simple days with bonnie rae

Hi everyone!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about slow, simple, or minimal nutrition.

I was inspired by my local farmer’s market and two documentaries on Netflix.

The first is called Hungry for Change which explores how our bodies are so worthy of good food and love and we are the ones qualified to care for it from the inside out. The second documentary was called GMO, OMG. This documentary was made by a dad who just wanted to know what his children were eating.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know I eat a plant based (vegan) diet. I had been a vegetarian for four years and a vegan for one and I can’t imagine eating any other way.

I eat a vegan diet because to me animals are our equals. Others do so for the planet, for their body, or for the farmer’s trapped in horrific debt by the large meat companies. Whatever the reason it’s a beautiful way to live and I would never go back.

I thought that being vegan and occasionally buying organic and local was enough. I thought that the occasional vegan Taco Bell or ginger-ale was okay, and while it certainly isn’t the worse thing in the world, it’s slowly killing the people in our country.

We tend to blame people who are overweight. We call them lazy, sluggish, inactive or worse. We tell them to eat less, to exercise- we shame them and then expect them to “fix” themselves.

In reality, the problem is that people in the United States are no longer eating food- they are eating food like products. Real food is any food that is not broken down from it’s original form. People today are instead eating chemical ridden, sugar filled, food-like products because companies are filling them with addictive additives.

One very real example of how horrific these food like products can be is diet soda. Did you know that diet soda kills brain cells? When you drink it your brain cells smash together and right before they die that force creates a little thrill you get from drinking the soda. And the companies are telling you that diet soda is better for you, WHEN THEY KNOW IT’S KILLING YOUR CELLS.  (For more on this please watch Hungry for Change, mentioned above.)

I am so saddened by this reality. It hurts my heart. It’s killing the planet and it’s killing people.

Whenever I come up against something that hurts my heart I take action. I thought it was enough to eat vegan but now I know to focus on whole foods such as fruits, veggies, grains, etc. I buy organic, non-GMO, and local. I am not spending any more money than I usually do on groceries I simply meal plan to avoid waste. 

Slow and simple living have allowed me to make this shift so readily. The word “slow” gets a bad rep sometimes. We think of slow as a negative when in reality slow is beautiful.

Because I have slowed down and simplified I am able to think more about what I am putting into my body. I have time to cook and time to look up delicious recipes. I have time to enjoy the local farmer’s market and to learn about what veggies are in season and when.

Before becoming a minimalist I buzzed through life without thought. I still ate organic and “healthy” because my amazing parents have always eaten that way but I was consuming too quickly. I barely tasted my food because I didn’t think about it and I didn’t take time to prepare it. I never would have had time to sit and intentionally watch two food documentaries!

I was too “busy” to slow down and think about one of the most important things- what I use to fuel my body.

Our country spends so much money on beauty products, on diet pills, on coffee, and sport drinks, on medicine. All we really need to do is fix and fuel our amazing, beautiful bodies form the inside out.

If you find yourself exhausted with low energy and never enough time, I understand. I was you for a long time.

You can take a small step toward feeling more alive. Whether it’s watching one of the documentaries mentioned here or just switching to organic tomatoes and potatoes- that is enough. Small changes over time = big change. 

And in my experience the simpler we get, the healthier we get.

More soon,

Bonnie Rae xx