By Sara
This post is not giving medical advice. Please talk to your doctor before trying the 7-Day Plant-Fueled Challenge. A whole food plant based eating pattern may result in quick improvements in health markers, and your medication doses may need adjustment as you go. I want to make sure if you make this transition that you do so safely, above all.
Are you struggling with a health condition and wondering what you can do to improve how you feel? Or are you just wanting to try a healthier lifestyle for a week to see what it’s like and how your body responds? You’re in the right place, my friend! I have just the thing for you! Complete the 7-Day Plant Fueled Challenge with me!
Join me the first week of each month for a week of healthy plant based living. Now is the perfect time to make a switch. Don’t wait until you feel “ready” to make a lifestyle change– just adopt a couple of new, smaller habits each week. These build on each other and you’ll be amazed by the benefits you’ll gain.
First off, I must stress: this isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle. My goal is to make it so easy and full of tasty plant foods that you will actually enjoy it.
Learning how to increase your health and wellness shouldn’t feel like torture. Enjoyment of the process is important, or it’ll fall by the wayside.
Along the way, if you have less inflammation, feel more energy, sleep better, have less pain, less constipation, and are feeling delightful, win-win, right? There are so many health conditions that can be reversed with this lifestyle, and I’d love for you to be our next success story!
“Eat like your life depends on it– because it does!” — Unknown
Choose a mindset of abundance over deprivation:
Next, throughout this entire week I want you to trade out the thought “I can’t have that”, for “How can I update that?” I want you to think of your favorite family recipes. Then brainstorm swaps you can use to make it healthier for you.
Why do I want you to think about your family favorites? Simply because I want you to embrace this lifestyle and see that it can work for you long-term.
If you get stumped on how to update a recipe, email me, I’d be happy to take a look and see what we can come up with. After all, I’d really love it if you feel so great after the week that you decide to try this as a newly adopted way of life.
There is an included meal plan for those whom it will help:
You’ll find a basic meal plan with meals my family and I love within the challenge. These meals will all be free from animal foods. No meats, no dairy products, and no eggs here.
Instead, you will find delicious plant foods which will naturally get some extra fiber into you. You may find yourself feeling a little gassy. If you find you aren’t tolerating a certain food, try just eating it in smaller amounts that you may more easily tolerate.
Talk to your doctor before you begin:
By eating more whole foods, you’ll find that your meals are lower in calorie density. You may have some weight loss, though of course this can’t be guaranteed.
A whole food plant based diet is the most powerful lever you can pull to benefit your health. It can lower your heart disease risk, improve high blood pressure, and improve blood sugar levels by increasing insulin sensitivity.
For this reason, if you are on medication, you should talk to your doctor prior to proceeding with the 7-Day Plant-Fueled Challenge, as you may require doses of your meds to be titrated down when eating this way.
Work with your physician to do this safely. You may see improvements in diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol numbers, and it can happen in days to weeks. Good news: there are no side effects to eating this way!
“The greatest medicine of all is to teach people how not to need it.” — Unknown
By sticking with whole plant foods, your grocery bill should be lower:
Even better news is that your grocery bill doesn’t need to be higher than it is on your regular diet. By replacing meats, dairy and eggs with frozen and fresh produce, whole grains, legumes and nuts and seeds you will save money and get more nutritional bang for your buck!
Animal products are some of the most expensive items in a typical grocery cart, and have been proven time and again in studies to be the most unhealthy foods for you as well.
Conquer your grocery shopping with a plan, or make it easier and shop online:
Make sure you show up at your grocery store with a plan. The main “food groups” when eating this way include: vegetables and fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. And because Mother Nature is so diverse, there are just so many varieties of all these different foods in each category.
So take note of what you have in your pantry and make a shopping list to include the ingredients for some of your favorite foods– minus the animal proteins.
If you want to completely avoid any temptations in the stores, do your grocery shopping online and have it delivered to your door, or do curbside pickup! I just know you’ll crush this 7-Day Plant Fueled Challenge!
You’ll get enough protein!
Don’t worry about getting enough protein. All plants have protein. As long as you are eating a good variety of plant foods, and eating enough calories, you will get enough protein. (Studies have proven this to be true).
One great way to increase protein of meals is to include some beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh and seitan. But again, you don’t have to include these at every meal. And you shouldn’t be eating just salads, either. A healthy diet includes leafy greens, but not to the exclusion of all the other delicious foods nature has to offer. All plants also contain all the essential amino acids, so you don’t need to even think about “combining proteins”, as this is a myth that was debunked long ago.
Variety is the spice of life– but familiar comfort foods are important too:
The best way to help your healthy lifestyle last for the long term is to find a collection of easy foods that taste amazing. You’ll also want to experiment with new foods regularly. Try out some new fruits, vegetables, grains or varieties of beans each week, this will help you to have a varied diet.
Honestly, since my husband and I went plant based, our diet has greater variety now than it ever did when we were eating all the animal products that are typical of the standard American diet.
Your taste buds will adapt to the new foods you eat:
When your daily routine consists of eating whole plant foods of good variety, you will soon find that your taste buds will adapt and your cravings for the foods you used to love will diminish.
It may take a few weeks, but goes more quickly if you are able to fully embrace this lifestyle.
You’ve got the power!
Finally, this is a simple way (and very effective method) to gain more control of your health. Did you realize that only about 20% of health conditions are due to our genes? The other 80% is affected by lifestyle habits such as what we eat, how we move, our quality of sleep, where we live and so many other factors. And what we eat can cause certain genes to turn on or shut off.
Pretty mind-blowing how much power each of us has over our health, huh? Which is why I am so very excited to share this with everyone who is interested.
If you want to watch some documentaries or read a book about this way of life (to pump yourself up ahead of the challenge), check out this post for some of the best resources. They can show you the positive impact that this eating pattern offers. Additionally, you’ll see that you don’t need specific diets for each of the most common health conditions. They can generally all be helped by this one dietary and lifestyle pattern. Again, the simplicity is beautiful.
So sign up today to receive a 7-day meal plan that will make your taste buds sing. Click here to join me in the 7-day Plant-Fueled Challenge, and enter your email address (or just sign up below). I look forward to seeing you in the next Plant Fueled Challenge. I hope it brings you exactly what your body needs.
