Toxins come in more than just our food. They come into our bodies via thoughts, actions, and words. And they all have an impact on our energy and health so becoming aware of the toxic patterns in your life is as important as eating clean.
After co-creating the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me, and writing three books on vegan cooking and nutrition, I found myself craving meat. Working for eleven years to share a style of eating that had helped me heal my body was my passion and my livelihood.
Then, after a decade of plant-based living, my health started to devolve, my hormones changed, and my body started asking for the food it needed now: animal protein.
I was accused of “selling out” when I shared that I was no longer vegan a year ago. But in the last year I’ve met many vegans, some quite well known, who confided in me that they had also started including meat in their diet again for health reasons.
And because their businesses rely on the vegan community, they’ve decided not to share their personal transformations. I can’t judge them for their secrecy, because I’ve experienced first hand what happens when you tell the truth in this “all or nothing” food culture we live in.
I was shocked at the accusations leveled at me, many anonymously online from fake emails addresses, that I was doing it for publicity.
Believe me that was the furthest thing from my mind.
My entire career had, up to that point, been built on being a vegan chef and expert. I waited months to “come out” because I was so scared the truth would ruin my business.
My fears were justified when thousands of people unsubscribed from my newsletter, and many “friends” on Facebook unfriended me.
What surprised me even more was the thousands more who joined my newsletter at the same time once they read my blog.
Though I received thousands of negative emails, some wishing I’d die of a heart attack or cancer (again, from very brave folks who anonymously posted online), I began receiving messages of support and thanks…
Thanks from people who had been through the same struggle about eating meat again and who had experienced the fear and negativity I had…
Thanks from people who had wanted to try a plant-based diet but were afraid of the extreme views of some in the vegan world, who now saw there were people who were moderate and open to everyone…
Thanks from people who were just happy to see an “expert” be honest about what was really going on in their own life and body…
“Don’t judge your insides by other people’s outsides.”
~ Anonymous
We tend to judge ourselves by what we see other people achieving, and how they tell us they live and think. They might seem so much better than you but this is a total crock, based on lies.
Lies that you tell yourself about how “good” or “bad” you are…
Lies that others tell about themselves and their own lives…
We all have flaws, no matter how “perfect” or “enlightened” some may appear.
The only perfect diet is the one that works for you in this moment, and has a positive ripple effect moving forward.
And all of this “perception of perfection” is like a disease that ends up having a negative impact on our health personally and culturally.
Anyone who says they have the perfect diet and an answer for everyone isn’t, in my view, helping the situation.
We need to do more than look inside for the answers to healing ourselves, and our planet, we have to feel inside.
And the answers will be a web of influencers:
- how you fix your own food
- how you fix your relationship with food
- how you fix the food environment you live in, our shared eating culture
WE DO NEED TO #FIXFOOD.
Too many people are sick and dying because of what they do or don’t eat.
Too many children are suffering when we could help them with real food.
Too many people are over-fed and under-nourished.
Too many of us are disconnected from our bodies and suffer emotionally with every meal.
I ask you to join me in this growing awareness. When we talk together, listen to our bodies, and look outside of ourselves to see how we can help, we can all #FixFood.
