I’ve always had an overwhelming love and desire to be with other species. I was the child at the park tailing the cats, holding them as snugly as I possibly could while people “d’awww’d” at the sweet blonde toddler with the especially tolerant kitty dangling from her tan, California arms.
I was seven years old when I first became aware of vivisection and animal testing. My mother is a doctor and had drugs, supplements and other bottled miracles peddled to her during her 30 years of practicing medicine. The horror that set in with my mother’s age-appropriate explanation about the very real torture animals endure in laboratories was like a punch to the gut. The terror that I felt for my kin – both near and far – left me feeling desperate and so upset. So it’s no surprise that when I had to deal with some very real, dire health issues of my own, I would look for any possible alternative to utilizing a system that oppresses and kills other species.
When I was diagnosed with failing adrenals, a thyroid that worked about as well as a train stuck in a mudslide and concerns about the health of my brain, I found myself between a rock and a hard place. Common treatments for the type of illness I had to contend with were medication tested on animals, or alternatively homeopathics sourced from pigs. I distinctly remember walking out of my naturopath’s office empty handed that day, my car keys hanging in my calloused hands as I walked outside. The air seemed heavier then, and I contemplated, “What am I going to do?”
Thus began my journey to restoring my health. It was hard. I was already exhausted, but I loaded my metaphorical plate with a daily buffet of to-do’s.
I was dynamic – and still am, but more moderately so – running between work and home to care for my huge animal family of 25+. I was active in rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming work. I was a chairperson for a local nonprofit and helped do all of the hands-on work and fundraising. The thought of my life falling apart because of my health crumbling was devastating, so I literally had to sit down and start asking myself questions: “what am I doing wrong?”, “what am I doing correctly?”, “what can I do more or less of?”, and “what can I do without entirely?”
Since then my life has taken on an entirely different shape than I had imagined it would have, but the path is the same: staying healthy without compromising my ethics and personal values.
With all of that said, I want to share with you my official story by offering you a FREE COPY of my eBook, titled The Elfin Kitchen: Quick & Easy Plant Based Recipes for People in a Hurry. It comes complete with recipes that I have used to help me recover from my health problems and stay healthy, along with my tried-and-true life tips and a more expansive version of the above story.
Some of the recipes are personal favourites, and some of them are put together to help others expand their culinary and health horizons. Enjoy!
<3 Aubrie
