Welcome to the 30 Day New Year SWA/JWA Kick Start Challenge

I don’t know about you, but I love resolutions. I even get excited about Mondays because it’s a new start. Needless to say, New Year’s resolutions are my absolute favourite resolutions.

Many people consider making a switch to a healthier lifestyle in the New Year. We’ve been stuffing our faces over Christmas, we feel really bloated and if you are anything like me, a bit regretful. You might have one of many reasons for wanting to make some changes to your lifestyle.

1. Perhaps over recent years you have put on a bit more weight than you wanted to. You work long, hard hours and might not be able to make the best choices diet wise and exercise wise. Perhaps this makes you feel less than fantastic and you want to try a different way of living.

2. You might be suffering from a ‘disease of civilisation‘. Perhaps your doctor has diagnosed you with high cholesterol or diabetes. Maybe, he or she has told you that you need to make some changes for your health.

If you belong to one of these two groups of people, you might want to consider reading on.

I am suggesting that those people who are interested at JWA and SWA come together to have a go at making a big lifestyle change for 30 days. One which may seem like a month of deprivation at the start but I can assure you it isn’t.

If you decide to join me on this 30 day challenge, you will perhaps discover a different way of eating that might one day save your life. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it? Stay with me.

So… What is this challenge? Well, I am suggesting that those that sign up will join me in a low calorie and high nutrient density wholefoods plant-based diet for 30 days. That means, no meat, fish, chicken, eggs, honey or dairy. It also means limiting the amount of refined oils and grains and basically eating food that nourishes us and helps protect us from disease and also helps us lose weight and see if it makes any difference to how we feel.

“Hang on a minute” I hear you thinking. “This sounds like a vegan diet to me. I have no intention of becoming vegan. I could never give up cheese”

To that I, say; yes. Essentially it is a vegan diet. In the spirit of full-disclosure, I am vegan and I follow a plant-based diet and I would also love it if everyone became veg. I became vegan two and a half years ago and I did it for the animals, however, the more reading I did, I discovered that not only does this choice help a lot of animals and the environment, yet it was also incredibly healthy*.

(*as long as you eat a whole foods balanced diet, there are plenty of vegans out there who only eat French fries and are not especially healthy and this is certainly not what I am talking about here).

I like to think I am one of those people who are able to separate their emotions and ethics from the scientific evidence that shows that this way of eating is much better for our health.The fact is that these days, even our governmental dietetic organizations, now state in their literature that a balanced vegan diet will not only provide us with all the nutrients we need but will also lower our risk of many diseases that are responsible for our current health care crisis. Here’s America’s position just as a start. It states that anyone can do it at any time of life. Old, young, pregnant? It doesn’t matter. It just means that you need to be balanced. You need to be eating a wide variety of whole plant-based food and you get pretty much everything you need without any of the stuff that causes health problems. I know that some of you are probably thinking that this all sounds like a lot of work but have a think about what you ate today. Did all of your meals this week look like this? If not all of them did, did you ‘catch up’ on your serves of vegetables and fibre at other meals so that overall you ate what was needed? If you didn’t, chances are you are not following government guidelines of healthy eating, therefore you are putting yourself at risk from those lifestyle diseases. There are plenty of nutrients you can be lacking as a meat-eater or vegetarian. We ALL need to be following a balanced diet no matter what kind of diet we have. We just need to look at all the disease that are killing people to know that the standard diet of animal protein and highly processed foods is not doing our health any favours.

If the idea of a plant-based diet is just too hideous to even contemplate (I know you are all thinking that you could never give up cheese), then please keep an open mind. Chances are you have never been exposed to the delicious plant-based foods that are around these days. Vegheads DO NOT just eat sprouts and lettuce and are not weak and pasty. Their lives are not depressingly full of deprivation, yet one of abundance. I won’t lie to you, there is a learning curve, but once you have climbed that initial steep part of the learning curve, it gets easier and easier. I mean, if I decide to take up any new skill, let’s say knitting, is it knitting’s fault that I don’t know how to pick up a dropped stitch or cast on? No, I just am unfamiliar and have not yet practiced that skill much. Give me a bit of time and perseverance and I’ll be knitting cable jumpers in no time at all.

Even little old meeats an incredibly varied and delicious diet and I get stronger and stronger and feel younger and younger the more I eat these foods (and work out of course) and there are plenty of amazing athletes like Scott Jurek and Brendon Brazier who eat a plant-based diet. These guys would not be able reach the top of their field if they were not eating properly would they? All I ask is that you remain open. If we close our minds to other ways of doing things, then how can we grow as human beings?

So why is a plant-based whole food diet so amazing for weight-loss and getting healthier? Well there’s a lot to say, which is why if you decide to find out more, you will have to do some reading, listening and watching. It will take a while to plough through it all, so don’t leave it to the last minute. Think of this as part of a journey. One that might change / save your life.

For those that are interested in finding out more, this is what you will need to go to the location of the resources on the server and download them from the server on to your computer so you can have access to them. To find the location, please head on over to the Public Folder on the server and you will find a blue folder with 30 day veg plan and copy them on to your computer.

So, on the server you will find a number of things. Please watch, read and listen in the following order.

1. Watch Forks Over Knives. This film will introduce you to some of the health benefits of eating this way and may be a source of inspiration. (if you can’t watch it on your computer, ask the IQ bar why. I find using VLC the best media player for this film) . Another fantastic resource is to watch this 1 hour CNN special on how heart attacks could become a thing of the past.

2. Read the documentation on the pages document that I have put together for you. It will give you links to more amazing resources (that you MUST read before you start in January), sample menus, links to recipe blogs, cookbook suggestions etc.

3. A number of recipes I have put together for you. I have chosen these recipes with our Indonesian context in mind. There are no impossible-to-get ingredients, you don’t need an oven and they are all recipes that are easy to make after school or can be made in bulk and reheated over the week.

4. A set of podcasts which will introduce you to new foods and ways of cooking them. Some will also explain in more detail some of the health problems. They are created by one of my plant-eating heroes and she is an animal activist. While the introductions may be of an animal ethics related stance, the actual content is about health and information about cooking more healthily and she is an excellent communicator. I’m not trying to convert you, just trying to give you information that certainly helped me.

5. A copy of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. It is a work out DVD for those people who want to encompass exercise in to their New Year’s goals too, yet perhaps do not want to go to the gym or it’s too hot outside. It’s designed for complete beginners (and not so complete beginners) and the idea is that you complete a level every day for 10 days, it is only 25 minutes long and girls and guys can do it. It was this DVD that finally got me working out on a regular basis. As you can see, it is incredibly popular on Amazon and for good reason. It is really fabulous.

Feeling overwhelmed with information? It’s true. There is a lot of info to get through, but in my life, I have found time and time again that I need information and inspiration in order to make change happen in my life. Perhaps you need the same and perhaps these tools will help you achieve your goals.

When you’ve got through all that, you can email me to ask to be invited to the Facebook group for this challenge. It is on this group you will receive invitations to events, be able to ask questions, have discussions, feel part of a supported group and share the results of your weigh-ins (optional of course).

So, when is all this going to start?

We are going to start on Monday the 16th of January. That’s a week after we get back from the holidays. This gives you plenty of time to plough through the literature and buy any resources, have any medical tests you need between now and the holidays and time get over the jetlag and settle back in to school. Our first event will be a meetup at one of the expat supermarkets in the 15th of January to introduce you to ingredients that you might not be familiar with and I can advise you. I know Kemchicks and Ranch are expensive supermarkets, but you don’t have to buy everything there. Instead, buy there what you can’t get elsewhere and then get the rest at Giant or Pasar Modern.

I also intend to run a number of other events over the course of the 30 days. These include but not limited to:

Kitchen gadgets – what you need and what would be nice. (at my house)
Saving time in the kitchen – make soups and salads in bulk ahead of time. (at my house)
How to make low fat treats cooking class. (at my house)
Eating out on a wholefoods, plant based diet. (at a restaurant)
Introduction to tofu and tempeh cooking class (at my house)
A potluck (bring a dish) dinner (at someone else’s house perhaps?)

Well, that is certainly enough from me for now. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me or drop by my room. I hope you’ll join me in January for a fantastic journey.