Episode 108: Plant-Based Eating with Carleigh Bodrug

Feb 17

Euphoric is about so much more than just quitting a beverage. We are here to uplevel in all ways: health, wellbeing, and personal development. Which is why I’m so excited to talk about food too. Carleigh Bodrug is the founder of the popular food blog and social community Plant You and also the author of a newly released cookbook: Plant You. In today’s episode, she explains what it means to have a plant-based lifestyle and how to nourish your body well by incorporating more plants. Getting rid of the all or nothing mentality, Caleigh shares some fantastic tips for healthy eating practices by making slight shifts and swaps to your diet. You don’t need to be 100% vegan to give your body the gift of vibrant and satisfying food.

Karolina’s new book Euphoric: Ditch Alcohol and Gain a Happier, More Confident You has been on bookshelves for over a month now! Help spread the word so others know about the life changing opportunity! Buy the book, share the book, and tell your friends. And be sure to leave a review on Amazon so others can find it. We so appreciate you helping everyone have access to this knowledge and opportunity!

Why a meat-eater becomes a vegan

Raised on a farm in Canada, Carleigh grew up with meat at the center of her plate and a glass of milk with every dinner. Going off to college, her stable foods were frozen pizzas and pre-made meals. After finishing university, the World Health Organization released new information labeling processed and red meat as class two carcinogens.

This news shocked Carleigh, as her father had undergone surgery and treatment for colon cancer when she was younger, and upon recovery, returned to the same diet, which quite possibly contributed to his illness.

Becoming curious and motivated, Carleigh looked to specialists in plant-based diets including Dr. Michael Greger and Dr. Joel Furman for more information. After spending time researching and seeing a clear indication of its positive impact, she shifted her own dietary choices.

Carleigh quite rapidly experienced improved digestion, increased energy, and full satiation without weight gain. She adopted a vegan diet and this new way of nourishing herself then led to an Instagram account and ultimately her business today.

Remember, making lifestyle choices, like going vegan or alcohol-free is about way more than a beverage or what you eat. It’s about transformation, getting curious, and inviting yourself into ways of being that support you in living your best life.

Carleigh's story embodies this idea so well. Caring well for your body may not mean going vegan like she did. Just get curious. Start by incorporating one delicious, plant-based meal into your day. Incorporating more plants and vegetables into your routine is a beautiful way to honor and care for your body.

The power of eating plant-based

Our culture is overwhelmed by all different types of diet trends and claims about what foods are best for our bodies, but research shows us that incorporating more plant-based foods into our diets leads to positive health outcomes.

I love Carleigh’s approach to plant-based eating because her goal is not about offending anyone else’s lifestyle. It is about encouraging people to really take stock in how they feed themselves and where they could incorporate more produce into their lives.

People often explore a plant-based lifestyle for health reasons. That’s how I started. But as Carleigh points out, this often leads to opening Pandora’s Box behind other reasons to eat plants, like the environment or animal welfare. It’s mind blowing to learn about animal agriculture and the traumatic lives that factory farm animals endure.

So if you’re reading this and thinking “okay, I’m ready to explore this!”, where do you even start?

Here are a few helpful tips from Carleigh:

Identify Your Why

What is your reason or curiosity? Explore your motivation to explore a plant-based lifestyle. This will help keep you going.

Discover Simple Swaps

Take an audit of what you typically eat in a week and notice where simple plant-based swaps can be made. Could you try swapping whole milk for a delicious oat or nut-based milk? How about coconut creamer in your coffee?

Ease Into Bigger Swaps

Replace a meat dish with a substitute such as lentils or veggie grounds.

Another approach may be to slowly fade out some of your go-to staples. Start with eliminating red meat, then white, followed by fish and lastly dairy. This can be done over a 6 month or 1 year time frame. Navigating these changes slowly and with intention will minimize the overwhelm and increase your knowledge and confidence in plant-based eating.

Making small shifts will slowly increase the recipes and skills you have as you slowly transition, too!

Navigating the plant-based world

Calling herself a home cook, and not a chef, Carleigh lets her creativity in the kitchen shine by sharing simple recipes on Instagram that anyone can make. She now has her own cookbook called Plant You, filled with 140 simple plant-based recipes, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, and desserts.

Her approach to going plant-based is similar to how I encourage my clients to view ditching alcohol. Instead of having the perspective of deprivation, use a lens of abundance.

Navigating new experiences might present the occasional challenge. But if you go out to eat with friends and want to have sushi once a month, that’s totally okay! It also has become much more common in restaurants to have a plant-based option available.

We often fear taking on any label or identity, whether it's “sober” or “vegan” because it's like there's a forever quality to it. Remember, you’re choosing to be on this path to improve your health, or the welfare of animals or the environment, and your wellbeing.

“When you start delving into the world of nutrition, it's very consistent that including more vegetables, whole grains and fiber in your diet leads to positive health outcomes.” Carleigh Bodrug

“From an environmental perspective, from the animal perspective, those two reasons alone, in my opinion, are compelling enough to start looking at reducing your animal product consumption. And then health is obviously the biggest bonus.” Carleigh Bodrug

LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED

Check out Carleigh at her Website and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube!

Carleigh’s new cookbook Plant You is now available. Get your copy and dig into her simple and easy plant-based recipes.

Karolina’s book is available in hardcover, Kindle, and as an audiobook! Be sure to get your copy of Euphoric: Ditch Alcohol and Gain a Happier, More Confident You today and leave your review.

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