Find tips and recipes from Derek at youtube.com/ simnettNutrition
With 77.8k followers on Instagram and millions of views on YouTube, Canadian nutritionist Derek Simnett is now a key influencer in the vegan world and a regular speaker at UK events like VegFest. Famed for his quick and easy vegan recipes and fi tness vlogs, he’s the perfect example of how a plant-based diet can transform your health and wellbeing.
What made you go vegan?
I changed my diet back in 2009 when my girlfriend (at the time) was studying to become a holistic nutritionist. She helped make me aware of the horrible practices that are involved in the meat and dairy industries. As a self-proclaimed animal lover, I realised I had to honour that and started to buy more grass-fed and ‘humane’ animal products. It became expensive to buy this kind of meat though so naturally I started to eat less of them and eat more plant foods. At this point I noticed my health really improving. My digestion became better, I had more energy, my chronic stomach aches were disappearing, my joint pain was gone and I was becoming leaner. I then started educating myself by reading nutrition books and found some online personalities that were popular at the time like Dan The Man, Durianrider and Doug Graham. After reading the science behind the plant-based diet, feeling the improvements myself and seeing others online doing it, I knew that I had to go full in. So after a few years of transitioning and a couple moments of weakness, in 2011 I gave up all animal products forever.
How has veganism affected your training?