A few months ago, my 23 year old daughter and her friend came into my home office and said, “Mom, we want you to watch this video.”  Little did I know it was a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) video which showed the inhumane practices at the slaughter houses including the cruelty, suffering and filthy conditions, not to mention the fecal contamination, of cows, chickens and pigs (a.k.a. burgers, steak, chicken breast, bacon, hot dogs, etc.).

I guess it’s easy not to make the connection (Cow/Filet Mignon; Chicken/Chicken Breast; Pig/Hot Dog) when you don’t have to “see” the process, but once you see that, it’s impossible to “remove” that visual from your mind.

So I became a “vegetarian” along with my daughter for about 3 weeks.  Then I slipped one day out of “habit” and ordered something with sausage in it. 

Consequently, I went back to my unconscious and habitual eating of meat…until this past Saturday.

As fate would have it, I was at a daylong writing seminar with my friend, mentor and author of over a dozen fiction and non-fiction books, Marita Golden.  (To learn more about Marita, you can visit her website at:  http://www.maritagolden.com/   It was a writing seminar for women and Marita had a panel of speakers for the day. 

One of the speakers was the amazing Tracye Lynn McQuirter, MPH, who, by the way, looks much younger than she is…a result of healthy eating and living.  Tracye is a Nutritionist and Vegan of 20 years.  She was there to teach us about using “social media” to promote our books, but I ended up purchasing her book “By Any Greens Necessary” and I highly recommend that you go to Amazon and purchase a copy for yourself. 

Although the subtitle of the book is:  “A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight and Look Phat” (and I am not Black) I was very interested in the topic and wanted to see what Tracye had to say about it.

Wow!  Was I in for an education.  Tracye has been a vegan for 20 years as I said, so she walks the talk.  Her depth of knowledge and ability to go into detail was another wake up call for me.

We are always evolving (hopefully) and it was Abraham Lincoln who once said “I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”  And as Oprah is always saying, “When you know better you do better.”

Changing and growing is part of our evolution as we gain more knowledge, wisdom and experience.  I know I want to be healthier and live a long, pain-free, active life.  In order to do that, the biggest components of that lifestyle are nutrition and exercise. 

I’ve got the excercise thing down, but the nutrition part I am still working on.  After reading Tracye’s book, I have a different outlook on what I will (and will not) put into my body.  After all, my body is a temple and so is yours.

I’m not trying to convince you to become a vegan, but I am suggesting you do the research on your own, look at the goals you have for your health, and then make that decision with an informed mind.

If you want to learn more about the inspirational Tracye Lynn McQuirter, then please visit her website at:  http://byanygreensnecessary.com/

Here’s a quote from Tracye’s book: 

“Since becoming a vegan I’ve also gained greater clarity and purpose, and I’ve taken up yoga to deepen my self-discovery.  I’ve become more attuned to how my body functions by observing how it responds to different foods…”

Now, you  may be wondering…okay, great Michelle, but what does eating a Vegan Diet have to do with Wealth?

Glad you asked.

Research was done at the National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, where they followed 936 healthy women for 5 years.  After the 5 years, all of the women who earned over $100,000 were still alive and free from heart disease, however, only 78% of the ladies who earned less than $20,000 annually were still alive.