiso Phenyane (30) is the founder of wellness blog Vegan Attempts. Photo: Supplied/Health For Mzansi

Phenyane is the founder of Vegan Attempts, a wellness food blog where she unpacks her journey six years in the making. Food is the fuel we must use to nourish and energise ourselves, she says.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We want shortcuts and that is the problem. There is this misconception that there is this one-size-fits-all diet.

“We want someone to tell us, ‘Do A-B-C and D and your issues are going to be fixed. For many of us, that is not going to happen. It is a journey. We can’t all follow the same diet because we have different conditions, and our guts are different.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I stopped thinking that my relationship with food was something that I could fix in a week or in two weeks. People have different solutions out there. You just need to find the one for you.”

Health For Mzansi caught up with Phenyane.

What was the catalyst in your journey to wellness?

I’ve had a very long and complicated relationship with food. While discovering that a major part of my complicated relationship with food was related to the fact that I have insulin resistance, there have been many times when I used food as an emotional crutch to numb pain, avoid difficult personal issues, and cope with the general stresses of life. 

Using food to reverse my insulin resistance required me to stick to a strict eating regimen.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Being on a strict diet forced me to perform the gruelling task of dealing with the underlying emotional and psychological issues that caused me to overeat.”

What have been some challenges you have encountered in your journey?

It started when I did the raw food challenge in 2015. I ate raw plants for 21 days and that’s when I started getting exposure into veganism and the vegan lifestyle.

The 21 days were phenomenal. My skin looked amazing. I lost a bit of weight, I had regular bowel movements and I felt so good.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BY NONDUMISO PHENYANE (@vegan_attempts)

I had trouble maintaining that diet over a long time. I hadn’t thought beyond the 21 days I did it, but I didn’t think about what was going to happen afterwards. I thought I was going to be able to go back to my old lifestyle, but I couldn’t after experiencing the changes I had experienced.

“I started having a bit of a difficult relationship with food because I was stuck between loving the feeling of being healthy and really being addicted to junk food.”

It’s been a very long journey and it is continuing because I think a lot of the time when people start their health journey, you expect that you are going to do this challenge and you expect that at some point it is going to end. And you’re going to figure it out and your life is going to change forever, but for me it has been a long continuous journey of working at it every single day.

How has changing your diet helped better your relationship with food?

When it came to my own relationship with food, it was more about paying close attention to my body and learning to listen to my body.

It’s not the plant-based diet that has helped me improve my relationship with food. It is actually building a better relationship with my body that has helped improve my relationship with food.

Do you have any advise or words of wisdom for others who struggle to maintain good relations with food?

Understand that your body is not necessarily the same as the next person’s body, so it is not a matter of copying and pasting what someone else has done.

It is a matter of you studying your own body and then doing the research and educating yourself on different things that affect your body and how you eat and your relationship with food and getting help when necessary; getting assistance because sometimes you really are not going to be able to do it on your own.

ALSO READ: This former nurse found healing in the soil

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BY NONDUMISO PHENYANE (@vegan_attempts)

Tags: food journeyfood medicinehealthNondumiso PhenyaneVegan Attemptsvegan dietswellnesswellness journey
Share130Tweet81Send
Previous Post

Podcast: Don’t be ashamed of those dark inner thighs, babes

Next Post

A game-changer for mental health in sport: athletes speak up

Noluthando Ngcakani

Noluthando Ngcakani

Related Articles

Wake-up call: Invest early in children’s mental health
Conversations

Wake-up call: Invest early in children’s mental health

by Helen Swingler
1st Jul 2022
0

There is no time like the present. With the rates of mental health disorders like anxiety and depression among children reaching new highs, the South African Child Gauge has called on everyone...

Read more

The heavy mental toll of carrying extra weight

30th Jun 2022
Traditional healers: ‘Why are we still stigmatised?’

Traditional healers: ‘Why are we still stigmatised?’

24th Jun 2022

Dude, man up and go see your doctor

23rd Jun 2022
Next Post
UK Olympic diver Tome Daley went viral after a post of him knitting a the Olympic games. Knitting, he said, was his secret weapon to manage his mental health. Photo: Supplied/Health For Mzansi

A game-changer for mental health in sport: athletes speak up

plant-based

Recipe: Hearty, plant-based comfort food

Mental health should be a priority just like eating and drinking water for sustenance, believes experts. Photo: Supplied/Health For Mzansi

Women’s Month: Prioritise your mental health, pleads expert

Stories

Finding a happy medium: Divorce vs co-parenting
Loyiso taps into liquid gold of extra virgin olive oil
Youth transform dumping site into thriving food garden
Winter: An ideal time to plant root veggies, take stock
Early pregnancy care essential for moms-to-be
Meet Mzansi’s Keto Queen, Sharney Blackway
Heart health: Keep your diet lean, clean and green
Yummy Meatless Wellington
No Result
View All Result

Categories

  • Choices (40)
  • Conversations (76)
  • Featured (1)
  • Grow It (53)
  • My Health (103)
  • Podcast (44)
  • Recipes (56)
  • Remedies (5)
  • Trending (278)

Recent

Health For Mzansi nominated for international award!

Health For Mzansi nominated for international award!

4th Jul 2022
Mpumalanga healthcare still in a state of recovery

Mpumalanga healthcare still in a state of recovery

4th Jul 2022
World Food Day: 1 in 10 people undernourished

Making every crumb count this Mandela Day

4th Jul 2022
Health For Mzansi

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824

Marketing: +27 71 147 0388
News: hello@healthformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy

cropped-Katlego-Moloto.png

Weight loss a health triumph for determined mom

cropped-Jada-Pinkett-Smith-scaled-1.jpg

Alopecia is no joke!

cropped-H4M-Featured-1.jpg

Meet Mzansi’s Keto Queen, Sharney Blackway

Health For Mzansi nominated for international award!

Mpumalanga healthcare still in a state of recovery

Making every crumb count this Mandela Day

Wake-up call: Invest early in children’s mental health

Tips and tricks to help your baby sleep better

Why you should log off, shut down and sleep

No Result
View All Result
  • Trending
  • My Health
  • Conversations
    • Podcast
  • Grow It
  • Recipes
  • Choices

© 2021 Health For Mzansi | Farmers For Change Pty (Ltd)

By continuing the use of our Website, you are explicitly and actively consenting to our processing of your personal information as per our Privacy Policy.
Cookie SettingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Go to mobile version
Finding a happy medium: Divorce vs co-parenting Loyiso taps into liquid gold of extra virgin olive oil Youth transform dumping site into thriving food garden Winter: An ideal time to plant root veggies, take stock Early pregnancy care essential for moms-to-be Meet Mzansi’s Keto Queen, Sharney Blackway Heart health: Keep your diet lean, clean and green Yummy Meatless Wellington