My Journey

Some may wonder why a woman in her 30s, a school psychologist, a mother, and a believer in all foods in moderation would give up a lifestyle of eating grass fed beef, free range chicken/eggs, and antibiotic free dairy products mostly from local organic farms.  Five years ago, I would never have thought I'd be on a plant-based diet.  I was perfectly content consuming these products from local farms and organic grocery stores.  I thought I was doing it all so well.  Then my life was turned upside down.  These past five years have been a roller coaster of a ride that has lead to amazing health for my family and me.

My journey to a whole foods plant-based lifestyle began when my mother, a healthy woman in her late 60s, was diagnosed with a degenerative terminal illness, Alzheimer's Disease.  It was a huge blow to our family as she had no risk factors (other than her age) or family history.  After meeting with a geriatric psychiatrist (in 2008) who laid out that only 10% of Alzheimer's Disease is the genetic type with 90% of AD patients get it for unknown reasons with the biggest risk factor being age, I ran home and my life of researching "why my mom" began.  I became obsessed. Every single study that came out about AD showing new risk factors did not fit my mother. Interestingly, I kept running across articles about inflammation and the link between AD and heart disease. Given my father's previous heart surgery in his 50s, I knew this common thread between these two diseases meant I needed to change my diet.  Based on more reading, my husband and I started eating a more Mediterranean-style diet (increasing vegetable, decrease red meat, increasing fish).

We felt good on our new diet as we watched my mother painfully and slowly slip away.  A year later, my 3rd child was born.  Soon after beginning solids, he became chronically ill.  It took over a year to figure out what was going on.  Basically, dairy and food additives (hidden MSG) in processed foods were making him very ill.  I spent months reading books, talking to specialists, and talking to other moms.  It was during these conversations with others where "The China Study" book was mentioned.  Being obsessed with trying to figure out the why, I read the book.  It was life changing.  But I didn't know how to make the switch to a whole foods plant-based diet with a family of 5.  So, I increased our vegetable intake the best I could while focusing on keeping my son healthy and on my mother's end of life planning.

A few months later, I watched Forks Over Knives.  Once again, there was this message of a whole foods plant-based lifestyle.  We removed dairy from our diets as a first step.  It was difficult for the older children but we all felt better after a few weeks.   We tried to eliminate other sources of animal proteins but were really struggling. Plus, I was hesitant to pull growing children off all animal proteins.  I didn't want to make any mistakes.  After all, I had no nutrition background.

My mother passed away in January 2013.  A few months later, my sister, who works at a hospital, forwarded me the information on the Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition online program offered through the T. Colin Campbell Foundation.  While I was completely worn out from raising a family and being a secondary caregiver to my mother, I knew I had to take this coursework.  I needed to understand the biochemistry in more detail as to how animal proteins promote chronic disease. I needed to see all of those famous studies in more detail than a book or documentary could provide.  I needed to understand how to meet the nutritional needs of my family.

In October 2013, I began the first of 3 courses.  After module 3 of the first course, the wealth of scientific evidence was so powerful I removed the remaining sources of animal proteins and processed foods from our diet.  As I learned more and more from the coursework, I learned about the warning signs my mother had in her 50s.  She had a TIA (mini-stroke) episode where she was worried and went to a hospital.  Doctors assured that all was ok and just a part of aging.  My coursework indicated otherwise.  It was a sign that her diet was causing the formation of plaques.  While my father's plaques built up in his heart, hers built up in her brain (click here for a more detailed explanation). Her TIAs were a result of the build up of these plaques over the years.  It should have been huge red flag to change her diet.

I started this blog out of frustration as I couldn't find many recipes for my son back in 2010. Now it is a way of saying thank you to my mother for her sacrifice as I'm not sure I would have ever entered this journey without the illness that took her life.  She was a wonderful woman who will forever be missed.

-March 2014

What does our diet look like now?  Well, it looks like this...

For more on the Power Plate please visit http://pcrm.org/health/diets/pplate/power-plate.