Full Day, Full Log: Planetary Imperatives, Inspiring PBWF Athletes, Children's Nutrition
5.26.2020
I posted the above call-to-waken from Jonathan Safran Foer’s book “We Are The Weather” months ago, and have recommended it repeatedly. Our leading scientists have been sounding the alarm for years.
Why am I so feisty in tone? Because we’ve known the above for far too long, have not internalized the responsibility in our actions, keep stumbling on with status quo, and when I raise my voice to say, “GUYS! WAKE UP! Our environment is in doom, but we can heal society’s harmful impact through Plant-Based Whole-Foods, and PBWFs are also best for you nutritionally! WIN WIN!!” I get some voice saying, “But yeah, look at this thing over here.”
There are a lot of problems in this world we need fix: why not start with the most important one? The one that betters the environment for every species/ecosystem on this planet, gives you and your kin better health, and frees up resources so we can eliminate famine and feed us all sustainably?
Our environment is poised to slip over the edge of irreparable harm if we don’t wake the heck up and start moving forward, and I’m trying to reach the radius of souls I know (it’s a bonus if anyone else gets swept up in the fray). If you’ve been listening/reading at all, you can no longer plead ignorance to your actions.
Yet recently, I was told to temper down this tone for the sake of my “brand”.
I’m not selling anything, but if I had a “brand” it is waking folks up for the sake of the earth, all the species in our wake, our health, and the health of the children whose parents don’t know better yet (or refuse to change for the sake of harmful taste).
You can’t wake a stubbornly sleeping soul with silence. I’ve tried.
Large picture, I’ll keep howling because our environmental stability and the health of the ones I love depends on it.
Myopically, my wail is focused on the following dagger: if you’re still participating in daily animal products (if you can’t even sit through ONE MEAL without gobbling down a soul): you are participating in ruining the environment my son will be choking in. That ignites me to full Mama Bear hackle, and I’ll be shaming you until the day I die.
Why shame? Why guilt?
Because at this point (after now 2 years of me talking and writing about these issues) anyone in my klaxon orbit knows: animal agriculture is ruining the only planet we have (destroying ecosystems, ruining water supplies, filling the air with toxic emissions, etc), you know through MYRIAD studies/trials/clinically-proven-facts that animal-products lead you toward disease and pain, you know that a plant-based whole-food diet is lauded by the best doctors to be the absolute ideal diet for human health (and clinically proven to reverse the diseases caused by animal-products), and you have real-life examples of folks (including our best Doctors, Olympians, Professional Athletes, even Beyonce) who have tried it out for themselves and become stronger, healthier, happier.
If planetary imperatives, reason, examples, compassion, and the health of our children do not compel forward movement, what is left for me but shame and guilt? Inaction dooms us all.
Continue on for: inspiring souls who became their best/strongest/healthiest selves after switching to plant-based whole foods, nutritional links/resources (*all from doctors*) about pediatric plant-based nutrition, and a full day of PBWF family feasting.
Q’s Morning Chalkboard: he’s been counting down the days til we could grill outside with Grandma and Grandpa (from a distance!) and this showed that today was the day,
Plant-Based Kiddo Breakfast (Q made himself): nectarine and peanut butter.
Plant-Based Whole-Food Lunch: lentils, quick-pickled cabbage, bell pepper, avocado, arugula, and cornbread.
If you’re thinking, “Yeah, well you may be fine with that food, but you’re a willowy woman. I need animal products to keep me going,” you should know that you are categorically 100% wrong.
Meet the following plant-based souls who inspire me to tears:
Dotsie Bausch (PERSONAL HERO) - “an American cyclist, advocate, speaker, and the executive director of the nonprofit, Switch4Good. She is a seven-time USA Cycling National Champion, a two-time Pan American Champion, and an Olympic silver medalist (women's track cycling, London 2012).” (<—And she’s the oldest soul in her sport to ever medal!!!)
Patrick Baboumian (<—Q’s personal hero) - Won "Germany's Strongest Man" in 2011 by winning the open division at the German strongman nationals, broke the world record for most weight ever carried by a human being, traveling 10 meters with a 1216 lb (550 kg) yoke on 9.8.13 in Toronto; and on September 20, 2015, Baboumian beat his own record by completing the yoke walk with 560 kg (1,230 pounds) in Germany.
Kendrick Farris - “the only male weightlifter from Team USA to qualify for the Rio Olympics, has moved up a weight class (he now competes in the 94kg class, aka 207 pounds) and claimed an American record after lifting a total 377kg (831 pounds) at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in May since adopting the plant-based diet.”
Rich Roll - “In May 2010, Rich and his ultra-colleague Jason Lester accomplished an unprecedented feat of staggering endurance many said was not possible. Something they call the EPIC5 CHALLENGE– an odyssey that entailed completing 5 ironman-distance triathlons on 5 islands of Hawaii in under a week.”…and he’s FIFTY. He’s also one of the most mindful souls I’ve ever listened to, and his podcast is a balm: you soak up heady medical info with a down-to-earth ease.
Scott Jurek - He is the only runner ever to win the Western States seven years in a row, from 1999 to 2005. (His course record, set in 2004, was 15 hours, 36 minutes, 27 seconds, an average of 9:21 per mile.) He is the only American ever to win Greece’s Spartathlon, a 153-mile race from Sparta to Athens (he won that in 2006, 2007, and 2008). He is the only person to win, in the same year (2005), Western States and the fiendish 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon that begins in Death Valley.
In May 2015, Jurek began an attempt to break the supported Appalachian Trail thru-hike speed record: which was 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes to complete the 2,168-mile route. On July 13, 2015, he completed the trail, breaking the old record by three hours….It meant he was running two marathons a day over tough terrain and he did it with a quadriceps injury. Could you do that?! Could you even handle one day of it?! (This Runner’s World article about him is a great read and made my heart burst and flutter.)
Want some more heart-lifting inspiration? Go watch Game Changers on Netflix (or however you stream) and have your heart-bursting with pride for all the athletes who crushed personal goals after switching to plant-based whole-foods, and have your mind rattled opened by all the doctors interview therein that explain the mechanisms in play that illuminate why PBWF are best for you and precisely why animal products are feeding you disease.
If you need celebrities, you have Beyonce (who is even on the back of that Undo It book by Dr Dean Ornish I keep reading/harping about), but I don’t have time to keep listing out folks. A simple Google search awaits you.
You have examples of souls doing far more in their days than most of us are doing on our Standard American Day, and they are doing all with Plant-Based Whole-Foods; so again: why do you need those animal products?
Before
I spent the morning writing another environmental/nutritional manifesto, filled up with plant-based feasting, and then went outside in hot temps to haul logs, schlep stones, dig up borders, and work this body that is burning with excess energy.
During
After
Wanted to finish, but needed to get inside and start preparing for our Memorial Day barbecue.
This was the beginning of making a“pink smoothie” (strawberry, banana, orange, and oatmilk) for Q and I to share after yardwork.
Memorial Day 2020: social distancing with Grandma and Grandpa.
Plant-Based Whole-Food Appetizer: cornbread, pesto, and balsamic tomatoes.
He loved it so much I had to cut him off so he’d have room for dinner.
Zero-waste? These plates were 50 cents, are plastic, and can be reused indefinitely. (So can those cloth napkins and actual cutlery.)
If you think I am hyperbolic about children’s cardiovascular systems, I’ll redirect you to this horrifying/illuminating video again (and again, and again), and the following studies that show the same thing:
Evidence of the Beginning of Atherosclerosis in Infancy and Adolescence”
“Cardiovascular disease risk factors and atherosclerosis in children and adolescents
“A Few Unpleasant Facts About Atherosclerotic Arterial Disease in the United States and the World”
Compelled?
If you have a kid and want to transition them to plant-based whole foods, first: start eating plant-based whole-foods yourself. Our children see what we do and will learn from it.
Second, here are some great resources:
“Nutrition for Kids” from the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine
“Children who are raised on healthful vegan diets have a reduced risk for heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and other conditions. Adolescents raised on a plant-based diet often find they have an easy time maintaining a healthy weight. They also have fewer problems with acne, allergies, and gastrointestinal problems than their peers who eat animal products.
American children often have fatty streaks in their arteries before they finish high school. Children who eat a plant-based diet limit foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which can contribute to heart disease.”
“Diet, Children, and the Future” from Dr John McDougall
“Plant-Based Eating for Kids” from nutritionist Emma Roche (who also wrote the book “Whole Food Plant Based on $5 a Day”)
“Pediatric Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide” by Dr. Jackie Busse
And in case you missed it yesterday, the ever important “Plant-Based Diets: A Physician’s Guide” put out by the National Institutes of Health to our medical professionals.
Plant-Based Memorial Day: Beyond Sausages, Beyond Burgers, and kebabs with bell bepper, mushroom, and red potato.
I totally forgot to take a picture of our meal until I was wolfing down the last scraps, but it was: Beyond Burger, a big salad, a grilled bell pepper, mushroom, and potato.
Q asked for a second-helping of the mushrooms and wanted to eat them right off the stick.
Man, if only he liked what we fed him…. :-)
Fueled up with plant-based power, he cleared his whole table channeling his beloved Patrick Baboumian.
The simple joy of a solar yard lantern.
Boy Howdy was last night’s section of Undo It (by Dr Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish) perfectly timed. Not only does it perfectly encapsulate the dire reasons and statistics that illuminate why I’d so passionately howl, but somehow perfectly tied into another redacted Log entry.
Something that riles me to my fiery core, is when people distract from this important message and swat it down with a, “Yeah, this may be important, but look over here! How dare you (how privileged are you?!) to not also talk about XYZ!”
It is inarguable that the world is full of societal, racial, cultural horrors. If it weren’t for the necessary protections of HIPAA, I could write a book filled with stories from the seven years I worked within the Office For People With Developmental Disabilities realm, and they would gut you to your very core. If I had the time, I’d wake you up to every societal issue that makes me flame, but there are too many things to cover and they all fall under the same umbrella: environmental stability.
If we ruin this planet through inaction, we doom the other species on it too. We need to start making changes within our own bodies, our homes, our communities, and branch out from there.
A plant-based whole-food diet is best for you, and it is best for environmental sustainability. That is the biggest issue there is and it is the easiest to solve. (As seen above, you can even do it for $5 a day!)
