In 2013 my husband and I went through a documentary watching phase. On Netflix we sourced education documentaries while preparing to send our son to pre-school in New York City, then moved on to health and food documentaries.

We started with Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a moving account of an Australian man’s journey, bringing himself back to health through juicing and inspiring others to do the same. Then came Forks Over Knives, Food Inc. and Hungry For Change. Although we considered ourselves conscious eaters, we were astounded. We were already well aware of the amount of sugar in most foods in the United States, and steered clear of many processed options, but it was jarring to discover the connection between animal products and serious disease.

My husband turned to me and said, “Why don’t we give this a go?”

I responded with a shriek I’m not proud of: “What, be VEGAN?”

All of the standard questions you might think to ask came to mind.

What would we eat?

Where would we get our protein?

How would we travel?

Wouldn’t it be complicated?

And way too time consuming?

My husband’s reply; “Why don’t we try it? What have we got to lose?”

Exactly. What did we have to lose? Just some weight.

Starting with a 7 day experiment, we (as in my husband) shopped for replacement products for butter, cheese and milk, researched recipes, made a plan for our go to snacks and away we went. We really liked it and decided to continue for a second week.

This was March of 2013, and quite a few years later, I write this sentence as a completely unexpected Vegan.

I love eating only whole food plant based options. I feel better. My digestion is a dream. My tastebuds have changed and vegetables have never tasted so amazing. The most surprising outcome? My clarity of thinking has improved off the charts. A huge side effect is the benefit to the planet, and the fact that – let’s face it – no living being has to die and end up on my plate. This was nowhere in sight as a factor when we started our 7 day experiment. Now it is absolutely a part of my experience.

Any step you make in the direction of eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, more grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and plant based alternatives will make a profound difference in your health.

Now, please know I am a foodie. There was a period of time after eating Vegan for a while (and realizing I wanted to stay that way) I was quite sad. My dreams included traveling to the most exotic locations to the best restaurants. Now I could no longer look forward to degustation menus in the finest restaurants because I no longer wished to eat animals.

However!

A revolution was brewing. The world of whole food plant based options had grown so quickly there has been a 600% increase in Americans who identify as being vegan in the past three years. (Report by research firm Global Data, 2017)

I simply cannot keep up with the new, gourmet vegan restaurants opening in New York City, let alone around the globe. In my travels I seek out Vegan and Vegan friendly eateries and have a phenomenal time talking with owners and staff about their experiences.  To my delight, some of the finest restaurants in the world now offer Vegan menus, as well as the impressive new wave of Chefs creating incredible dishes with vegetables.

As an unexpected Vegan, one of the outcomes I did not expect was how much of a topic of conversation my eating choices would be. Daily I find myself answering questions about eating a whole food plant based diet. You will find answers to many of the commonly asked questions in the FAQ and my new book GPS Vegan. As a Singer and Songwriter whose voice ended up in over a billion GPS and smartphone devices, with a surprise career as a Professional Motivational Business Speaker, helping others Recalculate their health was not a part of my original life plan. But here we are, and I am thrilled to share what I know, and what we do to make our lives easy, healthy and happy.

However you found yourself here, I encourage you to visit often, to incorporate some of the simple tips into your own kitchen experience and enjoy GPS Vegan.

Yours in Recalculating

The GPS Girl xoxoxo