Happy World Vegan Day!

DirecTV, Audience Network, Balasco Productions

Perfect excuse to talk about Kingdom again! Actor Matt Lauria plays Ryan Wheeler, AKA The Destroyer, one of the lead Navy Street fighters. Like fellow actor Jonathan Tucker, when it comes to body and performance, there's no faking it. However, unlike his fellow actors on Kingdom, Matt Lauria is vegan! It's inspiring that he can be vegan while fully transforming his body and building strength. He's a symbol of the power of plants alongside real life athletes in the NBA, NFL, and yes, even MMA. Here's to you, Matt Lauria, for helping to transform the image of vegans everywhere! And here's to vegans taking their impact on the world head-on! Plant strong, everyone!

If you're looking to be inspired to take a vegan path, here's a few options:

DOCUMENTARIES ON NETFLIX
FORKS OVER KNIVES This documentary focuses on the impact processed foods has had on our health including obesity and diabetes.
FOOD INC. This oscar-nominated documentary focuses on the food industry’s harmful effects on our health, our ethics, and the environment.
COWSPIRACY This documentary focuses on how factory farming is decimating the planet’s natural resources and why no one is wiling to talk about it.
GMO OMG This documentary examines the risk of GMOS and follows one father’s search for answers to the question, ‘What are we feeding our families?’ 
FED UP Examining childhood obesity, this documentary actually made my chest hot with anger about how our food system is betraying our children.

PODCASTS
THE RICH ROLL PODCAST is at the helm of keeping me inspired and motivated. His guests of paradigm breakers join him for conversations that average about two hours. They’re all fascinating, educational and surprisingly calming. The story of his journey, Finding Ultra, was the catalyst. He narrates the Audible version of his book and has just released a new cookbook and lifestyle manifesto with his wife Julie Piatt, The Plant Power Way.

SITES
THE FOOD BABE A guest of the RRP, Vani Hari is the Food Babe who investigates the harmful ingredients in our food and fearlessly stands up to the big corporations to affect change. She has gathered an amazing wealth of knowledge to share.
FULLY RAW KRISTINA A guest of the RRP, Kristina Carillo-Bucaram believes in the power of beautifully, colorful and alive – not cooked – food. I should have gotten down with her a long time ago - would have saved me from many, many kitchen disasters. In addition to a ton of recipe videos, she also runs the Rawfully Organic Co-Op in Houston, adding one, big mark to the PROs list should I ever want to move to Houston.
GENTLE BARN Founded 17 years ago to give sanctuary to animals who have been rescued from the food industry including cows, horse, chickens, turkeys, pigs and more. There are two locations, one near LA in California, and one in Tennesse. On Sundays, the farm is open to the public. During the week, the farm is open for groups helping abused and troubled children. The animals have inspiring and heartbreaking stories and the children can't help but relate. They get to see that while the animals had a hard life, they were able to get past the bad. It's inspiring to visit, and like founder Ellie says, life is better when you hug a cow. She encourages all visitors to do so as well! So get out there and hug a cow!

The Season of Reinvention

Buena Vista Home Entertainment Disney–ABC Domestic Television, Warner Bros. Television Distribution, 20th Century Fox Television

Finally headlong into Fall TV, I’m inspired by this season of reinvention – from Meredith Grey dusting herself off, to Damon going solo, to Ryan Murphy shaking off Glee. And I’ve been working on a reinvention of my own.

Does reinvention require a new Meredith Grey haircut? No. Unfortunately, it also comes without an Alexandra Parsavas soundtrack nor swift time jump. How I would LOVE a swift time jump. Mine has been slow, and much less glamorous. My season cliff-hanger was to Rx or not to Rx. Fans were stunned. I decided, however, that I needed to take the chemicals away, not add more. I decided, the chemicals in my food may be having an effect on the chemicals in my brain. With the threat of the Rx closing in, I decided to go vegan.

I wish my reinvention looked like this: Scream Queen’s Hester ditching her back-brace for a glamorous KKT insta-makeover, forevermore known as Chanel #6. Stepping down the staircase of the sorority house, the newly dubbed Chanel #6 glittered with grace, stunning her fellow pledges and sisters, all to a kicky, ‘80s new-wave soundtrack.

Instead, my reinvention looks like this: Felicity and crew cramming for finals in Season 1, with Noel on the verge of a beet-induced breakdown, all to the merriest-making holiday album ever, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas. Sans cocktail-worthy soundtrack, my cram session includes studying menus, wandering farmers markets, breaking up with coffee and dabbling in meditation. With food as an integral part of culture, going vegan is a significant, emotional change. It affects nearly every choice throughout the day and becomes a hotbed for conversations and questions among friends, family and even strangers. It's actually a good exercise in standing up for myself. But with no grand Chanel #6 staircase reveal moment, I had to find other ways to motivate. Fortunately, the resources and motivation are out there. This collection also proves that just as I can fangirl Must-See TV, I can also fangirl these vegan-fueled champions:

•   RICH ROLL is at the helm of keeping me inspired and motivated. His guests of paradigm breakers join him for conversations that average about two hours. They're all fascinating, educational and surprisingly calming. The story of his journey, Finding Ultra, was the catalyst. He narrates the Audible version of his book and has just released a new cookbook and lifestyle manifesto with his wife Julie Piatt, The Plant Power Way.

•   THE FOOD BABE A guest of the RRP, Vani Hari is the Food Babe who investigates the harmful ingredients in our food and fearlessly stands up to the big corporations to affect change. She has gathered an amazing wealth of knowledge to share.

•   FULLY RAW KRISTINA A guest of the RRP, Kristina Carillo-Bucaram believes in the power of beautifully, colorful and alive – not cooked – food. I should have gotten down with her a long time ago - would have saved me from many, many kitchen disasters. In addition to a ton of recipe videos, she also runs the Rawfully Organic Co-Op in Houston, adding one, big mark to the PROs list should I ever want to move to Houston.

•   HEADSPACE APP It's founder was also a guest on the RRP. How does one meditate? By taking the 10 minutes for 10 days challenge. I'm up to 20 but have recently stumbled. Plus I keep asking myself, am I doing this right? I guess like making the shift in food, you just have to have faith and pick yourself back up.

• DOCUMENTARIES ON NETFLIX Thank you Netflix for helping to keep me inspired, motivated and informed. Here's a few that I found particularly impactful in my explorations:
FORKS OVER KNIVES This documentary focuses on the impact processed foods has had on our health including obesity and diabetes.
FOOD INC. This oscar-nominated documentary focuses on the food industry's harmful effects on our health, our ethics, and the environment.
COWSPIRACY This documentary focuses on how factory farming is decimating the planet's natural resources and why no one is wiling to talk about it.
GMO OMG This documentary examines the risk of GMOS and follows one father's search for answers to the question, 'What are we feeding our families?' 
FED UP Examining childhood obesity, this documentary actually made my chest hot with anger about how our food system is betraying our children.

Without these amazing resources, my reinvention progress would look like this: Vampire Diaries’ Damon Salvatore day-drinking for the next twenty-two thousand days, give or take. Though my beverage, my vice of choice, would be coffee. Maybe Irish coffee.

I started this journey in the battle for my brain, and that is still my top motivation, but everyday, I continue to realize that going vegan is a greater call to action and it represents the person I am and want to be. When it comes to animals, our fellow occupants, I am a compassionate person and when it comes to our environment, I want to know I did everything I could to support the earth, not just watch our home and land deteriorate.

Mother of Reinvention: Madonna has made a career out of reinvention. But there's another trailblazer who deserves recognition in this conversation, Lisa Simpson. After 27 seasons of setting off the 'Independent Thought Alarm', Lisa Simpson, bucking Homer and the rest of her family to go vegetarian, has been leading her own charge. She proved you can go your own way no matter how long the previous path has been paved. At 4’5, Lisa Simpson stands pretty damn tall and is inspiring me to stand even taller.