Jennifer Sinyerd
It was November 2014 and I had just returned from an amazing vacation in Maui. On the last few days of my vacation, I sat down and watched Forks Over Knives. Before it even ended, I had decided I could not ignore the information that was being presented. If you haven't seen this documentary yet I highly recommend it.
If you had asked me that day if I had any health issues related to diet, I would have said a resounding NO. I would have told you I was really healthy. I thought because I was a healthy weight that I must be healthy.
THE TRUTH WAS I HAD A HANDFUL OF HEALTH STRUGGLES, I just didn't realize they could be related to food.
For no reason, other that sheer shock after watching Forks Over Knives, I embarked on an experimental change of diet. I had no plans for how long I would stick to it. I didn't even really understand what Whole Food Plant Based was. I spent the next weeks purging my kitchen of foods I knew didn't qualify as health promoting. I searched the internet to see what the Doctors and Researchers I had learned about said I should be eating. As I was discovering all this new knowledge and trying new recipes something really strange happened. I started feeling better. Asthma that I had since I was a child - vanished. Allergies that I suffered with for over ten years - gone. Eczema that covered my back and arms disappeared. Arthritis pain, that was affecting my ability to work, gone. All of a sudden, I realized maybe I hadn't been all that healthy after all. Then over the next few months other benefits became apparent. Migraines that I had been having every 2-3 months dropped down to only once a year. I didn't get that tired feeling after eating. I was sleeping deeper. Chronic sinus infections stopped. I obviously was sold on eating mostly whole plants.
I had been in the process of becoming a Living Organ Donor so was having extensive blood work done for that. When I had a follow up appointment my Doctor exclaimed that I had the best lab work she had ever seen. She proceeded to print it off for me and told me it was frame worthy. She asked me what I ate and was shocked when I told her.
Then in April 2015 I started feeling weirdly tired. For over a week all I wanted to do was sleep. Before calling to book a Doctors appointment, I spontaneously took a quick pregnancy test. Never in a million years did I expect to see a positive pregnancy result. I sat and stared at that test for over three hours. I wondered if I had hit my head and couldn't read properly anymore. Maybe this was a dream. I kept looking back and forth from the test to the instructions, showing what a positive test looked like. It couldn't be. I was 33 and was on birth control religiously. On top of that, as a teenager, I had an eating disorder and had been told that I very possibly could never get pregnant. My whole life I thought that was true. I absolutely attribute my seemingly sudden fertility to my diet change. Three years later when I again conceived in a similar situation, it confirmed my suspicions that eating this way makes me very fertile.
So I am now a mom of two little Whole Plant Foodies. They both are being raised as close to a Whole Food Plant Based diet as socially possible.
You can find my plant-based success story featured on the Forks Over Knives Website as well as in the 2020 "Forks Over Knives How To Eat Plant-Based" Magazine
I am not a Medical Professional. I make no claims here beyond what I have experienced personally and anecdotal stories of friends I have made along my journey.
In 2019 I completed the T.Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies "Plant Based Nutrition" program, through eCornell, to further my personal understanding of the benefits of living Whole Food Plant Based. It is an incredible course taught by the top Whole Food Plant Based Doctors and Researchers. If you are looking for some evidence based knowledge to add to your existing credentials, or you want to expand your personal knowledge, I highly recommend the Plant Based Nutrition course.
If you want some Expert Medical Advice please check out my Library, which is a section of suggested reading. A collection of books that have really grounded me in this lifestyle.
The recipes I share here are ones my family love and ones that I enjoyed perfecting for us. I have always loved cooking. Learning to cook Whole Food Plant Based introduced me to a whole new world of ingredients. Cooking oil free, with loads of spices, brings out the flavors of the actual foods. The majority of my recipes are simple and only require some basic cooking skills. Every recipe is made up of whole or minimally processed vegan Ingredients. I never use oil, salt is always optional and I call for unrefined sweeteners.
My Pantry section is all about the foods and tools I have that I use often and couldn't live with out.
I hope you enjoy this labor of love and come follow me on Social Media to be encouraged to eat Whole Food Plant Based. I really enjoy meeting other Whole Plant Foodies so please reach out to me which ever way you like. If you would like to be featured in my Transformation section please contact me with more details.
If you are a fellow parent you can join our Whole Food Plant Based Parenting Facebook group.
If you happen to reside in Alberta, Canada I run the Alberta Whole Food Plant Based Society