About

Welcome To Purely Nourished!  I am so glad you found me and are reading this! 

So what's this blog all about?

This blog is a real food revival story.
Not only will I be sharing delicious whole food, nutrient rich, heart healthy plant based recipes, but also my experiences in restoring total health. There is a learning curve to changing life long eating habits and also some new cooking techniques to go with it. My focus is to keep it healthy and tasty and hopefully by sharing as I go, it will keep me exploring and discovering new favorites to make up my new food lifestyle. You don't have to be Vegan to like these recipes. If I can inspire someone else to try some new tastes outside of their usual comfort zone, all the better. I'd love to be the catalyst for helping others improve their health. My goal is to be such a success story, you will want to be your own too! ;-)

There are a lot of Vegan, Raw, Vegetarian, and Whole Food blogs out there right now, so how is this blog different?

No question that are some tasty looking recipes and photos out there, but at the end of the day you have to wonder are they really healthy for you? Having recently had some health challenges, I'm focusing on a heart healthy path, meaning there will be little if any salt, sugars, oils (known collectively as S.O.S.), processed food, as well as dropping the animal foods, dairy, and fats.

So what's left you ask?

Fresh whole food will be the focus. Fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, both raw and cooked will be the basis. I am finding that I am indeed sensitive to gluten so most recipes will not include gluten but may include other whole grains in limited amounts.

Since I already have a blog, GettingRAW.com, why start a new one?

It's time for a fresh start! I loved my journey with raw foods and all the recipe creations that went along with it, and plan to continue eating a high raw vegan diet and sharing those recipes here. But I also was not fully committed to that diet full time. At this point if I feel I need to include some high nutrient dense cooked foods to keep me on the path to wellness then I'd like the freedom to do that. I also would like to step it up and leave some of the high fat and sugar raw food goodies behind. There will still be plenty of low fat raw foods on this blog, though. I just want the leeway to explore and this time I am fully committed.

Who are my inspirations for my food beliefs?

Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD

I am a huge fan of Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of the definitive books on health, Eat To Live and Eat For Health, as well as several others. Dr. Fuhrman, who is becoming widely known due to his exposure on shows like Dr. Oz, or documentaries such as Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, or his numerous PBS specials on health, is a no nonsense nutritional research orientated MD. He has been treating patients successfully with nutrition for over 20 years, helping them to not only drop excess weight and some times lots of it, but also get off their medications and leave behind chronic health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, advanced heart disease, auto immune issues etc. You will see a lot of him around here. He is my go-to doctor at this point so I will closely be following his guidelines.

Another great inspiration is Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. from the film Forks Over Knives. In his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure, he shares his now 20 year study at the renown Cleveland Clinic with reversing heart disease in gravely ill patients with a plant based diet. It truly is ground breaking. He has proven that indeed heart disease need never happen with a healthy diet. His son Rip Esselstyn, of the Engine 2 Diet is another favorite of mine.  While Dr. Esselstyn and Dr. Fuhrman disagree on nuts and the amount of grains one should regularly eat, the basic premise of a plant centered low fat diet is the same.

But the doctor who I turn to for understanding of how the body really works and how to best detoxify is Robert Morse ND. If you haven't seen his videos on Youtube or learned about his Herbal Health Club, you should check it out.

Love this man!!

What other things can you look forward to?

Like I said this is a journey, and like any journey it is not one dimensional. There are many ways we can tax our health with lifestyle, especially in our "modern" day and age. Many of our "conveniences" are taking their toll on us. I struggle with severe chemical sensitivities so I'm always looking for ways to remove environmental toxins from my daily life. This includes beauty products, dental care, and of course there is both the spiritual and physical components to health. I also am trying to reestablish my interior design business so it's a delicate balance. You can expect me to share what I learn along the way.

So thanks for reading! I hope you come back and visit here again soon. Please drop me a comment and let me know how I'm doing.

In Love and Health,