healthy plant-based living

It was back in March of 2011 when my wife and I first started to seriously consider buying our own juicer. It all started when we were first introduced to the documentary, Food Matters . I remember I was at the library in the non-fiction section, and for some reason this DVD caught my eye. After I read the back of the DVD, I had a feeling I was going to get hooked. After watching it, I was completely blown away with the sheer simplicity of it all - it made all the sense in the world to me. The sheets that had been pulled over my eyes to blind me from the truth had finally been removed, to finally reveal the simple truths that had been staring not only me, but the rest of us in the face for our entire lives . The hook below the title of the film summed it up so eloquently: You are what you eat . In the film, several experts in the field of nutrition are interviewed and discuss in great detail the positive benefits of eating raw, organic foods. They also discuss t...

It's been said that if you read at least three books on any particular subject, you will essentially become an expert on that subject. So based on that saying - and after everything I have read in regard to health, the human body and nutrition, and especially after all the weight I've lost on my own - I would consider myself somewhat of a self-educated expert in these particular fields of study. That said, it is my opinion that our health care system and our western diet and way of life is causing our culture far more harm than good. And I believe that with a little bit of education, there is something we can all do to change it. First we must face facts. We have not been taking proper care of ourselves have we? To make matters worse, many people have begun looking to government for assistance. But the truth is that in order to change our lives and make things right again, we are going to have to start taking better care of ourselves on our own. One of the worst trends I ...

In the summer of 2007 I reached a pivotal point in my young adult life. I had everything I thought I could ever want: a large and expensive apartment, a nice big television with a zillion channels, (relatively) nice furniture, artwork on the walls, a closet full of clothes, a kitchen filled with far too many dishes, a brand new car, an albeit crappy but well paying job earning over $25,000 per year. I was on top of the world - at least according to MTV Cribs standards.. But one day I took a look around at all the "things" that I had accumulated over the years and I felt this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach; it was like waking up from a horrible nightmare. It was at that moment I realized, I didn't want this to be my life anymore. The jig was up, I was living a lie. As I gazed about my living room I began really assessing how all this had happened. And then it dawned on me - I had completely given up any hope of living my life for me . Instead I was ...

It's safe to say that I've been on an ever-growing "health kick" since I made the choice to change my life and began loosing weight a few years ago. When I first started out, I didn't entirely understand what was happening to my body - or why. All I knew was that I was exercising more than I had ever exercised before in my life and that I was eating healthier and far less often than I used to. But everybody knows that in order to lose weight you have to diet and exercise; that much was clear. What I wanted more than anything was to understand precisely  why these changes were occurring. What was I doing that triggered my body to shift gears? Could the same results be achieved by just anybody - or was I special? In my pursuit for answers I inadvertently discovered a great deal about how we were actually designed to live our lives. As you might have guessed by now, it is drastically different from the way most Americans are choosing to live. Here is a bit of w...

Not that long ago, I was living my life in a completely different way than I am today: I was fat, lazy, broke, unhappy, materialistic, agnostic, depressed and cynical. I was on a path of complete self-destruction. I knew that I needed help, but I didn't know where to find it. In my mind I had this vivid image of how I wanted my life to be. But when I opened my eyes and looked around, I saw nothing that came even close to resembling the life I had envisioned. It became painfully clear to me that I had let this period of denial go on for far too long. Drastic change was in order. As I think back, it's truly impossible for me to pinpoint the exact moment or particular set of circumstances that finally influenced me to take those first few steps toward my own personal resurrection. It's akin to when you first learned how to read: you could not tell me the exact day because it was such a lengthy process that required many months of trial and error. But eventually the hard ...

I would argue that the average smoker is aware of how bad smoking is for their health. You do not have to search very hard to find statistics to back up this information. Smokers know that it's bad for them, but they choose to do it anyway. How come? From early on in life we are told by our teachers, the DARE program, sometimes even our own parents, that smoking is bad for us. We are shown videos and taught special songs about how we won't do drugs and how we won't cop an attitude. We are even taught how to say no if someone offers us a cigarette. Yet some of us still decide to go ahead and smoke anyway. Based on my own life experience, I can say with a degree of certainty that the majority of people who start smoking do not do so hoping to get hooked. They usually do it for one of two reasons: Their friends are doing it and they want to fit in, or because of their inherent desire to rebel. According to the center for d...

My ex-girlfriend left me on valentines day of 2009. After the break up I was left with very little. Up until that point we had been sharing a vehicle that was in her name and when she left I did not have a way to get myself to work and back anymore. Since giving up was never an option for me I did what I had to do: I asked a friend if he could take me to Wal-Mart and I left with a $100 bicycle. When I got home I went straight to my computer, got online and began plotting out how I was going to make the six mile journey to and from work each day. It was not easy, but it was the best I could do at the time. After a while I really started to enjoy and actually looked forward to my rides to work every day. Sometimes I would even leave several hours before I had to work just so I could take my time and explore different parts of the city that I had never seen before. After a few weeks my co-workers and a few of my regular customers started to notice how much I had been cycling ...