Taking One Step At A Time

[Music]

hey annika

hey sarah i have a question for you how

can you tell if a vegan is dead

well it’s hard to remain alive after

you’ve been killed but i don’t know how

if they haven’t talked about their vegan

lifestyle in the past five minutes oh

as a fleekin a what a flexible vegan

oh so that would make me a flexitarian

yeah we have heard our fair share of

jokes poking fun at our eating habits

for example my sister sent me this last

week

and i get compared to the vegan teacher

on tech talk all the time

and although we might be fulfilling our

stereotype today of being the vegans

only talk about being vegan

we do think the next eight minutes will

be worthwhile and we hope you leave with

a more optimistic view

on everyone’s favorite thing to do when

they’re bored eating

speaking of being bored i was going

through instagram one day avoiding my

homework

when i stumbled upon greta tunberg’s

instagram page

a young climate activist she explained

to me that by going vegan one can reduce

their carbon footprint by

73 after hearing this i was hooked

i became pescetarian almost two years

ago which means the only meat i ate was

fish

in the past few months i switched to

being vegan which means i avoid all

animal based products

that meant i’d say goodbye to ice cream

and all other dairy products

including eggs but being vegan or having

your eating habits being slightly more

restricted compared to others can be

really challenging at times

my family does not share the same eating

habits as i do so i’m constantly around

non-vegan food and have to make my own

meals most of the time

sometimes it can be really tricky to

carve out time in my day to make my own

meals and sometimes it’s just easier to

eat

for whatever my family’s eating plus

vegan and vegetarian food can be really

expensive at times and i often find

myself paying much more for my tofu

noodle

when i go out to eat with my friends

compared to their burgers and fries

but like i said before i’m a fleegan i’m

not

perfect in my eating habits all the time

and that is totally okay

i am mindful of what i eat in the

context of a sustainable lifestyle

and i found that making small switches

each day make a huge difference in the

long haul

mango strawberries passion fruit and

kiwi

let me tell you about the island diet of

fiji and if you are wary of this diet

don’t be overcome with suspicion my

mother has passed down the guide to

nutrition

because my mom has been a vegetarian all

her life she has made our kitchen at

home resemble a lot of what she grew up

on in fiji

fruits vegetables and lentils although

both my parents never enforced a

vegetarian lifestyle on my brother and i

they emphasized it purely for health

purposes as i got older i naturally

stuck to and enjoyed this lifestyle

because i knew the health benefits

and nutritional value it provides and i

feel better about myself knowing i’m

helping my body out

however as i said i’m a flexitarian and

flexible

is key here personally i can’t resist

the occasional chick-fil-a nuggets after

a football game

or sushi at my brother’s birthday dinner

but that’s okay

because everything in moderation is the

key just by cutting out a little red

meat or switching up your coffee

creamers to oat milk

i promise will do wonders to your

internal health in the long run

plus oatmeal produces 80 less greenhouse

gases when compared to dairy milk

when i start to dive deeper into the

root cause of climate change and found

how much humans have changed our world

in so little time

it was really depressing and shocking i

felt so helpless in the midst of all

this hurt and promised myself i would

change my life to be more sustainable

i decided to take action by changing my

eating habits

meat and animal byproduct production

results in one-fourth of the greenhouse

gases in our atmosphere today

so by limiting our meat consumption and

cutting out dairy we keep the sky blue

not gray with every change i made

from eggs to avocado toast in the

morning from steak burritos to

cauliflower burritos

each and every change i felt like i was

making a real impact on the world

and it wasn’t just the planet that was

benefiting from these new eating habits

i was too i began to feel much more

healthier and confident about myself

i’m also much fuller throughout the day

and don’t find myself snacking as much

because my plant-based meals are just so

filling plus choices at restaurants are

now very easy to make when only a few

meals in my eating habits

when most people wake up in the morning

what do they do brush their teeth get a

cup of coffee and start getting ready

for the day

you know what my dad does when he wakes

up in the morning he eats three cloves

of raw garlic

ew nasty i know but there is a method

behind this madness

an astounding 70 to 80 percent of your

immune system

resides in your gut which is made up of

several organs one including your

stomach

one of the best ways to strengthen our

immune system is to eat foods like

garlic

blueberries oats and almonds that are

rich in vitamins and antioxidants

that can help reduce inflammation and

overall strengthen our body’s defense

mechanism to help fight off major

diseases

now what came first the chicken or the

egg

neither the grass that they ate very

often i hear that a vegan and vegetarian

lifestyle has an insufficient protein

intake for me personally i get my

protein from beyond meat burgers

tofu noodles and oatmeal in the morning

and if you don’t want to take our word

for it

look at some top athletes such as tom

brady and alex morgan

who live a vegan lifestyle and still

still maintain sufficient protein

personally my favorite way to get

protein is through tofu and when we

bring when we

and when we bring up tofu don’t be

annoyed because i’m about to give you

deploy to soy

the benefits of green protein is that

though you have to eat more of it you

eliminate all the saturated fat and

sodium

that is often hidden within red and

processed meat

and in general we want to reduce our

intake of saturated fat and sodium

to prevent high blood pressure and heart

failure but cutting out all meat in most

families is almost an impossible task

but by limiting your intake of meat even

by eating plant-based meals twice a week

i promise will do wonders to your

internal health in the long run

and as we’ve mentioned before we are by

no means perfect in our eating habits

if my neighbor comes over to my house

with some non-vegan brownies

fresh out of the oven i’m not gonna say

no and the truth is

we do not need everyone to have perfect

eating habits to benefit our planet

every change made no matter how big or

small is a step in the right direction

we do not need a few people doing things

perfectly we need lots of people doing

things

imperfectly no two eating habits will

look the same

some might start by eating less red meat

while others might cut out eggs for

breakfast every morning

but every change makes a difference

our biggest suggestion is to start out

small there are so many little changes

you can make that you might not even

notice the difference in taste

we challenge you for the next two weeks

to really pay attention to what you are

putting into your body

and pay attention to how you’re feeling

mentally and physically after eating

these foods

not just in the moment but days or weeks

after

so next time you’re at the grocery store

instead of reaching for that dairy

butter

reach for the vegan butter or try a tofu

stir-fry out for dinner instead of a

steak

maybe try going meatless once a week for

a month in the next month ramp it up to

two times

a week these little switches will build

up over time to bigger switches to

benefit your health

and the environment above all know that

every change and decision you make has

an impact

whether visible or invisible immediate

or delayed

you have the power to change the world

just by changing what you eat

start with improving your health finish

by improving the planet

thank you

you