However since changing her diet to exclude all animal products she is off her medication and hasn’t suffered a migraine since. 

Nardia said she found out about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle through watching the documentary Forks over Knives on Netflix. 

The film explores clinical studies conducted over the past several decades which show that consumption of meat and dairy can cause cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other diseases. 

“I actually watched it twice and found out about the potential side effects of consuming animal products,” Nardia said. 

For Nardia, the switch to becoming vegan wasn’t necessarily about the animal cruelty or environmental reasons, however she said those are added benefits to the new lifestyle. 

Nardia did choose to consume turkey and ham at Christmas but chose to get straight back on the vegan diet after she experienced a lack of energy and feelings of sleepiness. 

The first week of being vegan Nardia said she found a bit difficult to incorporate new elements into her diet, however after that she found it easy. 

“It’s definitely not as hard as people make it out to be,” she said. 

Nardia eats a balance of fruits, vegetables and lentils. For breakfast she will have muesli with vegan yoghurt and chopped fruit. During the day she will snack on crackers and nuts. She said she enjoys making salads, lasagna, curries, thai and mexican. 

Nardia has five children who still eat meat. 

“I leave it totally up to them whether they choose to incorporate a more vegan lifestyle,” she said. 

Nardia said a lot of people choose not to become vegan as they say it is too expensive. 

However Nardia said the health benefits of becoming vegan outweigh the cost.

Nardia said she is not the type of person to push the benefits of being vegan and that is something people have to explore for themselves. 

“However for me I can’t see a downside to it,” she said.