Michelle Jones: I have had health problems since high school.
They started while I was in high school, and so I’ve been looking for the last twenty
five years for what I can do to be healthier. I was talking with a new acquaintance, and
this person mentioned the video "Forks over Knives," and said, “Have you seen it?”
And I said, “Well I’ve seen it in passing on Netflix.”
And he said, “You should watch it, I think you’d really enjoy it.”
So I thought, “Well, okay!” I went home that day and had a free afternoon, and so I sat
down with my fifteen year old, and we watched "Forks Over Knives."
When we turned it off, I turned to my son Hyrum and said, “So, Hyrum, what do you think?"
And he said, “I’m vegan!”
And I said, “But I don’t know how to cook that way!”
And he said, “Well, don’t worry, Mom, I ordered in four cookbooks from the library while we were watching the movie.”
Shane Jones: So I come home from work, I open the door, I walk in,
and our youngest, Joshua, says, “Dad, guess what? We’re going vegan,”
or vegetarian, or whatever it was at the time.
Michelle Jones: And my husband just said, “What happened while I was at work today?”
Shane Jones: I was surprised, but cautious. That’s a pretty bold statement.
I turned to my wife, and she explained that they just got done watching a documentary
on whole food, plant-based eating—basically avoiding processed foods and meats and dairies.
I welcomed the announcement, but I wasn’t really prepared for just the extent of what this announcement meant.
Michelle Jones: We just changed overnight,
and it was really challenging because I truly thought that we were eating healthy before we switched.
Shane Jones: My wife, Michelle, really took it to heart.
And she turned the corner that day, and we went from being healthy as we
knew it, to being more healthy as we have discovered it to be.
Michelle Jones: To have this revelation of, “You’re not eating a very healthy diet”
was very difficult. I woke up one day and thought, “Hey this
is not so bad.” We found a lot of recipes that we like, and
it’s not as hard anymore, and over time I gathered tools that made the job a lot easier.
And I learned how to use a lot of different grains and legumes that I did not even know existed.
The first two weeks I felt rotten. I really felt horrible and that made me question
whether this was right, but I realized one day, “Oh you know, I’m
not eating enough." I’m so used to limiting my portions
because I had a propensity to gain weight, and I was constantly trying to fight that,
those extra pounds and so I was very used to just filling my
plate a certain amount and eating that, and when I realized “I’m not eating enough
and it’s making me tired,” so I started eating as much as I wanted, and
I felt so much better. I just really started going uphill from that point, and I had so much more energy.
I switched over to this diet very quickly, and I see other people who,
I know they’re struggling, and they’re looking for answers,
and I just . . . Sometimes I want to go up to them and shake them and say, “I’ve got the answer,
I've got the answer, just listen to me,” but I know I can’t.
It has to be everybody’s personal journey, and if somebody asks me for advice or help,
I am so happy to help them because it’s been such a blessing for me
in my life, and it excites me when I see people coming along the path to good health.