Thrive in 30

I have been participating in the Thrive in 30 program.  It is a free 30 day online wellness program designed to increase your knowledge of plant based nutrition.  During the 30 days, I've been watching 12 video enchanced lessons on key health topics including nutrition, fitness and lifestyle tips.  Brendan Brazier, author of Thrive:  The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life. 



I've had this book for a couple of years now and really enjoyed the book as well as many of the recipes.  Brendan is an athlete and I love that he is promoting vegan fitness.  Most people think that vegans aren't able to compete at a higher level and Brendan has proved this theory wrong!







Thrive in 30 is an easy program for me to follow since I eat a mostly vegan diet anyway, but I truly believe that anyone can follow the program.  It is about making small changes to your diet and fitness routines.  Adding in more fruits/veggies, drinking a green smoothie daily.  Small changes will increase your energy levels, you will sleep better, look better, and feel better!

What I have learned from these lessons: 

eating a vegan, plant based diet makes me:

feel my best
sleep better 
lose a few lbs
take a little longer to plan  and prepare my meals
and realize that total health nutrition can come from a plant based diet.

I am glad that I am participating in this program.  It has made me re-connect to why I wanted to eat a mostly plant based diet in the first place. 

My Health Story:
 

I was suffering from migrane headaches all the time, I mean, at least one per week.  I felt horrible every single day.  I had a headache every day, it was just a matter of how intense it was.  I was trying to be a mom to 3 very active boys, my husband and I owned a construction company and were trying to keep our 30 employess working, so stress was a huge \factor for me.   I was taking so much medication for my headaches that I developed an ulcer and was starting to get arthritis in my joints.  I was only in my 30's.  This shouldn't be happening to me.  My doctors were baffled as nothing was really helping.  I was getting bi-weekly massages to help with the headaches and my amazing massuese, Connie Brown, told me that maybe it was my diet.  I was like the typical American eating the SAD (Standard American Diet) and thought she was nuts, but I was so miserable, I was willing to try ANYTHING!!  So, I followed her advice and changed my diet - drastically.  I started eating a RAW diet.  That is so hard to do in Missouri in the winter, however, I noticed major improvements within a few days.  I had to get over the sugar and caffeine withdrawals and then I noticed my headaches were lessening.  I stuck with the raw diet for 30 days and decided that I would just eat a vegetarian diet.  I started reading health and diet books and found that Marilu Henner's book Total Health Makeover worked the best for me.  Over the years, my diet evolved into a total vegan diet.  This worked for a long time.  No more headaches, my doctors couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe it.  Today I eat a mostly vegan diet.  I do have some fish and eggs on occasion and the only dairy I have is in my shakeology and as soon as the vegan version is available, that will be going by the wayside as well.  I still get headaches occasionally, but honestly, I can't remember the last time I had a migrane.  I've been so happy that I have now incorporated my new health/fitness regime into a job!

Before

 After

If you are at all even remotely interested in trying out a plant based diet, head over to Thrive in 30 and give this a try.  You definitely have NOTHING TO LOSE!  Your health will change for the better and you will feel better!  I promise you that!  It may not be easy, but it is so worth it!

Sign up here to get started today! 

http://thrivein30.com/sign-up-now/?cid=BLOG 


Discussion:  Have you changed your health around?  If so, what did you do that made the biggest impact?