A Testimonial From PlantPure Challenge Winners Mark & Jacqui Russett

Three years ago, Mark and I decided to live a plant-based lifestyle… and we did it overnight. We are so passionate about what we have learned, that we want to do our part in spreading this information. This is why we started Plant-Based University (http://www.plant-baseduniversity.com). Our hope is to help those who wish to learn and transition into the plant-based lifestyle.

But let’s rewind…for many years, we thought we were “eating right”. We had cut out all red meat – eating only chicken breast and ground white turkey meat. We stuck to skim milk and low fat yogurts. We ate wheat pasta and pizza with low-fat cheese. We ate lots of salad with low-fat dressings. But as we aged, and I headed into menopause, we were constantly tired and saw the pounds creep up.

We were always watching what we ate all day…counting fat grams and calories. And then we would step on the scale and wonder why we gained or stayed the same. Talk about frustrating! Little did we know that “diet” or “low fat” was actually worse for our health because of added salt and chemicals.

Then one day, we were scanning Netflix and came across “Forks Over Knives”. As we watched that documentary, our eyes were opened. We looked at each other and decided that from that moment on, we would no longer eat meat and dairy.

We wanted to learn as much as we could, so we watched other documentaries and researched the topic of the plant-based diet. We did not know that when you eat a whole food, plant-based diet you…

• lose weight

• feel better and have more energy

• can prevent and reverse chronic health conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure

• take fewer medicines

Questions kept popping up…Why isn’t this information more mainstream? How did I not know this?? As we watched more documentaries and read more articles, frustration turned into anger…especially after finding out that Big Pharma, our government, the dairy and meat industries (to name a few) were lobbying to prevent this info from getting out into the public because it would hurt their bottom line.

We were floored that this info was not shared or discussed….especially in the doctors office. Our family medical histories include diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Instead of discussing dietary changes to reverse these issues, our family members take tons of pills to “control” it. We did not want that to be our future.

We are so glad we made the decision to change our way of eating. In the three years of living a plant-based lifestyle, many great things have occurred:

We feel great! No more draggy feelings after lunch…no more afternoon coffee. We have so much more energy.

• we have lost weight

• I have stopped allergy shots and no longer take a daily antihistamine.

• I have stopped taking meloxicam – an anti-inflammatory for back pain

• Mark no longer takes medicine for high triglycerides

• we no longer have heartburn or constipation

• our blood results are “pristine”

• food is no longer boring! We have discovered SO many new plant-based foods

• we have learned more about how our choices impact the environment.

• we no longer support factory farming and the unnecessary killing of animals for food.

• we have a new found love for cooking

We have so many ideas that we can’t wait to explore!

Mark & Jacqui Russett