Galia and David Myron enjoy drinks out of fresh coconuts. Plant-based can be so enjoyable!
Galia Myron Tracks Generations As Whole Food, Plant-Based Diets Flourish
Want to know more about the health, food habits, values, preferences, or sex lives of Generations X, Y, or Z? How about Baby Boomers or Matures, women vs. men, or green trends? Galia Myron, publisher of the richly comprehensive site demodirt.com, reports on every aspect of demographics as she both follows and observes a vegan path. She especially enjoys covering trends on plant-based diets, animal rights, environmental issues, and health.
Galia observes that, a few years ago, the fastest growing vegan group was boomer men who were motivated by health considerations. Now she finds more young people choosing animal-free diets for ethical reasons. Marketers are also waking up to vegans as a savvy consumer group and offering products to satisfy animal-free standards.
In corporate America, vegans are modeling their eating choices in low-key ways, showing vegans are not a fringe or marginal group. Their co-workers accommodate these choices in selecting a restaurant for business meetings. While discussing the agenda of the day, business associates of vegans get to observe how easy it is to follow a plant-based diet and have their stereotypes of vegans deflated.
“Veganism is becoming more mainstream across generations, race, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status,” Galia observes. “People are not puzzled when someone says they are vegan. It’s harder for animal industries to hide their cruelty when people can see it on the Internet right away. This is a really good time for veganism, animal rights, and compassion. People of all ages and both sexes can see the benefits.”
One thing people of all generations have in common is that they can all benefit from a whole foods, plant-based diet. This means more healthy years sharing joys with family and friends.
I asked Galia how she became vegan and her experiences with her dietary choice. At age 11, Galia decided to become vegetarian. With a vegetarian mom and meat-eating dad, she thought through her food choices on her own. “I saw chicken on a bone as disgusting, as a corpse. Then I realized hamburger was no different,” Galia tells me. After continuing to consume dairy and eggs through childhood and adolescence, Galia abandoned dairy after reading Skinny Bitch.
By then she was engaged, and her fiancé was transitioning to a vegetarian diet. Galia learned about the cruelty of the egg industry from Farm Sanctuary, and stopped buying and eating eggs that same day. Her fiancé – now husband – decided to join her in a 100% plant-based diet. Their main motivation was and remains ethical. Animal suffering is simply wrong, and they refused to contribute to it.
Health benefits also followed Galia’s transition to a whole foods, plant-based diet. After she gave up dairy, she experienced an immediate energy surge. Then she lost eight pounds in just two weeks. Over twenty more pounds dropped off after that.
Even better, Galia’s chronic acne vanished after she stopped eating dairy (although first it flared up before going away). Her PMS also became shorter and less troubling. “Even my husband noticed,” Galia happily relates. Menstrual cramps became less intense.
Galia loves to cook. She prefers unprocessed, fresh foods she prepares herself. “I eat several times a day, like the not-meals you write about,” Galia relates. She makes hummus, red potatoes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and salads plus many other dishes.
I’m tempted to fly to her house when she tells me how she makes homemade frozen dessert with coconut milk and silken tofu. “I’m sure my diet is more diverse than most people’s, with so many ethnic choices,” she states. She has also discovered a local restaurant that caters vegan party foods that everyone, including omnivores, loves.
Galia and her husband are raising their six-month old daughter, Mirella, on a vegan diet. The baby is and always has been a perfect
Little Mirella Myron is lucky she will experience all the benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet from day one.
weight. The pediatrician has no concerns for her health. The baby has never had an ear infection, and Galia expects a bare minimum of childhood illnesses. The routine bouts of ear infections so many kids experience just don’t have to happen.
I question whether Galia anticipates social challenges as Mirella gets old enough to attend birthday parties and hang out with her friends. Galia points out that allergies are becoming more and more common with kids and other parents have to be mindful and flexible anyway about what they serve to their child’s friends. Being vegan is just another dietary boundary to respect and be open to. She is happy to bring vegan cupcakes and other treats to parties. Galia is matter-of-fact about these social issues and absolutely does not see them as a barrier to her family’s choices.
What values, challenges, and accomplishments will define Mirella’s generation? Galia will be tracking and reporting on this on a daily basis. To the extent she can influence choices and serve as a role model, it will be a vegan path.
Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!
Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on sustainable food choices that can prevent, or even reverse, most chronic disease.
Tags: demodirt.com, demographics, family, Galia Myron, getting healthy, Janice Stanger, lose weight, Plant-based nutrition, vegan, weight loss, whole foods, whole foods plant-based diet
