Lettuce Grow a Beautiful World!

What an amazing experience I just had attending the Main Street Vegan Academy. It was a very busy week packed with inspiring speakers, cooking demos, field trips and tons of learning! Just a few of the many things we learned include; the many health benefits of a plant-based diet, how to thrive as a healthy vegan, holistic health principles, cool up and coming vegan products, fundamentals of animal rights, the environmental impacts of animal agriculture and how to lead a cruelty free and more sustainable lifestyle. As attendees my classmates and I completed the course all inspired and confident to go out and make the world a better place.

So what is a Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator (VLCE) you may ask??? (From the Main Street Vegan Academy website)

As a Main Street Vegan® Lifestyle Coach & Educator I am a practicing vegan who is certified to coach, counsel and educate individuals and groups in adopting this health-promoting and compassionate way of eating and being in the world. As a Main Street Vegan-certified VLCE, I am qualified to help clients and audiences go vegan, stay vegan, feel terrific, and be part of the wonderful ripple effect that’s saving the lives of people and animals, and helping heal the planet. What could be better???? Can’t think of much.

Some of our speakers included:

Fran Costigan, noted vegan baker and author of Vegan Chocolate and others; Marty Davey, MS, RD, LDN, “La Diva Dietitian!” teaching “Vegan Nutrition 101″ and “Nutrition’s Greatest Hits: Eating Well Througout the Life Cycle”; Michael Parrish DuDell, a business development whiz; JL Fields, VLCE, blogger, corporate wellness coach, co-author of Vegan for Her; Jennifer Gannet, JD, VLCE, an expert on working with mixed and transitional families; Joshua Katcher, founder of TheDiserningBrute.com and designer for BraveGentleMan, who presented a fascinating presentation on animal use in fashion and their alternatives; Victoria Moran, HHC, AADP, VLCE, author of Main Street Vegan, The Love-Powered Diet, and Creating a Charmed Life and founder/director of Main St. Vegan Academy; Robert Notter, HHC, AADP, the “coach’s coach,”; Robert Ostfeld, M.D., MSc., FACC, director, Cardiac Wellness Program, associate professor of clinical medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY; Sharon Nazarian, VLCE, Manhattan-based vegan blogger; and quite possibly the most important speakers in my eyes that are using social media to change the world for animals Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan, JD, co-founders of OurHenHouse.org. Check out their website and become member of the flock. It was line up of fantastic speakers!!!

I think the biggest things that I took home from the course that I would like to share with readers is that you really can turn your passions into your career and have a very successful and rewarding profession. All of the speakers listed above have done just that. They are all dedicated to helping their communities thrive and have made some amazing strides for human health, environmental health and animal rights. It does take some work but they all seem very happy and extremely devoted to their work. Some things to consider…. what are you good at? who do you want to help? where is there a demand for your skills? Then find a program that will help you achieve this.

Below are a few pics from our adventures in the city and in the classroom. The attendees came to New York City from all over the world and Victoria was an incredibly gracious and knowledgeable teacher. This was quite possibly one of the greatest experiences of my life and I now know that I CAN help Grow a Beautiful World.

A pic of my fabulous and healthy vegan classmates 🙂

The wonderful Victoria Moran and showing us the proper way to put on a cooking demo. And making us some very tasty juices and smoothies 🙂

My new friend Sean posing in front of the neatest shop Sustainable NYC, where they sell all things sustainable (obviously).

This is a turtle that someone designed using recycled six-pack holders inside Sustainable NYC! Genius!!

Purses and wallets made all from recycled materials; candy bar wrappers, rice sacks, bicycle tire tubes.

Bowls made from old, used records.

More bags made from recycled bike tire tubes.

Next we were off to High Vibe, a really fun shop packed with just about every product you could ever think of to stay healthy. The mission of High Vibe is to help customers meet their goals regarding health, fitness and beauty. They give expert advice on raw foods, detox diets and supplements. You can also order through High Vibe website.

Some raw snacks that got to sample. OMG, they were amazing!!!

They offer some amazing products including; healthy foods, powders, teas, herbs, supplements, lotions, cosmetics, books.

This is the owner Bob Dagger and Victoria telling us a little about his impressive collection of books on holistic health and healing.

Dual Speciality Store, a discount shop where you can find a wide variety of foods, spices and herbs.

An example of the beautiful beans you can find in Dual Speciality, I will definitely be back here!

Next, on to MooShoes, quite possibly one of the best places to purchase cruelty free shoes. You can also find them online.

They sell both men’s and women’s shoes, so many styles and colors. Most are truly beautiful!

I am Vegan For a Better World, my bag even says so! It was a great day.

We ended our day with a visit to Vaute Couture. Above is just one of the amazing cruelty-free jackets they make and sell in NYC. Many of these products are made from recycled products. They also sell these fabulous jackets and other clothes on their website and they are sooooooo worth it!

Vaute Couture also sells a variety of other clothes; the cutest skirts, pants and shirts. Both men’s and women’s and even clothes for doggies 🙂

Even shoes made from recycled candy bar wrappers!!!!

This is Fran Costigan, one of our fabulous speakers teaching us how to give a food demo. And she made us the most heavenly truffles and vegan chocolate cake!! Thanks Fran!

Fran is the author of numerous vegan cookbooks, including this one, Vegan Chocolate.

And finally…. I cannot even begin to tell you how well we ate, so I will  just show you. Everyday we had something new and amazing, either something that was prepared for us or something from one of the abundant Vegan restaurants in New York City.

Can you believe this is fake chicken breast? I had it served with Vegan mac and cheese with seasoned veggies from Seasoned Vegan. So delicious!!!

Raw Lasagna from Seasoned Vegan. Yum!

This is me with two of my heros and some of the most successful professional vegans and holistic health experts in the biz, Victoria Moran and JL Fields. I am so incredibly blessed to be mentored by these two lovely ladies.

Here I am with my certificate, whew! It was some work but well worth it 🙂