Vanilla Cantaloupe Ice Cream + A Plant Based Diet

Clean eating gets me so stoked. It's hard to really explain the feeling unless you are also on a super clean plant-based diet. It's like vibrant energy combined with knowing that you're not contributing to the killing or abuse of animals. It also might be the fact that meat and dairy products contribute to cancer and ill health. They are void of any sort of vibrating life energy force. 

In fact...

"A protein structure is not useable by the body, as such, and must be broken down into its simplest compounds, called amino acids before the body can use it at all. This process requires energy instead of yielding energy." -- Dr. Robert Morse, N.D., D.Sc., I.D., M.H.

By the way, no judgement here (seriously none); I know how hard it is to get serious about following a plant-based diet (or any diet or lifestyle change for that matter) and I know it's not for everybody right here and right now. Not only that but there are conflicting studies and  the paleo diet has helped a lot of my friends lose weight. I get it. I know the appeal of a diet that quickly helps you lose weight in a time when you're not at your perfect weight.

Everybody has their own journey (my 8 year old is obsessed with meat and milk and I let him experience that journey and hope he comes to a fork in the road at some point. But I believe in letting people find health through experience not lectures or force). Once you commit to a plant-based diet, you'll see that the meal options are endless as well as the health benefits. At first it's like "aaaaah, what do I eat for breakfast? Oh no, what do I eat for lunch? I can't have parm in my pesto? Or sour cream on my tacos?" But chill out because it's really not that hard once you're used to it. And baby steps if need be. OR cold "turkey" so to speak, haha, if that works better for you. That works best for me. 

"You've got to get over this out-date way of thinking that meats are essential to your health. Nothing could be farther from the truth. That belief is the source of all your health problems." -- Doug Hines

Even if you're not 100% off the dairy or meat, it's always a good idea to explore other options and culinary tricks. Today I'm sharing a simple ice cream free of cream and milk. It's a sorbet combined with a creamy coconut milk base. The vanilla gives you the feeling of eating Dreyer's Vanilla bean ice cream. 

"The first [thing I have learned] is our reverence for animal protein. Our society believes so passionately in the health value of milk and meat that it is hard for us to conceive that we might be wrong - that these foods might, in fact, be very unhealthy. It is too far outside of what we have been taught for decades for us to believe it easily, no matter how true it may be." -- T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.

More than ever I have felt the desire to share my diet choices with the world; it was something I have wanted to do in the past but didn't want to come off dogmatic, because I'm not. I've gone back and forth for years and years (fish, eggs and dairy were my thing). I don't want to be judged just as much as you don't. I'm doing my best to just be my best (both mentally and physically). But I'm human and I mess up and I'm sometimes wrong about my beliefs. But that's the beauty of it all. A "healthy" discussion is something I've always loved and respected. It's what makes the world go round and us better understand those that are not like us. 

A good quote/lesson from the Dalai Lama:

"We've spoken about the fact that ultimate happiness depends on eliminating our negative behaviors and mental states -- through proper training we can gradually reduce our negative emotions and increase positive states of mind such as love, compassion, and forgiveness!" 

I love this. Maybe it's that lately I have been trying SO SO hard to find some kind of enlightenment and deep rooted happiness that lingers at all time. Like the Buddha that is always smiling (haha). It's taken me almost two years and lot of change; a lot of transition; and a lot of work. At some point in that time it dawned on me that I can't truly find that happiness while eating animal products. I just couldn't. It just didn't go hand-in-hand. 

However, I have seen people use red meat as a great source of iron supplementation when sick and in dire need of serious nutrients. But for a perfectly healthy person I see no need for meat and in fact serious health benefits from making this change. 

There is a big difference between that grateful way of consuming meat and eating meat and dairy every meal, all the time, like without a second thought or knowing what you're contributing to (ill health and animal cruelty and money greed). There is a freedom in knowing I am not apart of that industry anymore and that I'm treating my body so well. I feel so clean; that's the best way to describe my present state of health. 

At a recent Herbalife Symposium, the experts (doctors and scientists from schools like UCLA) shared some amazing statistics about how our bodies can easily adapt and our unhealthy cells can regenerate quickly when we switch to a plant-based diet. We can go from sick to healthy in a matter of weeks just by making these small changes. The studies are there, you guys. We also discussed child obesity and how we still don't know what to do or how to cure and solve it. 

But all I could think about was that I've never seen a plant-based obese child. Genetics or not. Read this cool study and story if you want more info on that: click here. 

And I'm sorry if it turns you off, or if you don't feel like listening. I will stop here; but it's my path and my journey and if it helps one person discover a new way or lifestyle that they love, then I did my job. So please, don't be mad at me (hugs) and instead write something in the comments about your diet and your path to optimal health. I'd love to hear your story and your thoughts (nicely and respectfully put). 

CANTALOUPE ICE CREAM RECIPE

yields: 10 scoops

INGREDIENTS

4 cups chopped cantaloupe (skin and seeds removed) about 1 small cantaloupe

1 can coconut milk (refrigerated overnight and the watery juice discarded)

 2-3 tablespoon honey or agave nectar

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon madagascar vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

DIRECTIONS

+ Open the can of coconut milk and you'll notice that there is a thick coconut cream in one end of the can and water/liquid in the other. Use only the thick cream. 

+ Combine everything into a high speed blender container. 

+ Blend on high until completely mixed. 

+ Put into an ice cream maker. 

+ Eat immediately and store the rest in the freezer. 

My kids enjoyed this recipe. We put a few scoops in a cone and enjoyed. This kind of ice cream is so enjoyable and yet I also feel like it's a healthy meal. Win-win. 

Follow me on instagram and feel free to share your healthy ice cream ideas with me. Either hashtag #puremamas or @julinovotny in your photos. I'd love it. 

Also, please check out my interview with Plant Based Doctor Lindsey Mcilvena who treats all her patients first by putting them on a plant-based diet. And then going from there.