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