When a woman cuts her hair, she's about to change her life; but when a woman changes her diet, know that she's about to take over the world. A breakup can trigger some pretty dramatic changes in your life, including but not limited to the way you eat. According to R&B; singer and entrepreneur Mya, a relationship gone bad was what led to the lifestyle change that has her body looking like 'whoa' more than twenty years after releasing her debut album.
In a recent interview with Hot 97, the entertainer opened up about how her separation from a former lover transformed her life in more ways than one. Mya may be known for her affinity for healthy living and all things vegan, but she told the hosts that she grew up as a cornbread and chitlins type of girl. This changed as she got older and began to explore trendy diets she discovered through the grapevine:
"I've always done these crazy challenges. I started off as pescatarian. I grew up on meat, chitlins, everything you can imagine. Pescatarian then eventually transitioned into vegetarian, years and years ago."
Just as she was getting started on her vegetarian journey, she found herself embarking on another new adventure: a new relationship.
"I got in a relationship, gained a lot of weight, went back to my old way of eating. I felt depressed, angry, frustrated, I went back to what I was doing when that relationship ended, which was vegetarianism, that was for six months by the way."
In an interview last year, the Girls Cruise reality star said that although the relationship wasn't toxic, she felt like she got "lost" in loving someone else before she truly loved herself. When it ended, she was on a mission to put the pieces back together one-by-one, and that started with becoming a better person than who she was going into and coming out of her last relationship. Mya told ESSENCE:
"I didn't know what I was getting into when I went vegan, but so many things changed. I shed 30 pounds. I felt better. I was doing better mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I was healing myself from the inside out."
Self-love is the best love, and Mya says that affirmation motivates her to continue her vegan journey, even if it's challenging AF. Mya says that although she says that taking care of herself is a priority, the goal was never to "look good". Mya told the Hot 97 hosts that real reason behind her dramatic lifestyle change was her desire to feel good.
"I don't focus on pressure, things can be so much worse. And it's not really about how you look, that's not my goal in life. And [having] a business, obviously you want to be presentable and I think taking care of yourself speaks volumes. But you're not always going to have it together. You have more to offer than looks as a human being, that's just one dimension."
While going completely vegan was a challenge initially, Mya says that six years later, she's better for it. But according to Mya, don't dare try to touch her mac and cheese, because no matter how bad the breakup, she's not giving that up:
"Every year I'm learning something, this is year six now for me, but hey, I still love me some mac and cheese that's vegan, I still love the processed foods and sometimes that's not the healthiest."
We won't tell if you don't, sis. Your secret's safe with us.
Watch Mya's full interview below!
Mya On Drama During 'Girls Cruise' & Her Vegan Journey www.youtube.com
Featured image by Instagram/@myaplanet9.
