[ARTICLE BY KARISSA C.]

Eating healthy, trying to loose weight, or dieting can be extremely complicated. At least it was in my eyes. We see so many people struggling with calorie counting, skipping meals, or feeling guilty about something they ate. Diet fads claim to have the magic cure… If you join the club and pay the right price of course. Weight Watchers allows whatever you want but you must stay within your given points. The Atkins Diet believes packing in protein and eliminating carbs will do the trick. Or you can really shove out the dough and get a personal trainer and nutritionist…. while were at it lets just hire a chef! Seriously, all of this is too much for me. Not too mention its still not the healthiest way to go. Most of the time its completely unnatural.Throughout the years I’ve tested these types of eating habits out, and I always ended up starving, obsessed, and still unhealthy.

One day I stumbled upon a documentary called “The Beautiful Truth”  This whole documentary moved me so much, I literally changed how I thought about food and our world. It’s main focus was exposing conventional medicine, and the wonderful ways we can cure all disease through diet! After watching, food and medicine were no longer two separate thing to me! I understood. Everything on our planet is TOTALLY thought out. There are little maps everywhere. Little maps that make up one giant map. The way to truly live. Everything we do effects our body and our planet. No I’m not a crazy hippy lady… okay maybe a little bit. BUT I have 4 sons futures to think about.

First, I’m going to be referring to food a lot in the next few paragraphs, and let me be clear as to what that means to me. Fruits, vegetables, beans, Legumes, Nuts, and Seeds. Yep I said it. This is a plant based diet. El vegetariano. Now I know some of you are panicking a bit. Worry not my friend, stick around for a sec. I used to be a flesh eating, meat loving human myself. I’m Also not asking you to stop eating meat, but you may decide to eat less of it, after you read what I have to say. The truth is that we were not designed to eat meat. We were designed to survive, so we can process it. We are the ONLY animal that drinks another animals milk. Think about it, it’s kind of disgusting, and not to mention completely un-natural. Yet it has become a norm.

Our bodies were designed to digest plants, not animals. Now there are specific animals that were meant to eat of the flesh, and they have the digestive tracts to prove it. A carnivorous lions measures up to about 3.5 to 4 feet. While humans can be up to 30 feet long. It is much easier for flesh to pass through a carnivore, than for it to pass through us. Not only that but meat has 0 grams of fiber which is needed for digestion as well. So if your a turkey sandwich on white bread with american cheese, hold the lettuce kind of guy… chances are you will remain bloated, constipated, and slightly miserable… Sounds like a slow death to me.

Now lets get to the part about life! Eating living food is what its all about. God makes it so clear. He designed every single corner of our planet so simply yet so intricately. If we seek, we will discover it. Plants not only nourish us, they also heal us. Food is medicine and medicine is food. Imagine everything you ate, healed your body and replenished its nutrients. You would never have to take antibiotics, or even worry about getting enough vitamins. Check this out, Kidney beans are shaped like kidneys  AND  are great for your kidneys. Garlic is shaped like the inside of our earlobes, and are extremely healing for them. Tomatoes are red, and have four chambers just like our hearts, they are linked to heart health! Walnuts are shaped like tiny brains and have tons of omegas. The list goes on and on. Plain and simply if we ate a mostly raw (living) plant based diet we could be much healthier and also happier.

Now not everyone is going to convert to raw veganism, or even become vegetarians. But this is how I did it. Super easy… After deciding that was the path for me, I Immediately cut out all red meat. After I felt I know longer craved it, and my habit had been broken, I quit poultry. After that, Fish and other seafood. lastly eggs. While eliminating these items I explored new ones. The easiest way to go are the wonderful meat substitutes now available. Yummy black bean burgers and chicken nuggets for example. They even make ground “beef and “meatballs” I have made the most delicious veggie lasagna (My husbands favorite meal by the way) and you really do not miss the meat. Most people can’t even tell. There are many great options for those who want to explore a plant based diet, and tons of recipes out there.

One other aspect of  going vegetarian or even vegan, that I would like to mention here is that you should not just aim to cut out animal products and replace it with processed meat/dairy substitutes. Because lets be honest, if you’re not careful in your choices they can still be highly processed and unhealthy too. Your goal should be to incorporate as many raw fruits and vegetables into your diet as possible. try having the goal of 25% cooked 75% raw. even if you incorporate some meat while you are transitioning, IT’S OK! do what you can do. Just don’t sit around eating mac and cheese all day 🙂 I’m going to list a few easy meals I myself whip up on a daily basis in my next blog post. I hope this leaves you inspired or at least curious!

Feel free to leave any questions or comments you have below!

Much love,

Karissa C.