Life on the veg!

Greetings Peaceful Warriors, 

We hope you’ve had an awesome week so far. We’re currently on a road trip in California for some work and play (and a plant-based food tour to some of our favorite spots when we used to live here!) It’s a quick trip for us but we’re loving every day of it🌴🌊

Before we dive into the newsletter today, here’s a little shout out (hey! 👋 ) to those of you who asked for some more videos to help with flexibility and mobility - we hope you are enjoying the content we’ve been putting out there recently on our Instagram Reels and are already diving deeper into our mobility training playlist. We also love the questions coming in from you guys and will continue these short Q&A posts on our insta page so thank you for joining the conversation and letting us know what you’d like to learn more about! 😉 

Last issue, we shared insights and resources for your own meditation journey. We really hope you are enjoying the benefits to your mental well-being and connection to this beautiful world we live in through your own practice. 🤍

Today, we are excited to focus on how we fuel our bodies and minds in another way - food! What we choose to consume on a daily basis is the fuel we are giving our bodies (and minds) to run on. Our diet affects how we think, function, grow, age, and recover. We know you’re already interested in your well-being and health and you put effort into your healthy lifestyle to feel good, obtain more inner peace, and build strength through a movement practice. This week, we are exploring the benefits of eating more plant-based in order to optimize your healthy, yoga lifestyle. 🌱 Also (spoiler alert!) we reveal Flo’s recipe for his DELISH homemade energy bars. 😋 Believe me, you’ll be trying this out!

What you eat has a direct influence on your own personal and mental condition but the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle extend far beyond our individual health. Choosing more plant-based options reduces our carbon footprint, conserves natural resources, and helps protect the Earth's delicate ecosystems. It's a compassionate choice that promotes kindness towards animals and aligns with our values of interconnectedness and respect for all living beings. So, good for us, good for the planet - yay! 🌎

To support your journey towards a plant-based lifestyle, we'd love to share some of our favorite documentaries and books that shed light on the benefits and joys of this transformative way of living. The research and literature available about a plant-based diet is massive and publicly available. Here are a few to get you started.

Some people are confused about the difference between eating plant-based and being vegan. If you eat plant based then you omit from eating animal products but you might still wear leather birkenstocks, go to the zoo, use cosmetics that test on animals, etc. Veganism goes beyond not eating animal products. It represents a lifestyle dedicated to minimizing animal exploitation and cruelty, aiming to alleviate suffering to the greatest extent possible. This is the primary reason why we ourselves are vegan.

We’re not nutritionists and therefore can only speak from our own experience diving deeper into nutrition and diet over the past decade. From Ayurveda, yogis are aware that food, along with all other aspects of life, is under the influence of the three Gunas: sattva, rajas, tamas. These qualities of energy play a role in how food is received by the body. Yogis prefer a sattvic diet which is rich in fruit and vegetables and avoids animal products and heavy greasy ingredients.

These foods also go along with our main prayer of Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu which translates to ‘may all beings everywhere be happy and free.’ As yogis, we pray and live our lives to reduce suffering and wish freedom for all beings everywhere. True commitment to a practice involves aligning one's actions with the principles they claim to uphold so it’s a bit of a hypocrisy to pray and chant this sacred mantra in our practice and then add cream to our coffee and eat bacon for breakfast. The practice extends off the mat and is reflected in your life choices and actions you take day by day. It is not about perfection, but is just like everything else; a process. Even reducing the amount of animal products you consume will make a difference to your health and the health of the planet. 🌎

It is tough to avoid all processed foods these days and sometimes whole foods can look a little less ‘jazzy’ in our shopping cart. However, fresh fruit and vegetables, in all of their rainbow wonder, shine their goodness from within and, it turns out, are exactly what our bodies need.

We often get asked what we eat in a day and so we put this little video together to give you a little insight into our eating habits:

So, are you ready to try more plant based options or just looking for some new meal inspiration? Yoga-loving, Irish twins, The Happy Pear, know how to spice up plant based food because they’ve been plant based for over 15 years. We love their gut friendly Vegan Chocolate Chili and 5 Mins spinach, mushroom and butterbean curry - Yum! Also great to meal prep if you want leftovers.

If you only try one new plant-based recipe this week then you could also make it Flo’s Awesome Oaty Peanut Butter Yogi Energy Bars (tried and tested thoroughly by Bre and Ailo). Perfect to batch bake and surprise people with when you’re on a hike, after a strong practice, or just with a morning coffee. Om, nom nom…😋 

We would also LOVE to see photos of your time in the kitchen on social media, give his recipe a try and tag us in it @breatheandflow 🫶 More of our fav recipes are on our recipes page for you to enjoy!

Remember, adopting a plant-based lifestyle is a personal journey, and it's important to approach it at your own pace. Educating yourself on the topic through documentaries/books, incorporating more plant-based meals into your diet gradually, and finding delicious recipes that resonate with you can make the transition both enjoyable and sustainable.

We hope these resources inspire and empower you on your path towards a plant-based lifestyle. Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences (and recipes!) with the Breathe and Flow Discord community!

With oaty hugs and a plant powered high five,

Other cool stuff we use, buy and recommend can all be found here in the Breathe and Flow Kit here! From books and to business tools, to travel items and yoga props - we’ve got you covered!