mmm (monday + march + motivation)

02Mar10

I’m obsessive when it comes to beginnings, and the fact that a new month kicked off at the start of a new week in a relatively new year didn’t get past me yesterday. I decided to start making some positive changes toward wellness. So, yesterday at 5:30 a.m. I was up and running. Literally. I ran for 20 minutes along the waterfront. Not much, but a start. My calves are testament to that this morning.

As well, in recent weeks, I’ve been doing a bit of research on the vegan lifestyle as a direct result of stumbling across Alicia Silverstone’s new book, The Kind Diet. I was skeptical at first, as Silverstone’s notoriety comes largely from a film called “Clueless”. But I was pulled into this book because not only did I find her research and arguments incredibly inspiring, but I also discovered her thoughts tend to parallel my own when it comes to thinking about our ecosystem. “Following a plant-based diet,” she notes, “dials down our insane consumption of resources like fresh water, oil, coal, and the precious rain forest. It helps to heal the environment by denying support to toxic food industries. It is a significant move toward ending world hunger and distributing food more equitably.” This philosophy is not only about being kind to animals, but rather a holistic sort of kindness: being kind to everything around us. This falls in line with a Neil Young quote (from the song “Falling From Above”) that I’ve had pinned to my cubicle wall at work for years: “A little love and affection/in everything you do/will make the world a better place/with or without you.”

Silverstone’s book makes me want to take better care of my body as well as my companions on this planet (human beings, animals…even plants). To this end, my research has taken me to the PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) website and yesterday I started their 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. Because I’ve been vegetarian for about six years, I don’t anticipate this will be as challenging to me as to non- “veggies”, but I’m looking forward to exploring a world of new foods as well as new combinations of foods in my existing rotation. Just last night, I discovered that the intermingling of tangy lime with sweet potatoes and a punch of garlic makes me more excited than any amount of bacon ever did!

Care to join me?

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Tags: diet, fitness, food, health, running, vegan, vegetarian, wellness