Dr. Greger mentioned Dr. Barnard’s research in his book How Not to Die which led me to the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (“PCRM”).  I stumbled upon a free Food for Life Class on their website and signed up.  The class started with a video by Dr. Barnard which talked about diabetes.  This video was followed by the instructor doing a cooking demo to make some vegan recipes.  I was blown away by what Dr. Barnard had to say in the video and knew Paul had to hear this information.  I asked the instructor for a link to the video, but because it was proprietary, she couldn’t share it with me.  She did, however, kindly schedule a separate session with Paul and to view the video.  Bless her kind heart.

With all of these seeds and information that had already been planted, Paul and I were ready to get more serious about our new lifestyle, though he still had reservations at this time about giving some of his favorite items up like butter and mayo.  I told him not to focus on those things and to start where he was able.  I didn’t force him, though I sure did talk about the health benefits of a whole plant food diet A LOT.  Paul always listened and actively engaged in these conversations.  Slowly over time, Paul was willing to let his hang on items go until eventually our house had zero animal items in it.

After the PCRM Food for Life class, I discovered The Exam Room Live with the weight loss champion, Chuck Carroll!!  Chuck lost over 250 lbs. and was now PCRM’s podcast host to help others from all around the world gain the knowledge needed to live this lifestyle.  Chuck was in my living room every day as I cooked a meal.  These podcasts became my lifeline, they took the place of the Overeater’s Anonymous meetings and Chuck and his podcast ended up feeling like comfort food to me.  My brain needed constant reminders at this point as to why this new lifestyle was for me and Chuck & The Exam Room Live kept me motivated and on path.  I often watched on YouTube while doing meal prep.

After poking around PCRM’s website, I noticed there was an upcoming 12 week plant based weight loss program with Dr. Ranita Rahman that started in April and would last most of the summer. The first class, Paul joined, and we watched together on the laptop on the back patio.  There was a guest speaker at that class, Stefanie Ignoffo, founder of the non-profit Plantspiration.  You can also hear about her families’ story on this Exam Room Live podcast episide – Vegan Diets and Weight Loss.

Stefanie was full of energy, hilarious and relatable.  She had a slideshow where she shared before and after pictures of her entire family (see below) who lost a collective 250 lbs. going vegan.  Their results were outstanding, but what Paul and I both noticed was the inner glow every single family member had.  Yes, we wanted to get healthy and lose weight, but I wanted my spirit back.  We were both in awe of what this family had achieved with the vegan lifestyle, largely without any help or a supportive community.  We both knew in that moment that if Stefanie and her family could do it, so could we.

The next day, I contacted Stefanie, and we had a free introductory chat to discuss my goals.  At this time, we did still have some remaining animal products in my freezer that I had purchased from a local, in my mind at the time ‘humane’ farm (note: I no longer believe we can ‘humanely’ kill any living being who does not want to die).  Stefanie asked me to share what we typically ate, and I mentioned we still had dead animals in our freezer and that I didn’t plan to buy more, but wanted to use these up.  The place we purchased from was always touting the nutritional benefits of their animals over factory farmed animals, so I still hung on to the false belief that these products were ok to eat and were superior in nutrition, despite the many hours upon hours of information I had received to the contrary. 

Stefanie simply said, ‘you know it doesn’t really matter right?’  As far as your heath is concerned, whether its factory farmed or free range, it’s all the same.  Cholesterol is not an essential nutrient and is only obtained from animals and our liver makes all the cholesterol we need.  At Plantspiration, we focus on showing people how to eat their plants off, while keeping the added fats low. 

I didn’t have any arguments left in my brain.  She was right and I already knew it.  This was the final seed I needed to ditch eating animals for good.  I promptly signed up for Plantspiration and knew this small, close knit, supportive community was exactly the connection I was looking for.

Plantspiration was my missing puzzle.  I only knew one other vegan at the time, and I needed a place where I could truly share what was on my mind, my struggles with addiction and slip ups as I navigated towards the vegan lifestyle I desired. 

For a small monthly membership fee, Plantspiration offered weekly Food for Life cooking classes (did I mention Stefanie is a Food for Life instructor with PCRM?!), weekly yoga classes, Saturday support group where you could talk, just listen or both and a monthly guest speaker, in addition to a members only Facebook group where we regularly share our wins and pictures of our meals.  This group had multiple lifelines and was exactly what I needed in these early stages.

Shortly after joining Plantspiration, a magazine had come out that featured Stefanie and her story and naturally I purchased a few copies for myself!

Paul and I drove up to Red Deer in April 2021 and he shared with me that he was trying to get his friend to join us.  He sent his friend a text that said, “please come with us, otherwise, I’ll be stuck listening to vegan podcasts on the drive there.’  His friend was unable to come and true to my new nature, we most certainly did listen to a vegan podcast!  I am an addict after all, and this was my new addiction.

My PCRM Weight Loss class was featuring a special guest, Marc Ramirez, and I had to miss the class that morning to drive to red deer and classes were not recorded in order to keep it a safe space for people to share.  As a next best option, I searched The Exam Room Podcast library and came across an episode with Dr. Neal Barnard and Marc Ramirez. The podcast was titled 4 Steps to Beat Diabetes with Dr. Neal Barnard and right off the hop, Dr. Barnard explains the truth behind diabetes and why fat, not sugar, is the real problem.  The episode then went on to include Marc Ramirez and his story of type 2 diabetes to turning his life around and getting off all of his medications.  He also discusses his family history of health issues.  This episode hit home with Paul and I and yet again, we were reminded of how important this path would be for us, especially given Paul is a type 1 diabetic.

p.s. In 2022, Diabetes Canada reported that more than 5.7 million Canadians were living with diabetes (type 1 and 2), but predicted 11.7 million Canadians were living with diabetes or prediabetes.  Living with a type 1 diabetic, I can tell you this is not a disease you want as it comes with many horrific side effects such as limb amputation, heart disease, blindness, neuropathy and kidney failure to name a few.  Please check out the resources in this post and even this resource from PCRM which references the 2003 groundbreaking study on diabetes that showcased a plant based diet controlled blood sugar three times more effectively than a traditional diabetes diet and if you scroll to the bottom of the link, there are often FREE Fight Diabetes with Food classes.

Peace, love & plants,

Michelle 🙂