Why Plant Based

I have been plant-based since 2004 (!) and raising plant-based kids since 2011. When I first went vegan, it was only about the animals. I remember someone showing me “Meet your meat,” and from that moment on my whole perspective changed. That choice has given me so much to be thankful for! I learned through experience all the benefits that come from a plant-based diet, and can honestly say I feel younger, stronger, healthier, and have more energy than I did all those years ago, just from changing my eating habits. It amazes me still to see and feel the effects of this lifestyle in my body. This has been such a gift to me and I want to share it with others.

I have had a long journey with food and I know how hard it can be—we live in a diet-obsessed society that will have you fluctuating between overindulgence and manic measuring. While eating plant-based changed so much for me, I still had a lot of learning to do to get to the happy, intuitive space I am now in with eating. I, like so many others, struggled with diet culture and body issues. Food was something to be feared and fitness was punishment. When I had my kids, I had to really assess my relationship with food—I didn’t want to pass on the judgment and anxiety that I carried. I didn’t want to make them meals and then only eat tofu and lettuce at the same table with them, with their watchful eyes wondering what that meant. So I learned. I learned how to balance my meals, make the best ingredient choices, value nutrition over calories, and find ways to make the delicious things we crave without indulging in the things we don’t need. Now I can happily say I don’t count calories, I focus on balancing macros, not measuring them, and I make sure we love the meals we eat.

Through eating plant-based, I have gained a massive appreciation for nutrition. The food we eat is so thoroughly intertwined with the way we feel, and as a result, the way we live. I wish I understood what I know now when I was younger, when I struggled every day to feel comfortable in my own skin. The dietary standards we are taught are heavily influenced by the industries that benefit from us eating more meat, more dairy, more processed foods. It’s not easy to cut through all of that. Then on the other side lies a strict and obsessive diet industry that may free you from excess but will do it by way of physical and psychological strain. It’s no surprise so many of us can’t find our way to a healthy relationship with our bodies. I am thankful for my children, because I saw an innocence in them that forced me to figure out what I had never been able to figure out just for myself. And it was not easy! Even when I first started learning how to cook delicious meals that they wanted, I wouldn’t eat them. I had to unlearn all the restrictions and find a way to build the nutrition I wanted into the meals that they wanted. It has taken a lot of work, but it is such a relief now to sit down together and eat as a family. Through making balanced, whole-food and local-ingredient rich meals, and eating them together at every meal, I have finally healed my own relationship with food and have provided my kids with the foundation to avoid these problems in their lives. I am so passionate about sharing this with others. Too many of us still dedicate a huge portion of our energy to these thoughts that are unworthy of it! I have never felt healthier in my body, never felt more in control than I do now. I have learned to eat intuitively, to know what I should have and when, and to understand the value of moderation and balance.

Likewise I have learned a balanced approach to fitness and have finally secured the peace I’ve always wanted with my body. While I have fitness goals, I consider myself to be in a happy state of maintenance, working out and staying active regularly, but not feeling the need to punish myself because of meals or anything else. Fitness is critical—an active life is so much happier than an inactive one. Figuring out how to make it work in your life and with your goals is so much more important than making sure you are burning a certain number of calories. When you can structure a plan that works for you, you are far more likely to stick to it, make it routine, and be able to rely on it. I used to choose my workouts based on how much I thought I could get out of them, and often felt burnt out, never looking forward to them. Now I work out even more than I used to, but it’s because I choose a balanced approach that I love and that works for my body and my goals. It’s important to incorporate a variety of activities into your lifestyle—some days you want to do yoga, some days you want to lift, some days you want to hike. If you don’t like running—don’t run! If you love HIIT, do it! I want to help others slough off this strict, punishing narrative about exercise and learn how to get it done and keep doing it. I feel so passionate about this because I know it goes much deeper than the physical, your mental health is so affected both by your level of activity and your level of stress about it. I work with clients to structure a fitness plan that works for them, at any level, and we continue to build as they continue to progress. It is so much easier to build on a foundation of joy than to try to climb up ruins of misery. We will get there!

            I hope you stick around my blog because I want to create the community here that I never had as a stressed out teen and twenty-something. This place is for anyone who has had some of these thoughts, anyone who wants to just let go of it and finally have an intuitive approach to whole body wellness. I don’t want to hear about another quick fix diet! I don’t want to run my knees into the ground. I don’t want to see another oversaturated fast food commercial selling me a lie. I want to just live peacefully and teach my kids the same. Finding balance and health in plant-based nutrition and an active lifestyle is easy once you’re on the right path, let’s do it together.