And that’s where we joined forces.  She made me a vegetarian lunch one afternoon, we sipped hot tea, the kids played, and we talked about her passion for healthy living.  From one artist to another, here’s our conversation…

Lauren, thanks so much for contributing to this series.  Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and your roots?

Sure! I was born in Stillwater OK, and grew up in Fort Worth Texas.  My mom was a dental hygenist and my dad is a consultant.   I grew up in a health conscious home.  I went to Texas A & M studying Nutrition in college, but soon realized I needed something more diverse.  I switched schools and got my degree in Nursing at Baylor University.

::When do you feel like you first embraced nutrition in your life?

When I was a junior in high school.  I started packing my own lunches and would pack things like cauliflower and yogurt.  Like super healthy.  I would never pack lunches like that now!  My parents thought it was so great. 

:: How have your parent’s influenced your view on health and what role do you think we play in our children’s current and future understanding of nutrition?

I think we play a huge role!  You’re training their taste buds what to like.  I think fostering a love from a young age of good, fresh food is so important.  I mean, why would a kid want to eat raw carrots when they’ve been eating potato chips for 5 years?  Something I learned early on in parenting, is if you wait long enough between meals, they WILL get hungry enough to eat veggies.  If my kids ask for goldfish, I say, “Eat an apple first and then we’ll see.”  I try to keep lots of apples around. :)

And my parents were so good about having conversations with me about health.  There wasn’t an emphasis on weight or how I looked, they just wanted me to be active and healthy.  My dad would invite me on runs with him all the time, even though I’m slower, even though it took longer.  And that’s something that’s carried through to adulthood.  He still asks me, “Hey Lauren, you want to run with me?”  It’s our thing.  

::What made you decide to go a step further and become a vegetarian?

We were living in Princeton, NJ and friends of ours decided to make the switch to vegetarianism.  We read the book, The China Study, and it totally changed our perspective.  We thought, “We’ll just try this.”  And it stuck!

::What were the biggest changes you had to make to adopt the vegetarian lifestyle?

Probably learning how to cook for a family.  I had to ask myself, “How do I cook for a family and make it friendly to everyone?”   So I went and bought some diverse, vegetarian cookbooks.  I would sit down on the couch,  read through them, and pick out recipes.  I would ask my husband, “Does this look good?”  and show him a recipe.  Blake is really good about trying things.  But maybe you do have a husband who is not into it? You still need to cook a meal for him.  I find that most of the time, if I cook hearty meals, you don’t even miss the meat.  You’re probably going to make mistakes with some recipes and you’re going to want to give up,  don’t!!!  One time, I made a bean meat loaf.  Totally from scratch…soaked the beans and everything.  And Blake was like, “Please don’t make that again.” ;)  

:: Have you had to change your family grocery budget to accommodate a vegetarian diet?

Hmmmm…it’s hard to say.  We were a growing family when we first started and our budget was increasing anyway.  I think that vegetarianism is probably a little more expensive.  You have to eat a lot more vegetables to feel full.  Vegetables and fruit go bad quickly, so you can waste a lot if you’re not careful.   I shop seasonally and I try to keep a lot of frozen vegetables on hand and that helps.

Don’t compromise your relationships for the sake of your eating preferences.  That’s probably the worst thing you can do.  Be willing to jump off the boat…I would much rather eat 5 hamburgers, than offend someone.  We need to be like Paul in I Corinthians 8 and his approach to the meat offered to idols.  At the same time, as much as you can control it in your own home and eating out, you should.  Make good choices.  Live your life like you want to live it and then if someone asks you a question, then talk about it.   Most people in my life on a regular basis just figured it out that I was a vegetarian.  I did not tell them, they asked.  Don’t be a snobby vegetarian!

:: In Oklahoma, we don’t have a whole lot of grocery store options.  Do you have any unique resources you use to purchase your groceries?

I try to go to Reasors because there produce is better than Wal Mart.  In a pinch, I run up to Wal Mart {Neighborhood Market} for fill-ins.  And then I use azurestandard.com for a lot of dry goods.  It’s a lot of organic in bulk for lower costs and you order online and then pick up in Tulsa.  {Read about it on their website HERE.}

:: What is your favorite place to find recipes?

I love cookbooks!  My favorites are:

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone	The Best Vegetarian Recipes, by Martha Rose Shulmant	The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, by Peter Berley	Supermarket Vegan, by Donna Klein

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