Happy Vegan Couple's video: A PLANT-BASED TRANSITION STORY WITH GARETH SCURR - BY DENISE ROSE OF THE HAPPY VEGAN COUPLE

Meet Gareth. He's 25 years old and 3 years ago he started to change his lifestyle from eating animal and processed foods to whole food, plant-based eating. Initially, his 2 motivating reasons for wanting to change his diet were all the excess weight he carried on his body and a fear of dementia after watching a close family member suffer from Alzheimer's disease. As he started his journey to plant-based eating, Gareth found there was a bit of a learning curve that he had to master. He discovered that not all plant foods are necessarily healthy; that one could eat oreos and other processed plant foods, and these foods would not really help him with his health goals. So Gareth kept learning and experimenting with recipes and within time, he found his sweet spot, whole food, plant-based eating. Along with his vegan wife Jackie, the two of them got so inspired and passionate about their new plant-based lifestyle, that they started sharing simple recipes that people could make and eventually this led to a couple of e-books and then a printed book of easy and delicious vegan recipes. One of the interesting tidbits about this dynamic couple is that much of the cooking they do is in the small van they live in as they travel throughout New Zealand, the country of their residency. Gareth continues his public advocacy of veganism and whole food, plant-based eating by working for a global activism group called Vegan FTA and creating interesting on-line videos on a variety of topics that include interviews with plant-based doctors, vegan athletes, and stories about the suffering animals experience when they are bred for food. Gareth was delightful to talk with and I am inspired by his activism. As an older person myself, I am excited to see the younger generation take up the cause of whole food, plant-based eating and veganism. I hope many folks will take the time to listen to this interview and get some inspiration from Gareth and discover just how easy and delicious it can be to switch your diet to one of whole plant foods!