GETTING STARTED.

Not too long ago I found myself visiting a family member at the hospital. The person I was visiting happened to be sharing a room with a severely overweight, elderly man. Naturally we started talking about what had brought him to the ER in the first place…

Colbs.. You just LOVE striking up convo with strangers… Yes! I really do, because I learn the most from the new people I meet everyday. Back to the convo with this man. He told me his story. He told me how he had this strange rash on his leg that began to spread and if they had caught it even a day later, he would’ve had to remove it.… Colbs… this isn’t related to weight or health, what are you trynna get at here?! Oh you think the story stops there?! Our next conversation was what got me thinking…

The next day I visited, he asked me to go for a walk with him in the hospital complex (if you know me, you know I love a good walk and talk). Colbs bein Colbs, I asked what his history was and where he thought his problem with his leg stemmed from in the first place. To my surprise, he had much more going on. He told me how he has had 4 heart surgeries, seizures, and has been severely overweight the past 30 years of his life. His doctor and family members have told him repeatedly how important it is for him to lose weight, or else he will continue dealing with these health problems for the rest of his life. And yes, of-course living purely couldn’t resist but to tell him bout the blog…

I asked him what his diet consisted of and why he hasn’t chosen to do something about it sooner. His simple answer was that he just didn’t know how to make good tasting dishes. He grew up a meat eater, so why would there be a sudden urge to change everything he had learned throughout his childhood, to become a so-called “vegetarian”, anyway? On our walk (passing by open hospital rooms) I began to realize how many other individuals struggled with their weight. Even doctors and nurses that were the ones helping patients were more than just a few pounds overweight!

This is what got me thinking. How are we supposed to enforce healthy eating and vegan-mirrored lifestyles if even nurses and doctors don’t care about what they put into their bodies?! I also spoke to a few nurses around the hospital to get a little #foodforthought and not a single one of them had ever even considered cutting out meat (clearly livingpurely has absolutely zero chill when it comes to her foodie talks). This brought me to another point…We as a human race are AFRAID of change. We're also kinda lazy! But what if we grew up living purely (haha)? What if we ate fruits and veggies our whole lives and then all of a sudden made the switch to eating meat? It would seem like even more energy and effort, right? You’d have to learn how to season a good carcass and heat it the perfect amount to avoid getting it too rare (#stressed just thinking about it TBH).

OK COLBS, I’ll hear you out! But where do I even start?!

I frequently get asked about my journey to vegetarianism and how I just one day woke up and decided to cut out meat (along with most dairy products) once and for all. The answer is simple. Knowledge. So… where do YOU start? Well the answer to that question really lies within you, how much you are willing to change, and what your motivation is. For me, knowing how prevalent cancer is and how our everyday decisions revolving around food could either be the reason we develop those cancer cells or not, was just enough.

I realize my reasons are different than others and some may not be as willing to make these drastic changes in their diets. After all, everyone is different. Here are a few pieces of advice for the meat lover trying to make impactful changes to their everyday eating habits…

1. Make meat a side dish instead of your main meal.

Just because you love your chicken wings doesn’t mean you have to make them the beyonce of your dish. Cut your portions in half or even more than half! Make VEGGIES the sex appeal. Since we know vegetables already nourish our bodies and even REVERSE cancers and disease, we should #sticktowhatweknow, don’t ya think?

2. Limit intake to only a few times a week, rather a few times a day.

Make your meat consumption what I make my dairy consumption (I struggle with this too, see guys?! I get it, I promise). I let dairy be my “splurge” on occasion, and majority of the time stick to plant-based whole foods.

3. Get rid of this idea that we need LOTS of protein to survive.

We DON’T! Just because we grew up being told that sufficient amounts of animal protein are needed for us to grow healthy and strong, it is NOT TRUE! There are also so many plant-based forms of protein that we can easily meet these requirements with! It is truly astonishing comparing plant-based forms of protein vs animal protein. Think of plant-based protein as the medicine (quinoa, tempeh, tofu, beans, chickpeas, nuts…) and then picture animal protein as the LIAR or PLACEBO. The meat industry does so much to make us believe we need animals to survive, when in reality they are a leading cause of CANCER and HEART DISEASE.

4. Stop making excuses!

It is your life after all… Don’t you want to make it the most fulfilling as possible? Don’t you want to live to see the day that eating meat is actually UNHEARD OF!? I know I do! I can’t wait to see years from now (hopefully sooner) how many people are moved by the amount of KNOWLEDGE out there. I can’t wait to see this food revolution and know that those around me are also learning to know their foods and build strong relationships with their foodie friends around them!