170: Is A Plant Based Diet Hard?

Ep #170 - Is A Plant Based Diet Hard?

Anita: Sister, we are so glad you're joining us today. I wanna talk to you about something that is so... You know, it's almost funny to me, people make this comment all the time. We'll start talking and somehow, don't ask me how. It always comes up that Jarrod and I eat whole feed plant based, I guess because we're so passionate about it.

Jarrod: It's a mystery honestly. I don't know how it happens.

Anita: Yeah. 

Jarrod: We gotta figure this out because it happens all the time.

Anita: No matter where we go, no matter what we're shopping for or what we're doing or where we are, we could be at the library for crying out loud. It always comes up. And what always happens afterwards?

What do they always say? Isn't that so hard. I don't know how you do that. That must be so hard. And I'm just going, I'm just thinking in my mind. No, and I tell them it's not hard. But here's the thing. It seems hard to you right now. And this is why it seems hard to you, because anything that's new seems hard.

It's the unknown, the fear of the unknown, or just the fact that maybe you're not afraid, you just don't understand it. So when you think about it, it's like, that seems so hard. It seems so foreign to me. How would I ever not eat meat or dairy or cheese? And for me, oh, my word. I mean, if you had said that to me years ago, I probably would've said, "isn't that's so hard." I probably would've been the one that said it, because I ate cheese on everything. Have y'all ever heard Jarrod joke about when we went shopping for groceries? Let him tell the story.

Jarrod: Well, there's been once or twice...yeah, well, it's been a while, but there were once or twice when we were standing in the grocery line. 

Anita: There were once or twice? 

Jarrod: Yeah, there were once or twice... There were occasions whenever I would joke with a cashier about, we just needed to buy a cow, because we would save so much money because of all the cheese, the milk the sour, cream, the yogurt, 

Anita: butter,

Jarrod: butter, mm-hmm

Anita: Mm-hmm, all of it.

Jarrod: Uh, I'm Sure. There was probably some other stuff that I just don't remember, but it was a lot so yes. 

Anita: All the time. We laugh about that now, but that was our reality. That's all we ate all the time. And we thought we were eating healthy, because we were making healthi-ER choices, right. But healthi-er was never gonna get rid of our joint pain and our back pain. We ate organic, we ate free range. 

Jarrod: Who could blame us because you know, we saw these commercials that kept saying “milk, it does a body good,” right. So there was all this advertising, all these messages that told us, “Hey, this stuff is good for you.”

Anita: And so we thought it just must be the kind of cow milk. I mean, there's another kind of cow milk that we can get that doesn't have added hormones in it. So we're gonna heal by doing that. We're still gonna drink the milk cuz "milk it does a body good", but we're just gonna get it without the added hormones.

Jarrod: And get the the $8 gallon organic, no hormone added milk. 

Anita: Right, but it's still full of all the, it has natural hormones. It is a... well, this is what Rip calls it.... it's a mammary secretion of animal. There's no other living thing that drinks the milk of another animal, much less into adulthood. And so it's not the way things were meant to be originally. And if you're a believer, you can look at Genesis 1 :29 for that. We're not saying "it's a sin to eat meat" or "oh my word. , if you ever eat meat, we're not gonna talk to you."

We're just saying that it's not what is best for you. And we were trying to do better, and trying to do better is good. Trying to do better is admirable. And we applaud you for that, but we want you to know that there's a better way. You can still have your cheese, you can still have your milk. It's just going to be in a different way, but it's gonna taste just as good. I can promise you if it didn't taste just as good, Jarrod and I, and our children, would not be on this happy train because, you know, you can force yourself to eat a certain way for so long...

Jarrod: You can do it for a while, 

Anita: ..for health. But if you're like most people, and if you're like us, if it didn't taste good, unless you're dying, it would be really hard to stick with that way of eating.

Jarrod: But the thing even with that is once you reach that point where you reach your goal, you're not dying anymore, and you hated what got you there. You're eventually going to ask yourself, can I keep doing this? Okay. I'm not dying anymore, or I've lost the weight or this result has happened. Now, you know, I kind of miss the other foods and I'm starting to long for them. I can just have a little bit. because, well, it's just a little bit, I'm not gonna be doing what I did before that got me into that situation. And low and behold, eventually you're gonna fall right back into that situation. You're gonna have the diabetes, the high blood pressure, the pounds are gonna come back on. It is going to happen unless...

Anita: You know how to do it in the way that is not hard. You've got to learn this simple way. You've got to learn the time saving way, the money saving way. There is a system. There is a way to do this, that you can actually enjoy.

You can replicate those meals that you love before. So when people ask us this, this is the whole thing, "isn't it so hard?" Absolutely, right now, if you are new or you've just been eating vegan and you don't know how to eat just the whole plant foods. We have a lot of people come into this that are already eating vegan, but they're still eating vegan junk food, and that's not healthy either.

Jarrod: Or the other thing is you didn't even know eating all plant based was even possible, that you have to have animal products to survive.

Anita: Right. Oh yeah, that's a good point. So I want you to know, I wanna tell you that absolutely right now, it may seem hard to you, but you know what else is hard? Not being able to walk up one flight of stairs to tuck your children into bed at night and make those memories that you're never gonna get back. Traveling to all the places that you wanted to go, not being able to walk the streets, experience the joy of being in those places and having to see it from your car or never even making it there at all. Having a desire that God's put in your heart to start a business to help people, but not being able to do that, because you just can't think clearly enough or you don't have the energy that you need or you're spending so much time in the doctor's office, and so much money on medications,

you can't even think about how you would fund a business. Those are the things that are hard. So does whole food plant-based seem hard to you right now? Well, if you're at the beginning, probably! But, once you learn the way how, it doesn't become hard. What really is hard is having to deal with all these health struggles that are holding you back from the full life that you were meant to live. We believe that no woman should ever desire to do things in life and be held back from those things because of her health struggles. And that's why we do what we do every single day. So the beauty of it is you, now that you know, and now that you've been listening to the podcast for a while, or now that you found the podcast, we want you to listen and get the information that you need, because then you have a choice.

Now, you know that there is something you can do. There is something that can turn things around. It doesn't have to be this way and it certainly doesn't have to be hard. And so we want you to understand. You, when you have this information, now you have the ability. You get to choose your hard, right?

Because something's always gonna be hard. If it's new, it seems hard. But once you get started in this, it's not hard. What's really hard is all those days of going through the health struggles, the extra weight and all the side effects of the medication and sitting in the doctor's office and losing all that time.

Those things are hard. Surgery's hard.

Surgery's hard going through long term treatment. 

Jarrod: Long recoveries of surgery.

Anita: Absolutely. 

Jarrod: And the thing...

Anita: We've seen it with our patients. 

Jarrod: And the thing with that hard is if you don't change anything that stays hard. That won't change. That will continue to be your story, unfortunately until the day you die. And that, that grieves us, that really grieves our heart. And that's why we're so passionate about this. Like you say, you get to choose your hard. Yes, the plant base may seem hard, but you get to choose it. Here's the beauty of it, it doesn't stay hard. Being sick and debilitated, that stays hard. But learning new skills, learning new strategies to heal your body, to strengthen your body, . 

Anita: It all of a sudden comes easy.

It just becomes, this becomes easy and it becomes enjoyable and it becomes just what you do. You know, what you do now, your routines that you get up and do on a daily basis, are those hard for you? No, because those are your routines. It's just what you do.

And that's what plant-based becomes for you. I can tell you over time of doing this, it becomes easier and easier when you know the steps to make it simple. Trust me, there are ways you can do this, that it can stay hard. It can be hard because it doesn't taste good to you. It is not the quick way it's 

Jarrod: Takes hours, lots of prep, lots of cleanup.

Anita: There's no reason for that. To use the words of many of our members, it just doesn't get any easier than this. It just doesn't. We are here for you. We can show you how to make this simple and enjoyable and delicious and very importantly, realistic with your busy schedule.

Look here, Sister, I know how busy life can be. I have four children. I homeschool them all. We run this business full time. Jarrod also works seeing patients through telemedicine. We are busy, but we do this, and we do it every day... and our children do it. I mean, their days they prep the whole meal. Why? Because it's just not hard.

They love it. We 

Jarrod: They enjoy it. It's fun for them. 

Anita: Oh yeah, absolutely. And we've had a couple of them on this show. You've gotten to meet our oldest and our youngest actually. So we want you to know that there is hope. It is not hard, but if it seems hard to you right now, that's okay. We want you to start thinking though that I can learn this.

If Jarrod and Anita can learn this, if their clients can learn this, if the people that I read, all these testimonials can do this. I can do this. 

Jarrod: If their children can learn this, if their 10 year old daughter can make dinner.

Anita: Yeah. She's been doing that since she was seven, seven years old. Yeah, if they can do it, it's not too hard for you. You can absolutely do it.

There is hope, but now you know and so the beauty is you get to choose. Jarrod and I are not people who force something on somebody. We're not gonna look at you and go, you know, what, if you're not vegan or plant based, we're not gonna talk to you. Or, we can't believe you're doing that, and be judgmental because you get to choose.

We believe that everybody should get to choose how they live their life. We believe that in the spiritual realm. A lot of times in Christianity, things are taught, like, You need to convert everybody. Well, Jarrod and I believe that you share your life with people. You share what you know, and everyone gets a choice.

We're not the Holy Spirit. We're not the Holy Spirit when it comes to changing your views about God in the Bible. And we're not the Holy Spirit when it comes to changing your views about your health. But we are here to help you. We are your friends. We are on your side, and we do know that this is not hard.

You just have to change your mindset about things. You have to decide, which hard do I want? Do I want the one that somebody can show me what to do? That I can get healing from my diseases, that I can get relief from these symptoms, that I can start living the full life I'm after, because that can be your story that you get to choose.

Sister, we see it as a true honor being a part of your journey. We want to get to know you. Make sure right now, whatever platform you're listening to this podcast on, write out a short review and let us know how this is changing your life. Where are you on this journey? We cannot wait to hear from you. We read all our reviews.

We may even share it with other people to encourage them as well. We are so thankful to have you here and we cannot wait to spend more time with you next time on Power On Plants.