Profile of a new vegan: Kim Beach has been a health and fitness coach for many years. 12 months ago she decided to try eating a plant based diet - and she's still going strong! Here is Kim's story.

I have been vegan now for 12 months and I can seriously say that I have never felt better. I have so much energy, my nails are rock hard and my skin is glowing.

The transition for me was easy, I started to focus on foods that I loved and slowly built recipes around them. I love the fact that most of the food I eat is either raw or is really quick to heat up and enjoy.

I was lead down the path of becoming vegan by two very different situations in my life at virtually the same time. The first was that I was noticing that within my online community there was a real need for a vegan version of my health fitness programs. So I had made the decision to immerse myself in the vegan lifestyle for 6 months and in that time my goal was to literally read, watch and listen to everything I could to learn and have a sound understand of what it takes.

Just before I went vegan I booked in to see a doctor who was also a naturopath and hypnotist. There were a couple of different things I wanted to see her about but one of these was to see if she could help me to go to the toilet everyday instead of once a week. I had literally lived my whole life feeling bloated and uncomfortable. In the past I had done some research trying to find answers and I knew I was blood type A which opened my eyes up to the fact that my body was naturally sluggish.

After having a session with the doctor she strongly suggested I went vegan. I have adopted this way of eating for a year now and guess what, I go to the toilet every day! I know it's not such a great subject to talk about but it is so important. If your gut is working well your body will be in a state of good health.

So today I can honestly say I have never felt better and I have created a vegan program that I am really proud of. It still amazes me how the timing of everything unfolded, I was about to write a vegan program and something inside of me was drawn to this incredible woman who has literally changed my life.

My top 5 reasons why being vegan has worked for me:

• I go to the toilet every day!!
• I have so much energy and feel amazing
• My nails are so strong
• I no longer worry about keeping my weight in check it just happens naturally
• I feel good knowing my environment footprint is low

At the beginning of the year Kim created a vegan edition of her #noexcuses 8 week health and fitness program. Check it out.