Chicken to Chickpeas: A 30-Day Experiment Changed my Life | Yami Cazorla Lancaster | TEDxYakimaSalon

I am NOT what you would call an animal lover I don't like dog hair, cat hair on my clothes, I'm ashamed to say I have never rescued a lost or injured animal in my car, you won't find a sticker on the bumper that says save endangered animals and I have a secret phobia of whales, so you might find it strange that I consider myself vegan and follow a plant-based diet. Six years ago I embarked on the 30-day health

experiment

sparked by curiosity and decided to try a plant-based diet after reading a book called Born to Run, this book is about a native tribe in the Mexican desert known as the Tarahumara. or runners, eat a predominantly plant-based diet, are experts at long distance running and are apparently super chill, sign me up, the

experiment

was a success after just a few days, my supposedly genetic

life

long chronic constipation was cured and I lost I lost 12 pounds effortlessly in four weeks and, as cliche as it may sound, I felt amazing and energized during that time.

I watched documentaries like Forks Over Knives and Earthlings, read books like Diet for a New America, and studied scientific literature, but little did I know that after those 30 days my eyes and heart would be opened in a way that I will never forget when I was younger. ​​to say that I don't care much about animals. I grew up spending every summer on my grandparents' farm. I saw animals being slaughtered every week. My grandmother would take a

chicken

by its neck, drain it, and then hang it. upside down I watched as the

chicken

flapped its wings vigorously and then slowed down its eyes rolled back and finally stood still I have also seen a pig slaughtered and believe me I will never forget that my uncle I was president of a cow slaughterhouse for many years.

You could say that killing and eating animals was ingrained in my family and my culture, but I also remember tender moments. I remember that later I helped catch the chicken that we were going to eat. Sitting in the back of the truck with his warm body on my feet I could feel his heartbeat in his breaths and I imagined that somehow he knew his destiny that would be part of my Panamanian chicken stew in a few hours I remember it too . walking around the dairy farm and looking into the tender brown eyes of the dairy cows as they chewed grass while I looked into those big brown eyes I wondered if she knew that the sole purpose of her

life

was to feed us, but as soon as I would start to feel uncomfortable, then I would get rid of everything.

I need to eat meat. Where else will I get my protein? And if I don't drink milk, my bones will disintegrate. It is necessary damage. After those 30 days, I discovered something I had not known in 32 years of life, 23 years of formal education, a medical degree, a school of public health and a Master of Science, and I admit that it was a little disturbing when one finds information that challenges your worldview, it's natural to experience something called cognitive dissonance. Psychological stress occurs when one is faced with information that contradicts the values, ideas and beliefs they currently hold.

It was at this crossroads where I had the opportunity to grow and learn more, but only if I was open-minded and willing to change my perspective. I discovered that not only is it not necessary to eat animals but we as humans can thrive, we thrive by eating only plants. In that moment I felt as if the earth were shifting beneath my feet and I felt the weight of the enormity of the pain and suffering. out of billions of animals in this country we kill 9 billion animals every year according to the Humane Society of the United States, that's a big burden, but maybe you don't connect much with animals and that's okay, we all have different personalities , let's take a step.

Closer to home, our food choices harm us according to the USDA The average American gets 94% of their calories from processed foods and animal products This standard American diet is deficient in fiber and antioxidants and high in salt, sugar and fat , at the same time we are seeing an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia. This is causing us greater suffering, increased years of weakness, and shorter life expectancy. Prominent research organizations such as the CDC and the Harvard School of Public Health have estimated that at least 80% of chronic diseases can be prevented through diet and lifestyle, with the largest contributor to premature death being our diet. , but what about our smallest citizens?

As a pediatrician and mother, I care deeply about giving children the opportunity to grow up healthy and happy preventing chronic disease is my passion it is typical for us to feed children kid-friendly foods like chicken nuggets, pizza and hot dogs their meals They are often loaded with processed meats, cheese, and additives. We have known for quite some time that processed meats have the potential to cause harm. In fact, the World Health Organization has classified processed meats as a group 1 carcinogen that is known to increase our risk of colorectal cancer, but maybe children are different, maybe they really need meat and dairy to grow properly.

As a well-trained pediatrician, I spent years advising my patients to consume 2 to 3 servings of dairy every day and this was despite seeing the adverse effects of dairy in my daily practice, such as milk protein sensitivity. beef, lactose intolerance, chronic constipation and chronic abdominal pain. After my 30 days of exploration, I began to investigate whether I have faith in both of my children eating a plant-based diet. What I discovered surprised me again: not only is it safe, but it provides benefits for the growing and developing bodies and brains of little ones. The American Dietetic Association has written a policy statement stating that if properly planned, vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are nutritionally useful and may provide benefits in the treatment and prevention of certain diseases. .

Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for people at all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, childhood and adolescence. And for athletes, we now have significant scientific evidence that eating a plant-based diet will decrease our risk of certain chronic diseases and may even reverse some diseases. Based on several large Adventist population studies, we know that people who eat a plant-based diet tend to weigh less, have fewer years of weakness, and as an added benefit could add a good eight to ten years to their life expectancy because they don't It's not just about quantity but quality, but maybe you're not too worried about your own health and maybe you don't have children, our food choices harm the planet, animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, dead zones in the oceans, water pollution and habitat destruction and, according to the USDA, every minute in our country animals used for food produce 7 million pounds of excrement if If we care about climate change, it is important to know that, according to the Worldwatch Institute, 51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock and its byproducts.

Doctors often quote the Hippocratic maxim: first do no harm, well, it's a little more complicated than that, sometimes you have to do it. cause harm to a patient's greater good In medicine, we often think in terms of risk and benefit whenever you choose to undergo a treatment or procedure, ideally the benefits should outweigh the risks or harms. A good example of this would be a cesarean section when we perform a cesarean section on a woman we have to cut several layers of her flesh, it increases the risk of hemorrhage, damage to surrounding organs, pain and lifelong scarring, however, we feel that the benefit saving a baby and mother outweighs the harm it causes to that woman, it's the same way I now view my own food choices, if there is no necessary reason for me to eat animal products then it is worth the harm what it does to animals, humans and the planet.

Is the higher capacity and shorter life cycles this creates worth the pain? And then I wonder what the benefits are, really the temporary pleasure, the convenience of being alive comes with risks and as far as I know we all have a 100% chance of dying at some point. But the good news is that today we can make decisions that reduce the burden of harm and increase our chances of health and longevity, and the answer is simple: a plant-based diet from Whole Foods, and the best part is that it doesn't have to. what to be like that It's all or nothing I'm going to pause here for a collective sigh of relief, okay, so where do you start?

The key is simplicity, you don't have to make it complicated, first of all, what is a whole food, you find a whole food. In its most complete form, as found in nature, the opposite would be a processed food that is physically or chemically altered by grinding or adding ingredients such as salt, sugar, and artificial colors. Some examples would be an apple versus whole apple juice. wheat berries versus white bread or a potato versus French fries and what are the plants that we as humans can enjoy fruits vegetables whole grains beans and nuts and seeds whole plant foods are beneficial because they provide us with fiber, antioxidants and phytochemicals that bathe us all and benefit our entire body, they also provide us with water, they hydrate us and the water combined with fiber produces satiety for healthy weight control and excellent defecation after 32 years of constipation.

Now I'm proud to call myself a super killjoy, so there are some for those who want to take the plunge and opt for 100% plant-based products and I say go for it if you need a resource recommendation, there are cards about to come out. I recommend the 21 Day Vegan Startup online. and it's free for the rest of you, the vast majority I encourage you to start where you feel comfortable and work your way up to at least 75% plant-based if you just want to dive into meatless Monday, what would that look like? your plate how about oatmeal with fruit and nuts for breakfast a veggie and bean burrito for lunch and for dinner a veggie-loaded Holgrave pizza base keep the cheese once you start getting comfortable with one day a week Can you continue incorporating more integers little by little?

Include plant foods in your diet Focus on what you want Add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds instead of stressing about the rest It's not about deprivation It's about abundance Now to get to the finish line of 75%, I recommend two simple approaches: The first is the weekday vegan method where all your meals from Monday to Friday are plant-based so you can be a little more relaxed on the weekends or perhaps the vegan method before 6:00 where all your breakfasts and lunches are plant-based so you can be more flexible for dinner either way, it will significantly reduce the burden of harm and I know you can do this.

I see your faces and there is a question you are undoubtedly asking yourself, so let me address the elephant in the room. How did you know that elephants are the largest land mammal on Earth and they only eat plants? Where will I get my protein? I have one word for you: plants, apples, yes, brown rice, absolutely beans, of course, broccoli. Did you know that broccoli has calories for calories? With the same amount of protein at stake, you will get enough protein by consuming adequate calories from whole plant foods because all whole plant foods contain protein, they do not need to be combined or counted in any special way and remember that, along with protein, all foods Whole vegetables also contain fiber and antioxidants, so it's a win-win if not for the animals then perhaps for your own health and well-being if not for you then for your children if you don't have children than for the planet it doesn't matter why you choose what What's important is that it's meaningful to you Six years ago I chose to continue eating a plant-based diet with my eyes wide open and never looked back, so no, I don't identify as an animal lover, but I do choose to eat a plant . and live a vegan lifestyle because I wholeheartedly want to reduce unnecessary harm to my body, our beautiful planet, and other sentient creatures.

Today I choose

chickpeas

instead of chicken and maybe you can, thanks.