Welcome to Plant-Based Grandma!
Thank you so much for visiting my website; I am so happy to have you here!
A little about myself – my name is Julene, and I am a proud 57-year-old grandma who loves life and her family and is driven to help others find the joy of living a full life.
Growing up in Southern California, I always felt like I needed to be “beach-ready.” You know, always in shape to wear the cutest bikini, have a tan, keep the blonde hair blonde, all that you envision when you think of a California girl.
Unfortunately, I never had a bikini-ready body. And it only got worse after I started having babies. (It doesn’t help that all 3 of my sons weighed over 10 pounds each!) Sufficed to say, I have been on some type of diet since I turned 15.
That is over 40 years of yo-yo dieting! And I’ve tried everything – low carb, keto, paleo, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, intermittent fasting, counting macros, and the list goes on and on and on…
And I had plenty of success losing weight. I bet many of you can relate to this phenomenon – we are the Queens (or Kings) of losing weight, yet the Joker of maintaining the weight loss. Who’s with me on this?
I will say I learned a lot from each different diet. I’ve learned what my body does better with and what my body doesn’t do so well (can we say bread? haha)
I do well with intermittent fasting. It’s the learning what to eat in the eating window that I fall short on.
So, let’s get to the summer of 2023. I started having severe pain in the left side of my abdomen. Knowing that it felt the same as the last time I had a diverticulitis flare-up back in 2018 (except at that time, I needed emergency surgery for a tear), I went to the emergency room.
Eight hours later, they told me I needed to be admitted because there was a small tear again.
After 3 days in the hospital, I decided – finally – that enough was enough. Not eating or drinking anything in the hospital had weaned me off caffeine and all other not-so-good-for-me foods.
After speaking with the surgeon who recommended I have surgery to remove that part of my colon to prevent further diverticulitis flare-ups, I made the choice to do whatever I could to avoid this surgery. Unfortunately, doctors don’t advise much on what to eat to heal your body.
The only thing she could tell me was to avoid red meat.
I decided to go all in and give up all meat. And dairy and go vegan. I started researching veganism and stumbled across an article discussing the difference between veganism and a whole-food, plant-based diet.
This article explained how many “vegans” fall into the trap of still eating crap that was labeled vegan (Oreos, cereals, cheeses, etc.…). I am so grateful that I saw this article because, knowing my history with dieting, I would’ve gone for any food labeled “vegan” and thought I was doing good.
Since I was doing this for my health and to avoid surgery, I really wanted to figure out how to do this healthily.
Not a diet like they always say, but a lifestyle.
So, a whole food, plant-based lifestyle was the way for me.
I was never a big vegetable lover, so learning and experimenting with different veggies has been challenging. However, I have grown so much in my appreciation for the plethora of fruits and vegetables available to us all!
I honestly believe that giving up caffeine and all the other carbonated drinks I drank in multitude every day to only drinking water cleansed my taste buds. Who knew I’d love eggplant and zucchini so much?
I am grateful for the 3 days in the hospital. Even though they were painful, I know I would’ve never changed my diet mentality if it wasn’t for that time. I’d still be stuck in the “dieting to look like a skinny, California beach girl” and never truly being happy with my body.
Now, I wake up every morning with a full heart, grateful that my body is healing. I have lost 25 pounds, which is nice, of course. But the most important thing is that I have not had any more pain in my abdomen.
I wake up with joy, enthusiasm, and so much gratitude that I cannot stop smiling! And I thought, why not try to help others feel this kind of joy? This sense of relief of finally freeing myself of the diet mentality that has governed my life for way too long.
And that is why I started The Plant Based Grandma. I want to encourage others my age (or any age for that matter) to grow past the need to fit in with today’s influencers. To grow past the diet mentality and into eating to be healthy.
To be proud of our bodies and who we’ve become.
So, even though this website is geared towards women (and men) over the age of 50, my hope is to spread joy and love to all who stop by here.
Thank you again for joining me on my healthy journey.
Much love and gratitude always,
Julene
