This episode feature's Julie's personal transformation story on her path to being vegan. Julie was born in India to a vegetarian family, and when they moved to the US, she started to feel the difference in her body as her diet assimilated to the standard American diet. She gained weight and suffered from fibroid issues. Her new American life has changed her diet, but she knew her truth is different. Now, she lives in LA and runs E-Live, which is a vegan food brand which thrives to supply people with nutritious, healthy and organic food products.
To learn more about E-Live and check out our vegan and organic products, please go to our website:
https://elivefood.com/
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We have a great speaker and I'm going to just introduce her right now to you. She encourages her clients to attend carnivores anonymous meetings for compassionate support while transitioning to veganism. Julie is a vegan entrepreneur who owns Ely food, which provides plant based products, recipes and nutritional consulting for individuals restaurants and corporations. julis path is one of the wounded healer. That's a very that's a term that I love. I you know, because she really knows what it is to be wounded so she knows how to help people essentially born into a vegetarian family that practice iron Vedic medicine. She noticed adverse health effects when they moved to the United States and adopted the standard American diet or sad. After recovering from a fibroid and watching both of our previously healthy parents die of illnesses, she decided Take her diet, her life and her family's health into her own hands. Now Julie offers nutritional consulting and corporate wellness programs she has a line of vegan organic, gluten free superfood products sold in many local stores. Transformation happened because she followed her heart and was patient with herself. Learn more about Eli's food at Ely food calm. And here we have Julie.
Thank you Dr. Marilyn Kralik president of in defense of animals for introducing the carnivores anonymous program and now over to Julie archery.
Thank you so much, Marilyn. It meant so much coming from you. As I don't know if you guys know or not Marilyn is a doctor by trade. So she knows both sides of
the industry, you know, being a doctor,
and now being vegan, and for many, many years, and I think still now doctors aren't really taught about nutrition, or really taught to focus on nutrition, although any illness that we have or any illnesses that our body attracts is due to poor health. I mean, poor diet, and poor diet definitely reaches its way too poor health in all of us. So a little bit about myself. I was born a vegetarian. And I was a vegetarian until about 1516 years of my life when I was 15. And then, all of a sudden here I am in high school in the United States. I was actually let me back up a tiny bit. I was born in New Delhi, India. And both my parents were vegetarians, or our whole family was vegetarian or Indian vegetarians. So we do eat dairy. But it's a huge difference in the dairy that we ate, and the dairy in the United States. We knew exactly where our milk came from. We made yogurt at home. So there was nothing in our food that we couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, or where it was bought because we made everything. So it was a whole different life. So when I came to United States, it was exciting because, you know, it was a whole brand new world and so many things to discover and so many things to eat. So, I came here and I gained weight suddenly, within the first six months, I gained quite a bit of weight and at the time, nobody cared. Nobody You know, my family and my parents. There was a cycle this happens to everybody. You know it just people when they come to United States, they just gain weight. Nobody knew why why why did I just gain all this weight? And I was just like, okay, so it was kind of like an accepted fact. But you know, my mom had big iron Radek background and she practiced it and you know, but as soon as they came here, basically kind of everything went out the window, and nobody was practicing anything. Everybody was too busy working. And, you know, that's all we did is worked, came home, and we ate whatever, you know, we bought from the grocery store, and nobody read any labels. So we were just moving along. And I started eating meat because when I went to high school, there was literally nothing to eat. I was shocked to see the food that we were fed in high school. I mean, I actually look forward to that frozen pizza that had like little weird shredded cheese on top. I mean, I don't know If anybody can relate to that or not, and it was, it was not that great, but I looked forward to it because it was vegetarian. So at that point, I had to make a choice. So I basically started eating burgers, which is kind of, I think, the worst thing that you can eat now that I know. So I started eating me out of necessity, then I was, you know, I thought everything was fine, but I wasn't at my optimum, you know, I would work out. And I just didn't feel right. And there were times, you know, I went through some health issues earlier on. They weren't huge health issues, except the fact that I knew that there was something wrong with my diet or what. So I was visiting California, and I fell in love with California. So, three months after I was visiting, I moved out here and I went To design school. And basically I stayed here, because it was it was just it was amazing. The The food was different. The people were different. Everything was different. It was like, just the way of life was different. So I felt like I had found a whole new world. And I didn't have to confine myself to doing what everybody else was doing or eating what everybody else was eating. So it was more than just food. It was, you know, it was food and it was frame of mind and it was what, you know, everything that's around you basically, you know, builds who you are, and it creates your character and creates your diet and all the rest of it. So, I started looking into different diets and different, you know, just basically different diets. And I met a friend who was a physicist, and I was like, you know, I've Really, I really don't like
eating all this me. And at the time I was. I was the fashion designer. After design school, I had started my own clothing line. So I was going up and down the coast. And I used to go right by that feed on highway five. If anybody's gone by there, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. And it's, it's the worst thing that it's the worst smell and the worst feeling is the worst thing that you can drive by. And I was driving by it like I would say twice a month, at least once a month, because I was doing shows and up and down the coast. So it really turned me off. I really started looking at what am I doing, why am I doing this? Why am I eating this? So I consulted a friend, because there was times where I had stopped completely like cold turkey and every month I would get this completed. Desire, like I couldn't stop, but to have a burger, I had to have a burger or I had to eat a, you know, some kind of meat and eggs at the time. You know, I was a firm believer that eggs aren't meat. Of course they are, you know, eggs, not meat or eating fishes. Okay. But so today Now I know better, right? So he basically, you know, showed me away where I could overcome that addiction of wanting to eat a burger, which is by supplementing with herbs. So, you know, he introduced me to all these different herbs where I could supplement that deficiency, if you want to call it that it was more of an addiction rather than a deficiency. So I did that. So I basically stopped eating, eating me and, but I was still traveling. I was still traveling across country with my lines. So it was it was interesting how easy it was to be whatever you want it to be or to eat whatever you wanted to eat in metropolitan Los Angeles. But you go to New York City, and you're back to base one again. Right? This is going back to the 1990s. And I hadn't been back. I grew up on the east coast in Boston area, and hadn't been back to the east coast. And every time I would go traveling, it would be a big situation because, again, I would have nothing to eat. So then I resorted to eating fish. I was like, Okay, well, you know, if I eat fish is not as bad. So then for many, many years, that's what I did. I ate fish and eggs, and you know, I thought that was better. So you know, what you think is better. Just is just relevant to what you know, right? Or it's relevant to what you can do and What you think is possible. Then another Turning Point came in my life where I went through some, some really difficult times, I was pregnant with my daughter, and I was treated with a fibroid. And the fibroid was as big as a grapefruit.
And at the time, there was nothing that could be done about it. So
then it really
made me look at myself again. I was like, Well, why Why? Why am I having this and why, you know, how did this happen? And so again, it started you know, I started looking at myself and you know, what was going on with me mentally and physically and exercise wise and food wise in every single way. You know, it just really gave me that, you know, wake up call yet one more time. So, after my daughter was born, A couple of years later, I basically went through a surgery which, you know, got rid of the fibroids. At first they were thinking that they should just wait until a certain age so that the fibroid shrinks, but then, and they were also thinking that there was nothing. It wasn't doing anything that it was, everything was fine. It wasn't affecting me in any way, shape or form. But then once they finally did an MRI, they they realized that it was squishing all my organs because I was completely drained of energy. I had no energy. So then I had to go through this operation. Now after that, basically, my dad passed away. And it was a sudden heart attack. It was something that that just happened very quickly. It was not expected. But when you think about, you know what's expected and what's sudden, he had gone through a heart surgery. He wasn't watching his diet, he was overweight, and he wasn't exercising even after bypass surgery. So, you know, everything has its price. So basically, he passed away, which was hugely tragic because I was very, very close to my dad. And then a year and a half later after that, my mom passed away. Now prior to her passing away, she had been sick for many, many years. And all the medication that she was on her medication was actually making her sick. So I read everything, every medication, all the side effects of all her medications, and every medication. The side effect of those was that they were creating another sickness in her body. So that really hit home for me. You know, my mom passing away really made me question every single thing. So I got a trainer I was training four times a week. And yet again, I'm still eating fish. So I'm still on the whole fish ride. And my trainer, basically, she would enforce that she would tell me like, Look, you can't train like this, unless you have enough protein. The whole protein talk is very interesting to me.
Because
it's not true, it's not true
that you need as much protein as they think that you need as you need and protein needs to come from sources that also that our whole sources protein doesn't always have to come from me a protein isn't everything, all minerals, and there's all kinds of nutrition and all kinds of food and and plant based food. So I bought into that I continue to buy into it, but part of me always knew that that wasn't really the truth because I always kept on going Back to my early life. And I kept on thinking that for the first 16 years of my life, I had no meat and I'm extremely healthy. I work out all the time. And there's nothing wrong with me. So why is it that I need to eat me for any kind of reason whatsoever. So one thing that my trainer did do, though, that she literally drilled it into my head as to how to read labels, and she really taught me you know, she taught me how to eat, how to balance my diet, how to how to read every single label ingredients. And, you know, which is a huge myth. People could always go to percentages when they read a label, and that's what they want us to do. They meaning the food industry, they want us to be confused, right. So, the way to read a label is to go straight to the ingredient, and ingredient lists are listed in The, in, in the order of most to the least. So the most amount of whatever ingredient that's in your food is listed first, or it's supposed to be listed first. So that's where you know what you're eating. So that's that was an amazing thing that she did for me. And you know, I'm obviously very thankful for the fact that I know how to do that now. But I had to quit, I had to quit her. Nonetheless, I am forever thankful, but I had to go I had to go because I was, you know, the relationship wasn't moving forward. And I wasn't fully convinced that I had to continue to be on the meat diet on the meat, right, I call it so then I decided that you know what, I'm going to do this myself. I'm not going to listen to anybody. So I started basically, reading books, reading different athletes, and you Know what they eat and basically so this book I really love and it changed my life and I'm forever thankful for it is the thrive diet branded Brazil is is a champion in many different ways. I mean, he's obviously a champion, he was the very first triathlon winner as a vegan. And this book is just phenomenal. If you can get your hands on it, it gives you recipes, it gives you explanation for every single thing and all the ingredients. So I decided, Okay, if he can do it, I can do it. Right. So there's no difference between him or me. I can do this on my own. I don't need so you know, that's just kind of like my personality. Once I get something in my head. It kind of stays in my head. So this thing had been in my head for years and years and years of my life. So now I was ready. So even though I was ready, I was still giving myself I was still being patient with myself and giving myself time and a break and being gentle to myself because what I what? I don't know. I don't know, until I know until I know it. Right. So, and that's, that's the mentality that kept me moving forward that I don't know what I don't know. And I had to find out what I don't know. So, you know, I researched into this other book, it was a four hour, four hour diet. Now, when I, I kept on reading all these different books and information. So the thing that I wanted to find out was what could I stick to the longest right? So what is in this book that I can say to myself, okay, I can follow this for a long, long time, or forever in my life or I can follow some kind of version of this until forever, right? So I kept on coming back to the thrive book. And
now
I'm a vegan, and I've been a vegan. Now the journey has taught me so much and where I am today is not an overnight thing. It's not that, oh, one day I decided to do this and now this is where I am. I feel that every experience that I've had in my life has contributed for me being here today and for me knowing what I know today, so.
So
I started researching farmers markets in my area and thankfully, I live in Los Angeles so we have tons of farmers markets, tons of fresh fruit, fresh food and fruits and vegetables. So I don't shop at a market for fruits and vegetables at all. For any hardly anything, so I hit the market every single week. So I started talking to the farmers started finding out what they do, how they do it, who has organic food, who doesn't, and hearing their stories of how they work in the fields, because that's kind of like where I started from, you know, from my childhood. You know, my family had farms, and even today, my family has farms. So I know all of that. And I have that in the back of my mind that that is a reality. So I constantly continue to fall back on that reality. And that reality never proves me wrong. So I started, you know, talking and you know, I have tons of friends at the Santa Monica farmers market. And it was it was the funniest thing because at this one booth, we always gather and we always bring whatever it is that we mean. So I started making food and I started bringing food just like everybody else was right so I had been Working on this one recipe for years and years, you know, I would work on it, and then it wouldn't work. So I would leave it and then I would pick it back up again and leave it. So at this point, I had perfected it quite well. So I would bring my food to the market. And you know, we would get together at the end of the market. So it became so much fun. And it became a like a society like a culture, you know that that's what we did. And it was fun. And we hung out and tried each other's food. So so people started asking me, Hey, what do you do with your food? So I was like, I don't know, I eat it. What do you
what do you do
with your food? We can't, we can't hold our food in our house because I'm the only one that's cooking and we have three mounts and we eat it before we can. I can make it so I make it and we eat and they're like well, have you ever thought about selling your stuff? And I'm like, Well, no, but now that you say that okay, I can think about it right now that you put it in my head. So, so I you know, I was like Wow, that's really a good idea. And I thought to myself that, what a great way to help other people. So people come up to me, they'll, you know, they'll bring their recipes, they'll ask me for this and they'll ask me for that, but I just, I just thought that was that it would be such a great service to put out products where I can, where I feel that if I was to go into a market, and I saw this product that I'd be able to pick it up and eat it. And that's the product that I want to put put out in the market. So then, you know, we got to a whole nother level of like, you know, getting products to the market and what kind of products and shelf life and this and that which was a whole nother world to me, but I'm sticking to my roots. So I figured out that you know, different ways of packaging the product and getting it to the markets and you know, making sure that there's no need to compromise on the quality of the food. So why is it that we have shelves and shelves and shelves full, full of food in the markets, and all of them have compromised the quality? So that's a question that we should ask ourselves, right. And another question that I always ask and you know, my nine year old daughter, I always asked her like, Did you read the ingredients? So we go to the market whenever we do go you know, I always ask her, did you read the ingredients? And that's my number one question to myself. Did I read the ingredients of what's in this food? And, you know, there's, there's another thing that I keep thinking about that I had the base that I had of the first 15 odd years 16 years of my life, where I knew that there was a way to eat, and I had seen in my lifetime that there is there is a vegetarian way to have life. And there's so many people that don't see that there's so many people that don't have that reference. And for those people, the others have to be there for them, somebody like me has to be there for them that, that this is, this is not this is just the reality that you know, there are other realities out there, that perhaps if you want to follow or you don't know them, or you want to explore into them, there are other realities out there. And you can borrow, you can borrow other people's experience and their realities, to stay on, on on course, whatever your course might be.
And that's that's my story.
Thank you so much, Julie. Thank you.
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