Five years ago Reece Richardson was six feet tall, played rugby and loved a raw steak. Now, he’s still six feet tall and plays rugby but loves a colourful veggie stir-fry instead. 

Today marks the end of National Vegetarian Week, a country-wide initiative to encourage people to eat more vegetarian meals, by beginning with just one week of them, and to show how healthy, tasty and cost-effective a more plan-based diet can be. To encourage you to continue (or begin) including more vegetarian meals in your life - perhaps by partaking in the Meat-free Mondays initiative, we spoke to Reece, who’s life was changed by going vegetarian, about his experience and his advice on how to go from meat-lover to proud veggie.

“I’ve always been very passionate and interested in food in general because I was very fortunate to have been raised by parents who liked to cook and try new things so it was very common for them and my brother and I to all have a cook-up together,” he tells me. But life changed in 2016, when only 25 years old, he was diagnosed with Pneumothorax or a collapsed lung. An acute condition that became chronic over a year and led to pneumonia, Reece had to have multiple surgeries. “It was like drowning in air,” he explains.

He became very interested in what about him had caused his health condition. “There was no definitive answer from doctors except that it happened to one in 10,000 people, who were mostly men, typically six feet tall and scuba divers. It wasn’t much to go on,” he laughs. Determined to find an answer however, he turned instead to what was he was doing that could have led to the problem. Stuck in hospital a lot, Reece says he had a lot of time to read and “one thing that kept coming up was nutrition and the effect it can have on the body, especially relating to respiratory conditions and cancer.” 

Reading about the conditions animals are kept in during mass farming, the processing meat goes through and the greater risk of diseases being transmitted from animals to humans, the more he thought there’s another way to eat. “Evidence suggests that processed meat can lead to issues like cardiovascular problems, Alzheimer’s and poor heart health to name a few,” he says. “I think we also need to be aware of where our food comes from. So for example you can take a child to a garden and show them how to grow a carrot and they’ll grow it and eat it but if you take them to a farm and then ask them to eat the animal, they say no - there must be something in that.” On the other hand, he tells me, research suggests that even just eating slightly more dark leafy greens, helps maintain good respiratory health.

“So I decided to slowly change my diet,” he says. “I didn’t have anything to loose. In fact it had been touch and go a couple of times so I had to get healthy.” It was a long road to recovery for Reece, not just physically, but mentally too. “But what I noticed was that the more plant-based food I ate, the faster my recovery was and the better I felt. In fact, even the doctors were surprised at my rate of recovery! It was shocking to see how I bounced back from something that completely stopped me in my tracks.”

Although Reece is now vegan, he’s quick to note that moving to a plant-based diet was not easy, or, an overnight process. “It was more of a psychological struggle,” he explains, “I had to change the way I looked at a plate of food from meat and two veg to a balanced meal. For example, for vitamins and minerals - lots of different kinds of vegetables, for a source of protein - legumes and pulses, for a source of healthy fats - avocado, seeds and nuts and for carbohydrates - wheat, rice and potatoes.”

He advises people to take it slow. “I did it gradually, moving from eating meat to being a pescatarian, to being vegetarian to finally being vegan because I realised that I had to give my body time to change from breaking down animal fat all the time to breaking down more fibre from vegetables.” But, he says, for those just starting the journey, the best is yet to come. “There are so many far more interesting foods available than a piece of meat! Especially, if you look to the spiced dishes of the East. In fact, my palate has increased and expanded, as has my appreciation for veggies, grains, pulses and people who can cook them in a tasty way, because it’s much easier to just put a steak in the oven and serve it.”

It’s fair to say, its much easier now to introduce more vegetarianism into your diet so I ask Reece what his biggest struggle was when converting. His answer surprises me. “Many people told me it wasn’t manly to not eat meat, especially in the gym where I go a lot. I’ve had a lot of conversations about it actually and I have struggled with it and this stereotyping. But,” he asks, “is it manly to eat something like bacon which research suggest is carcinogenic when you can get protein from something that doesn’t kill you?” Even his girlfriend noticed this subconscious gender stereotyping. “Sometimes when we would go to restaurants together, my girlfriend, who although now is a vegetarian, used to eat meat, and would order something like a burger while I would order a salad. The waiter would automatically put the salad in front of her and the burger in front of me.”

I ask if he ever does get stuck with just a salad when eating out because that’s the only vegetarian option a restaurant can offer. “No,” he says laughing. “I’ve just came back from a trip to the deep South in America and everyone told me I would really struggle to find vegetarian food there but I never had a problem! I would say always prep though - keep some nuts for example, in your pocket.” He admits to checking out a restaurant’s options before visiting it though and if their options are limited, to just giving them a call beforehand to ask if they can make something for him. “My advice would be to be patient and stick with it,” he says, “it does take time.” 

“But it’s not just about patience for your mind and body, it’s also about being patient with the people around you because food is such a cultural thing,” he elaborates. “For example, I had to say to my parents; look it's nothing against you and the way you’ve been raised me but this is just something I’m exploring.” Reece says the change has made him enjoy cooking more and sharing that with people as, “here’s something that’s not only delicious but also healthy for you”, has become a passion of his. “You have to just keep cooking and trying different recipes and finding what works for you and actually, the lockdown’s a great time to do that!”

Has he ever had those moments of sudden craving? “Never,” he says, laughing. “It’s like smoking - the longer you go without it the less you need it. I now get put off by looking at meat products and I’m not sure whether it’s because I know more about the way its processed or something else. When I compare it to a bowl of stir fry, with its beautiful and vibrant colours, which by the way correlates to its antioxidant levels, it’s so much more appetising and appealing. It’s so much cheaper and easier to cook too!” he says. “There’s so much vegetarian junk food too if you want it but even that’s healthier and better for you then meaty junk food.”

With the increase in vegetarianism in recent years, the market is also awash with ‘fake meat’ products like burgers, sausages, rashers and steaks, to name but a few, made from soya, plant protein and seitan. However recent evidence suggests that they may not be so healthy, given how much they are processed. So what does he think about them? “All food has good and bad aspects,” he begins, “so looking at these fake meat products and the process that goes into them, I’m very keen on increasing awareness of what food does when it goes into our bodies because there’s so much we still don’t know about it.” 

For now though, he believes that the fake make products are really helpful for those wanting to take a step away from a heavy meat-based diet. “They can eat what’s more familiar to them and don’t have to go cold turkey,” he says. “Although it’s definitely less healthy than a lentil burger, it’s still more healthy than a beef burger and of-course better for conservation and animal rights.” Reece says he’s very excited about the potential for people to become more vegetarian but wants to remind people to “be gentle with yourself - you’re changing what you put in your mouth three times a day, everyday. But be curious all the time because there’s so much delicious food out there and remember it’s a wonderful community who are always happy and ready to help.”