A new day, a new outlook

I've always had a love for nature and animals and considered myself fairly sustainable, but it wasn't until a few months ago that I took a genuine interest in looking at my carbon footprint and realised I wasn't as environmentally conscious or as healthy as I thought. 


A few months ago a small group of designers and I decided to participate in a CSIRO Energymark program to learn more about energy, climate change and to find out ways to reduce our impact on the environment. What began as a program to learn more about reducing pollution, water use and improving as a designer, evolved into a strong personal desire to rethink my overall lifestyle and start making changes. I felt like this new information I was discovering was too important to push aside and forget about. 

"Knowledge, without action, is useless.  It's not what you learn, it's what you live."  

Dr Kyla Dillard

Along with this I'm currently midway through studying a Masters of Architecture and was feeling a strong passion for learning as much about sustainable green architecture and design as I could. I discovered architect Michael Reynolds and his documentary, The Garbage Warrior, which promoted eco-architecture and building self-sufficient communities using natural, renewable energies and recycled materials. This was a major turning point for me as an emerging architect and I've decided to base my final university assessment on designing a green building, incorporating the environmental systems and technologies I had been researching.  

Northey St Markets, Brisbane Australia

A healthy fridge!

Now, instead of buying takeaway food, drinking skim milk coffee and even shopping at big major supermarkets, I've recently opted to go to the local organic farmers market and buy most of our groceries from there. As you can see its been a few months in the making, but the reason I'm writing all of this down is because I want to explain exactly why I've decided to live a 'living foods' lifestyle and hopefully inspire others to take a second look at ways to improve their health and the environment. I have to admit I used to think vegans were a little extreme and there was a time where I never would have thought I wouldn't want to eat meat or dairy, but now I feel like it's not as hard, especially when there are so many delicious vegetarian/raw food recipes out there! In saying that its taken me 3 weeks to get off eating meat all together.
I recently purchased a very inspirational book called 'Live RAW' by Mimi Kirk.  

Mimi Kirk

Mimi Kirk is very inspiring at and 73 years of age looks amazing. A vegan for 40 years and only a raw foodie for the last 3 years, Mimi says, "Feeling like you’re in your 20′s at 73, is quite an amazing thing. I accredit this youthful look and spirit not only to my attitude, but really to my way of eating which is a raw vegan – living foods lifestyle... so many people asking my secrets on health and longevity, I thought this was an opportunity to share my life and possibly help others to transition into eating a plant based raw food diet." 


Raw food is about eating 'living food', and to be honest it's a bit of a journey for me so I'm currently researching recipes and more on how I can improve my health and lifestyle. It's about eating food in its most natural and freshest state, uncooked (not cooking it over 40 degrees C) unprocessed and organic. I love to cook and prepare food and plan on being as creative as possible along my raw food journey. Mimi writes, "Raw food is not "rabbit food". Raw food includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts, grains, seaweed, spices, herbs, oils and sweeteners, all in combinations that excite the palate." (Live Raw, 2011 p2)
 

The final catalyst for my change in lifestyle was a documentary called 'Forks Over Knives'. The trailer below is really good, try and watch it if you can as it was so eye-opening and solidifies why a plant-based diet is worth the effort.





Now that I've decided to try a plant-based diet I'm excited to learn more about health and the environmental benefits along the way. I know that there'll be challenges, but I hope this blog helps to share my successes as well as struggles. Please feel free to add any comments below, or tips if you're already a vegan/raw foodie. 


x ~ Arielle