This is a guest blog from Rhonda Jones, VLC, a graduate of the first Main Street Vegan Academy course, who lives in Dallas, Texas. If you’d like to contact Rhonda about her services, her email is [email protected].
After being in the Vegan cocoon for two weeks this summer [the Main Street Vegan Academy course, followed by Vegetarian Summerfest] it was an awakening to get back to the reality of everyday living and people who don’t see the plight of animals that are delicacies on our plate, or eat sugary, greasy foods without a thought. For a while, all I could think was “How can you eat that??” or “Don’t you understand what you are doing to the environment much less the countless number of animals dying so you can have dinner.” But, as I learned at Main Street Vegan Academy and Vegetarian Summerfest, it is better to bite one’s tongue than to blurt out how sickened you are and please get away from me with that hamburger.
But, the upside is that now everyone asks me more questions about nutrition and what they should be eating instead of what they do eat. My neighbor is a physical therapist and every week tells me about her patients that have disorders; now she asks for my ideas. I feel like I went from someone who was thought to be weird to someone whose opinion is now respected and sought after. And, it all started with my certificate from Main Street Vegan Academy and those initials, VLC (Vegan Lifestyle Coach). They elevated me to authoritarian rather than weirdo.
I plan to start my business off in September by holding an 8-week group session. I plan to concentrate on the Vegan diet during this first session and will introduce the other issues later as the participants become more accustomed to the diet and slowly begin to absorb the other elements, environment and animal cruelty and how the issues are so related that it is hard to talk about one and not the others. I plan on doing cooking classes, shopping classes, and want to have an occasional guest speaker so if anyone is coming to Dallas, let me know. This first 8 week session will be a learning experience for me as well as the others involved (I do hope to get some participants) and I hope it will be successful and I can continue. I intend to use the Main Street Vegan book as my guide as I really do think it is the most comprehensive book on the subject that I have read to date. Thank you, Victoria, for writing this inspiring, thoughtful and informative book. I keep it by my bed and refer to it daily.
Since I work for a mobile dental company, I also want to use that in to the nursing homes to help teach the staff how to incorporate more fruits, veggies, nuts and whole grains into the patients’ diets. I want to teach them how to make green smoothies since so many of the nursing home patients have problems eating due to dental problems. I know these patients will never go Vegan but their level of nutrition can be enhanced and that is my goal.
I also want to contact organizations around the area that are always looking for speakers and offer my services. We have some nursing homes that host meetings from time to time and, of course, the Rotary clubs and business clubs are always looking for someone to bring some new topic of conversation to their meetings. I want to use every avenue to get the word out but I do have a pretty demanding job so I have to work within the realm of time that I have. I would like to start blogging and start a website but will pursue that later down the road as things develop. Right now, I feel that I need to sharpen my skills as a speaker and presenter, and as a cook too. No, I am not quitting my day job any time soon but definitely want to spend more time with my passion and that is the Vegan lifestyle.
As for my story, it is not colorful but a bit interesting. My lifelong struggle has always been with my weight. Back when I was young and actually not heavy, I always thought I was huge and perceived myself in that light so was always looking for that quick fix. In the mid 80’s I read the book, Fit for Life, and felt that the philosophy in the book made a lot of sense. To this day, I still eat fruit by itself except for the occasional apple and peanut butter. I tried the diet and, oddly enough, gained weight, so I stopped, of course.
Then, in 1990, I decided to become a vegetarian. Now, I never admitted this to my family but the main reason why I made the decision was because I had read that Paul and Linda McCartney were staunch vegetarians and had been for many years. I thought that was pretty cool so I decided I wanted to be a vegetarian, too, but I still ate fish because I felt I needed that “healthy” fish oil. And I still ate dairy products and probably compensated for the loss of meat with the dairy, eggs and nuts because I gained 20 pounds before I realized it. Yikes! So, I spent 13 years trying to lose that weight to no avail.
In 2004, my doctor advised that I should start eating meat as the vegetarian thing was just not working for me. He was actually heavy into natural medicine and studied Ayurveda religiously. So I basically went on a low carb diet and started back eating meat. And I did lose 20 pounds so I was happy with that.
But after a few years I began to notice that I had heartburn and stomach problems all the time. And terrible constipation. I was so bad that I ended up in the doctor’s office and he started running tests and found that my colon was fine but my stomach was somewhat irritated. He suggested that I start taking fiber capsules. So I began the fiber pills and the constipation got better, but my weight started going up again and I was not happy that I had to take these pills every day. And I did not feel that great.
In 2009, I saw something on Amazon about a new diet book called Skinny Bitch and the little blurb talked about how you could eat and lose weight. Of course, this got my attention so I bought the book and started reading it in the car while my husband was in Home Depot shopping. The book was hysterical but the diet made a lot of sense and when I read about the animals, I announced to my husband that I could never eat meat again. He said “Not even catfish” and I said that I would never eat another living creature after reading that book. That is when I became Vegan and gave up animal products for good.
My husband passed away the next year. I was saddened that I could not convince him to change his diet which might have saved his life. But after I got over the shock of his death and dealing with everything that came with it, I realized that maybe I could save someone else. So, when I got a brochure in the mail about Vegetarian Summerfest last year, I decided to go and learn more about nutrition, environment and animal welfare. It was huge for me to pack up and go to Pennsylvania by myself to attend. I had never made a trip like that before but I was determined to do it and I did and I am glad I did. I met wonderful people there like Victoria. They inspired me and changed my life and I will never miss an opportunity to go back. So, my life has taken new turns and continues to evolve. And, I am very happy about the direction that I am headed.
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