When I was in high school, I was very active in running sports. I did cross country all four years and track & field the first two years. In cross country, we ran 3.1 miles. Back in 2006 during my freshman year in high school, my diet was nothing to be proud of. I ate fast food almost every day, as well as chips, candy bars and cereal all the time. The varsity team consisted of seven spots that only the fastest on our team could fill as long as as their time was under 20.00 minutes. Everyone else was on JV. Due to my eating habits, I was between the middle and end of JV. Even though I was the fastest freshman, my coach told me something that to this day I’ll never forget. “If you would stop eating so much candy and crap food, you would be a much better athlete”.

My sophomore year, I decided to take his advice. I limited fast food to once a month, and I stopped drinking all soda and eating candy bars. My fastest 3 mile time dropped almost 4 minutes and I went from being towards the end of JV to being the only sophomore on varsity. There were juniors and seniors who were fast enough to be on varsity but had to run JV because my time was faster. Ever since then, I saw the value of how your diet directly affects success in any undertaking. Although I realized this at a young age, we all realize this sooner or later. After hearing about the vegan concept from Dr Sebi, I decided to study it myself.

Upon my research, I saw the best diet we have available to use is a plant based diet. April 2012 is when I completely switched to a vegan diet. Even though my research confirmed this, I was surprised at how my energy levels improved and my athletic ability remained the same and even improved later! There’s a lot of misinformation out there that people run into that discourages them from making the needed lifestyle change to live an abundant life. I would find myself sad when I would go to family social events and saw my cousins getting more unhealthy year after year while I remained the same. That’s when I decide to be vocal and educate people about the factors shaping their health.

Where am I today?

Today I’m a consultant in the health and wellness field. I assist people in hitting health, weight and energy goals. Now more than ever, it’s important to have mentorship when making changes to your lifestyle. I didn’t have that when I first started so I see it as my duty to be that figure that can show someone how to get from point A to B because I’ve been through it. It is my mission to provide the context and information to people so that we can both increase the quality of lives and stave off illness before it comes knocking.

The Veggie Outers

I also started a local meetup group in the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth area) called The Veggie Outers. While it’s optimal to have a 100% vegan diet, at minimum we should be seeking to even out the percentage (60/40, 70/30, 20/80 etc) of food we eat by making some of it plant based. And while we make attempts to make changes individually, we do best when surrounded by a community (others that are seeking the same as you). At the Veggie Outers, we host and participate in events involving adding longevity to your health while recognizing the place and value veganism plays in it, hence we call ourselves Veggie Outers! This includes but is not limited to: going to vegan or vegan friendly restaurants, athletic events (such as 5k runs), sports, vegan cooking demos or classes, and vegan events. Many people are curious or intrigued about the vegan lifestyle, but don’t know where to start. If you’re in the DFW or want to learn more about veganism, look us up!