For Poppy Lane, eating vegan wasn’t just about animals or the environment—it was also personal. After years of joint pain and skin flare-ups, she started learning about the role of inflammation in the body and how food could be either a trigger or a healer.
“I realized that even though I was vegan, not all of my meals were helping me,” she explains. “I was still eating a lot of processed foods—vegan pizzas, mock meats, sugary snacks—and my body could feel it.”
What she needed was something simple. Nourishing meals she could make fast, that didn’t leave her bloated or tired. Meals that supported her body’s natural healing rather than worked against it.
So she stripped things back. She leaned on ingredients known for their anti-inflammatory properties—like leafy greens, turmeric, berries, ginger, olive oil, and legumes—but focused on ease. “If I couldn’t make it in under 30 minutes or prep it for later, I wasn’t interested,” she laughs.
Her days started with warm chia pudding cooked in almond milk with cinnamon and blueberries. Lunch was often a simple bowl of quinoa, steamed broccoli, chickpeas, and a lemon-tahini drizzle. Dinner? A one-pan stir fry with tofu, bok choy, garlic, and a splash of coconut aminos.
“I stopped trying to impress anyone with my meals and started paying attention to how they made me feel,” Poppy says.
The result? Within weeks, her energy lifted, her digestion improved, and the flare-ups quieted down. For her, inflammation wasn’t some vague concept—it was something she could manage every day, one meal at a time.
