Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [5]
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Introduction
Growing up in the wilds of Oregon, my artist/gardener mom and teacher dad taught me many lessons that served me well over the years. I was lucky enough to be raised in a family that saw the connections between fresh food, health, people, the animals and insects, and the earth we lived on. We did eat meat, dairy, eggs, and honey from our beekeeping friends, but I had a solid education in “the web of life 101.” My older brother and I were pretty healthy; we ate lots of fresh food, and we rarely ate out.
My parents canned tomatoes and set aside jars of blackberry jam, and the whole family would spend hours in local u-pick farms gathering hazelnuts or cherries when the season was right.
As I grew up and moved away from home, my eating habits strayed from freshly-made, organic foods to the standard American diet of fast-food, lots of soda with high-fructose corn syrup, regular doses of fried foods, and few fresh fruits or vegetables. By the time I reached my late 20s, I was getting sick and depressed, had frequent migraines, and started gaining weight quickly for the first time in my life. I realized that what I was eating was making me sick and that I had to make a change if I were to be a fully functioning, happy person again.
I went to a holistic doctor who diagnosed me with an underlying Candida yeast overgrowth and recommended a sugar- and dairy-free diet to help my body recover. As I read everything the library had to offer on natural foods, the vegan diet, and the realities of health and the food system, I realized that I had caused my own health problems with my diet and discovered that my food choices had a large impact on the world around me.
I started eating vegan, whole foods within a week and immediately started to feel better. My headaches went away, the excess weight melted off, and I was clearheaded and energetic for the first time in years. I took my newfound passion for food and enrolled in a professional chef’s training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City.
I later realized I wanted to help people discover how to heal their own health problems with good food and dietary choices. Since graduating from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I have helped countless clients all over the world improve their health by including more plant-based options to their diets.
About This Book
As more people are exposed to the realities of how our food is produced and processed and how it affects our health, eating a vegan diet becomes more popular as a way to follow a healthier, more vibrant path through life. World-class athletes and popular musicians, actors, and artists achieve incredible levels of human fitness and create amazing works of art all while living a vegan life.
This book is for new vegans and