My plant based lifestyle is a far cry from how I was raised
on a small beef farm growing up in the Land of Beer and Cheese.
I have always been more wholistic and natural minded. I loved playing outdoors and living in the countryside. Luckily, I had the privilege of growing up with home cooked meals almost every night. We usually had most things cooked, sometimes fresh (ex: spagetti with beef sauce, cooked corn/asparagus, with a side salad). We always had the standard fresh fruits to eat- apples, bananas. Eating fruits and vegetables were encouraged but not mandatory by any means.
My family also had a garden so in the summer, I was exposed to a lot of fresh vegetables! Some I liked to eat, some I didn't. However, most of our meals consisted of some kind of meat. We also drank milk almost every night and that was usually accompanied by dessert (ice cream, cookies,etc). Sodas were reserved for the weekend. We rarely ate out and hardly ever had fast food.
Growing up, I often had a lot of digestive issues (bloating, gas, stomach aches). I also had very sore knee joints leading me to see a physical therapist in 6th grade. I constantly had a runny nose and I got sick with the common cold quite easily.
I wouldn't say that I grew up learning how to cook. In fact, I really didn't start cooking meals until I was married at age 29. And today I wouldn't say I cook a lot of meals. At least, not in the typical sense. We have a lot of "mosaic meals" as I call them.
In 2019, I gave birth to my oldest son. As an infant, he had a lot of digestive distress and the doctor surmised that he had GERD. At the pediatrician's recommendation, I gave up eating most dairy. The only dairy I still regularly consumed was cheese. I remember thinking "I could definitely become vegetarian, but I could NEVER give up eating cheese". (See my blog The Cheese Curd Curse) I reverted back to eating dairy after he finished breastfeeding at around 9 months old.
Then in September of 2021, my youngest son was born and he also had many digestive issues. This time I was very strict in my dairy elimination, even foregoing cheese, successfully breaking the curse! I could instantly feel and see the results, not only for my baby, but for myself as well! I was way less congested, I lost my excess pregnancy weight very quickly, and I had less bloating and stomach pain. My ever present and runny nose was also gone, and I was feeling great! The elimination of meat came quickly and easily after giving up dairy.
My health journey really started with my children in my mind, but my personal benefits from transitioning to a plant based lifestyle have been unmeasurable!
In 2021, I also made a transition to being a stay-at-home mom for my two little boys. I had been an elementary educator for 10 years, with most of my career being spent with 1st grade. I LOVED working with children! I loved making them smile and laugh! I loved being goofy with them. However, my heart broke daily as I saw the food that children were consuming. It was especially difficult to witness when the government started providing free breakfasts and lunches after Covid. From a basic, nutritional standpoint, these meals were horrendous. We were giving the kids literal poisons. The breakfasts went usually something like this: PopTart or Lucky Charms with a chocolate or white milk, a cheese stick or yogurt, mushy fruit in a corn syrup juice cup, and a high sugar pasteurized orange juice. We were asked to ENCOURAGE the children to eat these breakfasts. After all, they were FREE and the government would send more if our numbers stayed high. I refused to support this, whereas many of my colleagues had no problem pushing this poison. I was the only one questioning "Why are we feeding this garbage to our kids?"
No one answered because no one knew.
A few months after quitting my job, I had an awesome idea come blasting through straight from Jesus in a dream! I had a vision of a giraffe made out of carrot sticks. Lo and behold, my Youtube channel, Soul Power Snacks, was born. My goal with these videos is simple-- to encourage and empower children to make healthy eating choices. These fun videos are out in the world and I KNOW they are inspiring millions!
On Christmas Day 2022, I also made a very strong move and decided to enroll in HMI Wellness, formerly known as HMI Nutrition School. HMI is based on 50 years of solid plant based research. It is life altering to say the least! The health and nutritional changes I have been able to make in my children's lives and mine are more than I can count. I am constantly sharing my knowledge with coworkers, friends, neighbors, family and even random strangers I meet! I use the knowledge from this extensive 8 month program to guide my clients to take easy and practical steps to improving their health. One of my gifts that I perfected during my teaching career is that I can break down knowledge into easily digestible information so you know the WHY behind all of your health changes.
I keep things FUN, AUTHENTIC, and OPTIMISTIC, but I also won't coddle you. I'll empower you so that you feel ready and strong in your decision making! If you're here, you are ready to make those changes and I'm here to show you how.
The difference this makes with kids.
Fortunately, I started the health journey for me and my children while they were very young. In fact early in 2024, a family nurse practitioner said that both of my children were some of the healthiest children she had ever met with. Neither of my boys (ages 5 & 3) have been treated for ear or lung infections. They have never been on antibiotics. We have visited the hospital for an medical emergency reason only. They are developing wonderfully and I use my knowledge gained from HMI Wellness to meet their nutritional requirements!
However, my perspective is a special one as a co-parenting mom. My children do not practice plant based eating while they are with their biological father. When they come back home, I take EASY and PRACTICAL steps, the same ones that I share with you, to ensure that their nutritional needs ARE being met. And I can 100% see a change in them emotionally, behaviorally and physically.
You WILL see the same effects in your children once you follow the same approach.
