What Happened to My Business When I Changed My Eating Habits

I was vegan for nearly six years.

This isn’t a go-vegan campaign, and it’s definitely not a prescription. I genuinely believe every body is different and needs different things at different times.

But when I changed how I ate, something unexpected happened.

It wasn’t just my digestion, my energy, or my relationship with food that shifted.

Certain inputs in my life began to change.

The way I consumed changed.

What I tolerated changed.

The way I responded to my body, my work, and my business, changed.

The Quiet Shift: Standards, Not Strategy

I didn’t suddenly wake up with better strategies or a clearer plan. What changed first was something quieter: my standards. What I put into my body stopped being negotiable, and that choice created a ripple effect I hadn’t anticipated.

Food Is Never Just Food

How you eat is rarely just about food.

It’s about what you’re willing to pay attention to.It’s about discernment, intention, and love, for yourself and your body.It’s about whether you listen when something doesn’t feel right or override it for convenience.

Because food is not neutral. Food is life-giving. It’s energy. It’s chi.

What you consume quite literally becomes the fuel your nervous system and your cells rely on to function, respond, and make sense of the world.

When I honour my body’s needs through food I’m teaching my nervous system that my needs matter. I’m showing it that I am safe, I am worthy of deliciousness, and I can trust myself to make choices that support my well-being.

What You Consume Trains Your Nervous System

When your primary source of energy is chosen with care, presence, and discernment, your entire system recalibrates around that standard.

When food is treated as an afterthought, your body learns it must make do. When food is chosen with intention, your body learns it is worth listening to.

Once I stopped ignoring what actually felt good in my body, food-wise, it became harder to do it elsewhere.

How This Showed Up in My Business

I noticed it in my work.

I noticed it in my boundaries.

I noticed it in the kinds of projects and clients I said yes to.

I tolerated less friction.

Less misalignment.

Less “this is fine” energy.

Once I stopped bargaining with myself around food, it became harder to do it anywhere else. Not because I was trying to optimise my business, but because I was no longer negotiating with myself.

The Quiet Negotiations We Make With Ourselves

By negotiating I mean the quiet, everyday negotiations we make with our inner knowing or bodily signals.

In your business this might look like:

• saying yes while feeling the contraction in your body

• feeling misaligned with a project or client and telling yourself “it’s fine for now”

• underpricing while telling yourself “it’s strategic”

Small Embodied Choices Change Everything

This is the part I want to underline: small, embodied choices change the lens you see everything through.

When you raise the bar in one area of your life, it rarely stays contained.

It spreads.

It recalibrates what feels acceptable.

It sharpens your discernment.

It makes alignment a non-negotiable.

And suddenly, what once felt normal and familiar starts to feel off, without you having to force anything at all.

This shift shows up in real ways, with results you can see, feel, and measure:

• You say no to projects, clients, or habits that drain you.

• You notice misalignment earlier and navigate it more confidently.

• Your boundaries become easier to hold because your body has learned they matter.

• You choose work, relationships, and environments that actually support your energy, creativity, and growth.

Watching the Ripple Effect Happen Again

As I change my diet again and slowly reintroduce animal products, choosing local farmers’ markets, where I can ask questions and stay in relationship with where my food comes from, I can feel this shift happening all over again.

And, I’m once more reminded of this truth: how you eat trains you in how you choose. And your business will always reflect the level of integrity your body is taught to expect.

When I reflected on my own eating habits after 6 years of veganism, I had to ask myself:

• Am I listening to my body?

• Am I prioritising conformity or care?

• Am I choosing familiarity or am I choosing what’s aligned, even if it requires more effort, money, or presence?

  
  

The honest answers to these questions showed me that I was committed to a lifestyle that was no longer nourishing me.

What started as a choice about food has quietly become a choice about presence, standards, and how I allow myself to be treated.

Now suddenly, my business is running on the same integrity I am practicing with my food choices. What I allow into my body and what I allow into my work are no longer separate decisions.

Both are shaped by the same standard: my needs are not optional, and my bodily signals are not to be ignored.

Your Business Mirrors What Your Body Is Taught to Expect

I could tell it was time to change. My body needed more, so I listened to what it was telling me.

When you consistently teach your body, “I will listen to you,” your nervous system learns that its signals matter.

When you teach it, “I’ll compromise, ignore, or push through,” it learns that too. And your business doesn’t exist separately from that conditioning.

Your pricing, your boundaries, your client selection, your workload, your tolerance for misalignment all of it mirrors what your body has been trained to accept as normal.

If your body is used to being respected, your business will start demanding the same.

So when I say your business will always reflect the level of integrity your body is taught to expect, I mean this very literally:

• If you teach your body that its needs are optional, you will engage with your business and clients as though your needs as optional.

• If you teach your body that alignment is negotiable, you will show up and negotiate away your boundaries.

• If you teach your body that care, attention, and discernment are non-negotiable, you will reorganise your business around that standard, without having to force anything.
  

Not because you optimised your strategy. But because you stopped abandoning yourself in the smallest, most ordinary place: how you feed yourself.

And once your body learns what integrity feels like at the level, it becomes very hard to accept anything less, anywhere else.

Food for thought

This kind of ripple effect doesn’t just happen with food. It can happen in any area of life you choose to stretch with intention.

Is there an area of your life you’ve changed, something seemingly small, that quietly raised your standards, expanded your capacity, or shifted how you show up everywhere else?

If so, I’d love to hear about it. And if not, I’d still love to hear which area you’re curious about exploring next.