A Fresh Perspective

I've always considered myself to be open minded to new ideas and perspectives. Though I never imagined that I would ever say what I'm about to write. I am going to become vegetarian! It started with a trip to visit my sister and her family in the Caymen Islands. One of the first conversations I had was with Kate over the kitchen counter about her wanting to become vegetarian and possibly one day vegan. I believe my response included a reference to becoming liberal, along with a scoth and rolling of the eyes. 

It's not like this was a statement that I hadn't heard before. Katie has always been the one person in our family who was going to 'Save the Planet' and protect the animals, ever the earth-enthusiast. While she was worried about eating meat because it was once an animal and in-humane, I was happily eating my chicken without abandon. Humans eat meat. It's only natural, right!? 

While I'm still not entirely convinced about Kate's perspective on not eating meat for the animal's sake. I am completely convinced on not eating animal protein for MY sake. Turns out, after reading 2 and half books this week, that there is much research to prove that eating animal protein leads to, if not promotes or encourages, many diseases, cancers and general ailment in the human body. 

The first book I read was "Green Smoothie Revolution" by Victoria Boutenko. (Buy Book Here) The beginning of the book gives the basic information as to why adapting green leaf smoothies into your diet greatly increases your overall health. She touches on the basic scientific evidence and scientific reasoning behind this statement. She had me thinking, hmm... she really does have very good points! My interest for adapting green smoothies into my life was cemented. I wanted to know more. So, the next book was "The China Study" by T.Colin Campbell & Thomas M. Campbell II. (Buy Book Here). Here, the authors go deep into the reasoning behind why eliminating animal protein from your diet is essential for your health. The scientific research they did that lead to this discovery was termed 'The China Study' as in China there are isolated populations with very different diets. In comparing the health of one population to another, they made the startling discovery that with the inclusion of animal protein, whether actual meat or casein protein (milk, cheese, etc), into a populations diet lead to increased disease, cancer, and aging. To note: the above summary is from only a quarter of the book. I mysteriously lost the book in stacks of fabulous fabric. After much searching, it was proclaimed lost for the meanwhile and my sister suggested that instead I read  "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman. (Buy Book Here) This book was based off of the The China Study's research and gives readers a way to adapt the information from this study into a lifestyle routine or diet. (And I say diet in a since of an eating plan for life)

So, now comes the fun part. Adapting all of this knowledge into a lifestyle. For the past week, my brother-in-law has been making us green smoothies for morning breakfast. Let me tell you, they are delicious! The recipes from the Green Smoothie Revolution book are YUMMY (to say the least)! Waking up in the morning, I can't wait to taste another recipe. Could it be that I'm craving my greens already? For now I'll blame it on curiosity, but as I sit here 6 days later at 6 AM on a Sunday, I'm wondering how I am going to manage a day without my green smoothie. It's safe to say I'm hooked.

Lucia LOVES her Green Smoothies!