Making Our Dinners KALE'a licious!

Matt suggested we start to “KALE’ify” all our dinners. It’s no secret we both love the dark green leafy vegetable so it was a no-brainer to begin adding it to absolutely everything. And there was no better time than St. Paddy’s Day to start getting our green on (and in!)

The following recipes are perfect for Meatless Mondays and Whole Food Wednesdays ... any night of the week, really. They are easy to make, fantastically healthful and plant-strong. Best of all, they are both kale'a licious and taste great!

Cuban Black Beans, Rice and Kale, inspired by Three Guys from Miami

(Seriously, the best black beans and rice we’ve ever had.)

Ingredients

1 ½ cups black beans, dried

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 white onion, diced
2 green peppers, seeded and diced
6 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 ½ vegetable broth
3 cups black rice (or brown)

Kale (about 5 cups or more), torn into bite-sized pieces

Cover the dry beans with about four cups water in a two-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil for three minutes. Remove from the heat and let it stand, covered for one hour.

Drain and rinse the beans. Add enough water to cover once again and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover and cook until tender, about 40 to 50 minutes. Drain.

Rinse the rice with cold water until the water runs clear.

Use a large covered stockpot, sauté the onion and green pepper in olive oil until tender.

Add the garlic and sauté another minute or two. Add the tomato paste, black beans, oregano, cumin, bay leaf and vinegar. Cook for about five minutes, stirring gently.

Add the vegetable broth and the rinsed rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 20-30 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked.

Add kale. Stir gently until wilted.

Remove the bay leaf. Serve hot.

Chef Roberto Martin’s Black Bean Soup (<-- love his cookbook)

1 teaspoon canola oil

1 large white onion

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

3 plum tomatoes, dices

3 15 ounce cans of black beans, rinsed

5 cups vegetable broth

Bunch of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces

Garnish

Avocado, diced

Pico De Gallo (recipe follows)

Heat a large stockpot over high heat, add oil and wait until it shimmers. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, oregano and cumin and cook 2 minutes more. Add the tomatoes, beans and broth and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes.

While the soup simmers, make the Pico De Gallo (recipe below).

Purée half the soup in a Vitamix or high speed blender until smooth. Return the puréed mixture to the remaining soup in the pot and stir to combine. Add kale, stir until wilted.

Ladle into bowls, garnish with pico and diced avocado.

Pico De Gallo

1 bunch of cilantro, minced

½ red onion, diced small

8 firm plum tomatoes, centers removed, diced medium

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, membrane removed, dice (optional)

Salt and pepper (optional)

Mix the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, if you like.

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Eff You Cancer

Do you like the headline? I got it from Tracy Krulik’s blog, I Have Cancer. And I’ve Never Felt Better. I knew I loved her the minute I read it. No matter how good I think I’m doing at any point in my life, there are always people I'm fortunate to connect with who inspire me to push harder, learn more and live better. Tracy is one of these people. Her journey is an incredible testament to the healing power of food.

Tracy is a writer, speaker, cancer survivor, Pilates instructor, recreational cyclist, animal lover, nutritarian and author of the new book, I Have Cancer.And I’ve Never Felt Better. I’m so happy she was willing to guest blog for us today and share her story. I know you’ll adore her as much as I do.

Without further ado, here’s Tracy.

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Doc: “Tracy, the mass that was on your pancreas two and a half years ago is still there.”

Me: “What mass?”

Doc: “It was on the CT scan back in 2004, but don’t worry. The mass is smaller now than it was back then, so I don’t think it’s cancer.”

That was a startling conversation that I had with my gastroenterologist in 2007. As it turns out, I did have cancer: pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer, to be exact. But why did the mass shrink?

I have a theory: food.

In 2005 my husband and I became vegetarians. We loved animals so much that we said goodbye to the beef and chicken in our fridge and said hello to quinoa, kale and couscous instead.

I had been sick for nine years before that doctor found the tumor growing on my pancreas. After a biopsy two weeks later I found out that I did have cancer, and a few weeks after that I learned that the tumor had metastasized to my liver and chest. My doctor explained to me that once a neuroendocrine tumor spreads outside the primary organ, there is no known cure. (This is the same cancer that Steve Jobs had.)

That was when I realized I could depend on no one but myself to keep me healthy. I would seek out the finest services Western medicine could provide (read: get a top-notch surgeon to remove the primary tumor from my pancreas), and then I would turn to holistic practices to make my body as inhospitable as possible to cancer.

Guess what I learned? Animal-based proteins can promote cancer growth.

I read the book The China Study and learned about children in the Philippines who developed liver tumors after exposure to the carcinogen Aflatoxin. Children from the wealthiest homes developed tumors, but poorer children -- whose families could not afford meats -- remained healthy.

After discovering this anomaly, researcher T. Colin Campbell began experimenting on rats to see if meat truly could have been the cause for the tumors. He dosed two groups of rats with Aflatoxic but then fed one group the milk protein casein and the other group only plant-based proteins.

The milk protein group developed tumors; the plant-based protein group did not.

Next he tried this experiment: Group A gets low amounts of Aflatoxin but high amount of milk protein; Group B gets high amounts of Aflatoxin and only plant-based proteins.

The winner? The milk protein group got liver tumors, and the plant-based protein group got none.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.

I’ve since read a couple of other books by a doctor named Joel Fuhrman. Rather than focus on what not to put into your body (i.e. I’m a vegan, so I don’t eat anything that once had a momma.), Dr. Fuhrman focuses on what is good to put into our body (nutrient dense foods such as kale and collard greens). He promotes a nutritarian diet. That’s how I describe myself.

On top of the fact that I’m no longer fueling my tumors with animal proteins, I’m flooding my body with powerful phytochemicals and nutrients found in colorful vegetables, fruits, nuts and whole grains. As one doctor at Johns Hopkins put it, my diet is helping to put my body into balance so that my immune system can fight the disease on its own.

My approach appears to be working quite well. It’s been five and a half years since my cancer diagnosis and almost that long since the brilliant surgeon removed the primary tumor from my pancreas. The metastases on my liver and chest have not grown since we found them in 2007, and I’m in the best health of my life.

So is my food the reason the primary tumor shrunk and the metastases stopped growing? I can’t prove it, but I can tell you one thing for sure. I’m doing what that doc at Hopkins told me to do when he learned about my diet: I’m not changing a thing.

_______________________________________________________________________

You can continue following Tracy’s journey on Facebook and Twitter. You can also order her new book, I Have Cancer. And I’ve Never Felt Better, on Amazon.

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Vegan Is Love

That’s the name of the children’s book we recently bought for our kids. It arrived just yesterday. The book illustrates “how our daily choices ripple out locally and globally, conveying what children can do today to protect animals, the environment and people across the world.” You can learn more about it here.

I have great admiration for people who challenge the status quo or who go against popular opinion not for personal gain but to better the world around them. It has always struck me as selfless because oftentimes these “rebels” aren't around to see the results of their efforts.

My oldest and dearest friend has a beautiful 14-year old daughter who I believe embodies these character strengths. Since she was a small child, Katie has had a natural tendency to protect not just people but all living things. It’s part of who she is. As soon as she was able to really assert herself, she refused to eat meat because it came from the killing of animals. The fact that a 7-year old could connect those dots was mind-blowing. These weren’t views taught to her by her parents. Other than the occasional rodent brought into the house by the kids over the years, my girlfriend and her husband have never owned a pet, nor are they members of PETA. In fact, they both enjoy eating meat pretty routinely. So where does that pure and honest love for animal wellbeing come from in this little lady? I wish I knew so I could get some for myself. I find her choices even more special and admirable when I recall how challenging it can be to be different and to think differently in childhood, especially during those dreadful teen years. She’s quite remarkable.

My driver in adopting a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle has never been the selfless “compassion” angle. It has always been about optimizing my health and trying to prevent diseases, especially those that run in my family. Looking at the two primary reasons that compel people to give up meat and animal products (dairy and eggs), I chose the selfish one.

When I watched Food Inc. in the summer of 2010 (prior to adopting a whole-food, plant-strong diet), I didn’t like the cruelty I saw inflicted on factory farm animals but once the movie ended I didn’t think much more about it. In fact the only action I took -- again motivated by the health component -- was to begin buying 100% organic grass-fed beef, organic chicken, etc. (Though, I do recall "patting myself on the back" that we were at least eating animals slaughtered “humanely” and by someone with a heart. Talk about a warped justification!)

I don’t know what our children’s takeaways will be from the book once we read it together, but when I read it by myself I was reminded of how our clothing, food and entertainment choices impact other living things, as well as the negative consequences those same choices have on the health of our planet. Absent of a life or death need, I don’t believe there’s any valid reason to harm another being. To do so simply to fill a want or desire or to carry out a hobby or interest feels unjustifiably wrong. I say this now but if history has taught me anything, I will require constant reminders. I’m no Katie. Who knows, maybe my children will end up being my conscious, in which case I’d welcome it.

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Musings from a "Homeopathic Quack-Job"

When I first launched my blog, I wondered how I would feel when the day came that someone responded to a post by attacking me personally. Guess what? I needn't wonder any longer. That day has finally arrived, thanks to my recent post, Why I Can't Sell Girl Scout Cookies.

I share my posts with my town’s local online news site, which means they are accessible by a much wider audience. Before leaving for dinner last night, I checked my personal e-mail, observed I had a comment from the Forks-Palmer Patch and excitedly opened to read. I have to admit seeing it for the first time was a bit jarring. A woman attacked me for a misleading headline, called me a “homeopathic quack-job” who wants to “change the world” and then wished me luck on my “bran and sawdust fundraiser.” (I’ll have you know that I’ve never once considered mixing bran with sawdust. Every vegan knows that sawdust only goes with spelt!)

I X'd out of the e-mail and paused for a moment. I reflected back on what would have gone through my head reading my post five years ago. I probably would have thought the same things about me (though I would have chosen to express my point of view differently). When we’re not in the “zone,” every health enthusiast seems nutty (think Richard Simmons). This helped me put her comment immediately in perspective -- “It’s a grain of sand in the Sahara,” I thought.

I replied positively to her and even shared a recipe so she could get a glimpse into how a “homeopathic quack-job” enjoys a real dessert.

Nothing could have prepared me, though, for the comments I woke up to this morning -- one accusing me of being “politically-motivated,” and another labeling me a "liberal" and suggesting I be muzzled. My “agenda,” as it was called, had even been linked to gay rights. 

In Friday night’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher wondered why absolutely everything in our country is politicized. I thought about that as I read the new comments.

Good health should be non-partisan. We should all want to achieve it. When our health is thriving, we are free from hospital stays, doctors’ appointments and prescription medication. We have more money in the bank because we aren’t paying for regular healthcare services. We have more time because we aren’t tied up fighting with insurance companies over denied claims. We have more “oomph” in our step and can enjoy more activities with our friends, children, grandchildren and other family members. As my mom always says, “When you have great health, you have everything.”

While I would love for everyone to be “in the know” as it relates to the mounting scientific and clinical research supporting a whole-food, plant-strong lifestyle, outside of my immediate family it’s not my “agenda” to make sure my neighbor keeps his cholesterol under 150.  If after my reading one of my posts, my neighbor is inspired to learn more about alternatives to the Standard American Diet and ultimately make more healthful dietary choices, that would be fantastic and I would support him in any way I could, if asked. But the choice is his. I’m certainly not looking to purge his house of Girl Scout cookies or anything else he may enjoy eating.

I try to remember that change can be hard and that many of us fear the unknown. As a result, we sometimes react defensively when we feel our lifestyle is being threatened or attacked. I want to make it clear that my intention has never been to assail anyone’s choices. I welcome all points of view. I simply want to educate and motivate by sharing our experiences and lesson learned with those willing to listen and have meaningful conversation.

Before I close I want to add that while this post focuses on the negative comments I’ve received, by and large the responses have been positive, with many simply thanking me for the information I’ve shared or asking me for more help and guidance. I love the correspondence and what I’m learning from everyone who takes the time to write. Keep your comments coming!

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Eat As If Your Life Depends On It

There’s only so long people can go on denying what is becoming more and more evident every day -- food can be our best medicine, strengthening our bodies, preventing and reversing disease, and optimizing our health in ways that add years to our lives and life to our years, or it can be a slow poison, bringing to our bodies excess weight and chronic diseases such as cancer, Type II diabetes and heart disease.

Sadly, it seems that despite the overwhelming scientific evidence proving that what you put on the end of your fork matters most, majority of us would rather take our chances on the Standard American Diet and see where we land. “You have to die from something.” (That’s an actual quote from someone I know.)

Consider these staggering statistics from Dr. Mark Hyman:

• In 1900, only 2 percent of meals were eaten outside of the home. Today that number is more than 50 percent.
• By state, obesity prevalence ranged from 20.7 percent in Colorado (our healthiest state) to 34.9 percent in Mississippi in 2011. In 1987, no state had an obesity rate more than 20 percent.
• Today, one in two Americans has either pre-diabetes or diabetes.
• Thirty-seven percent of kids at a normal weight have one or more cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar.

I must have read those stats at least 25 times, becoming more and more alarmed as the information sank in.

We are a nation suffering from illness not because of genetics but because of our lifestyle choices. Let me say that again -- because of our lifestyle choices -- the choices we make in the supermarket and off menus, and when we're deciding where we eat and how often we dine out. As Dr. Mehmet Oz brilliantly said, "Genetics loads the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger." We need to buck up and take accountability for that.

We are in the middle of the biggest health crisis of our generation. But we can fix it -- by eating like our lives depend on it.

Just say NO to processed food -- all of it! If you’re craving a snack, make it yourself, or choose something very minimally processed like Larabars (made with just dates and nuts) or popcorn (no butter, no salt!)

Trade in your over-processed white and wheat bread for breads like Ezekiel and Rudy’s. Throw processed meats like bacon, sausage and deli meat in the garbage. Say buh-bye to added sugar and anything that’s been genetically modified. You will not believe how your body rewards you!

There are so many resources online and in bookstores and libraries to help make this transition easy that it’s no longer acceptable to say, “I don’t know how or I don’t know where to begin.” Use Google to start making changes that lead to length of life and one that’s free of doctors' visits and prescription medication.

Eat like your life depends on it.

Begin incorporating plant-bash dishes into your weekly menus. There isn’t a doctor on the planet who would argue away the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables. There are hundreds of thousands of delicious and healthful recipes waiting to be discovered by YOU.

Eat like your life depends on it.

If you’re a meat eater, start buying from your local farms. Now some of you may be thinking, “But Kellie, it’s so expensive, we can’t afford it.” If you can’t afford it, eat less of it. That’s exactly the point. Were we really ever supposed to be a country that eats meat 2-3 servings per day? Until the government began subsidizing meat people couldn’t afford to eat it often. Meat was actually a luxury.

Commit to no longer eating any meat that’s been injected with growth hormones and antibiotics -- that goes for dairy too. What animals eat or are injected with goes right into our bodies and the bodies of our children. Thinking about that makes me physically ill.

Regardless of how often you eat meat, don’t make it the star of your plate. Double up on the good stuff -- vegetables, whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, etc.) and salad and eat those items first.

Eat like your life depends on it.

I watched a presentation with Dr. Michael Klaper. He said when he’s asked by friends where they should go to eat, he replies, “Hmmm … do I want Italian salt, sugar and oil; Indian salt, sugar and oil; or Thai salt, sugar and oil?” That’s an honest way of looking at it because that’s pretty much what we’re getting in most restaurants -- something needs to make the food taste so good that we crave our next visit.

Eat home more, dine out less. Easy, peasy and you’ll save money for your next visit to your local farm -- a win/win. Cooking at home allows us to control what goes into our food -- we can eliminate or reduce significantly the bad stuff. When you do have plans to dine out, eat a salad beforehand or have a piece of fruit -- something healthful so that you eat less. And, of course, make whole-food menu choices.

Eat like your life depends on it.

A video trending on Facebook recently asked, What will your last 10 years look like? It was created by the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation to raise awareness about the five controllable behaviors that will determine how we spend our final years: poor nutrition, physical inactivity, alcohol, smoking and stress.

What will YOUR last 10 years look like?

Are the choices you’re making today setting you up for a life plagued by pills, hospital stays and doctors' appointments? Or are you really loving your body so that it’s ready to run a 10K, hike across Europe and frolic on the beaches of Bermuda with your grandchildren -- all at the young age of 80!

For Matt and me, we're shooting for the latter. How about you?

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Why I Can’t Sell Girl Scout Cookies

This is my first year as a Girl Scouts leader and my second year as cookie mom. Each year, beginning in December, the Girl Scouts organization readies and rallies for cookie sale. The cookies pretty much sell themselves. We had a booth this year in our local mall and weren’t able to solicit sales, by that I mean we couldn’t ask someone if he/she wanted to buy (mall rule). We didn’t have to. Passersby caught a glimpse of those colorful little boxes and walked right over, money in hand.

While I had been whole-food, plant-strong during last year’s sale, my brain never made the connection that what I was selling directly conflicted with my beliefs. I knew I was pushing an unhealthy product, but I think I brushed it off and placed the accountability on the customers -- they can choose whether or not to buy. We’re not forcing anyone.

This year, it felt different to me -- maybe it was the new cookie, Mango Crème, marketed as nutritious by the organization (it was anything but) that pushed me over the edge, or maybe now as a leader I felt a stronger obligation to practice what I preached or maybe it was simply that my knowledge had deepened over the year. I knew now that sugar and processed food were addicting, making it difficult for those fully immersed in the Standard American Diet to walk passed something they knew tasted good -- like a box of Thin Mints. Sugar is as addictive as alcohol. And I certainly wouldn’t bring a recovering alcoholic to a bar or ask him point black if he’d like a brew.

Organizations like the Girl Scouts are missing an opportunity to affect change in a long-term, meaningful way. If I can be frank, Girl Scouts is trading health for profit, much like the big players in the food industry. I simply can't be a part of it anymore.

Some may respond that anything in moderation is OK. Really? Would a moderate intake of alcohol be acceptable for an alcoholic? Did you know that a moderate intake of any unhealthful food could finally push the man with two stents into full blown open heart surgery or worse? If moderation were really practiced in this country, we wouldn’t be facing the biggest health crisis of our time. And if we’re honest, the Girl Scouts organization isn’t banking on moderation. Like any food product pusher, it’s aiming for "overindulgence."

Others may suggest that cookie selling is about building interpersonal and business skills in the girls. That may certainly be an outcome for some (though in my experience, the parents push the cookies not the girls), but with an approximate $700M in annual sales, I’m skeptical that’s really the driving force; to say nothing of the organization's inflexibility on when you can sell, where you can sell, etc.

Adding to my skepticism is that this year the organization chose to take 15 percent of every troop’s initial order less than one month after the sale began. This caused immense stress on “volunteer” troop leaders to generate funds to cover the amount in such a short period of time. Some had to ask parents to “front” money. Does this sound like a fundraiser where the primary concern is building interpersonal and business skills in little girls? I think the fundraiser may have started off that way but when the dollars began flowing in it changed, and increasing sales year-over-year became the ultimate goal.

But let’s give the organization the benefit of the doubt. It’s all about building life skills. Could those same skills not be learned selling more healthful products or by hosting community health expos across the country where whole-food is sampled and messages about nutrition and alternatives to the Standard American Diet are prepared and communicated by the girls? Aren’t these stronger life skills to impart on our daughters than anything that could be gained from selling a case of Caramel Delights? Shouldn’t the organization’s primary goal be teaching the girls through words and deeds Gandhi’s, "Be the change you want to see in the world," rather than asking these future leaders to help it profit on sickness and contribute to rising healthcare costs?

Someone “reminded” me that the Brownie Journey book has a chapter on health and nutrition and that as leaders we're encouraged to teach the girls about both. She’s correct. But when we share that lesson and immediately turn around and put boxes of cookies to sell in those little girls’ hands, isn’t that the same as teaching them not to smoke while blowing smoke in their faces?

I have no doubt that the Girl Scouts organization will go on to see another banner cookie year. They’ll simply do so without my involvement or my daughter’s. I have and will continue to support the Girl Scouts monetarily and through volunteer hours.

To those volunteers and parents who spend hours working to make each cookie sale a success, I stand not in judgment of you. I admire your dedication to your troops and to your daughters. Just as I have a right to disengage from the sale, you have a right to stay engaged. I simply want to share my point of view and state my truth.

For our 2013/2014 Brownie year, I'd like coordinate our own little health expo, where the girls will introduce our community to the benefits of a whole-food lifestyle. Having our younger voices learn about and speak to the long-term dangers and consequences of processed food is one of the greatest life lessons we could ever pass on to these beautiful minds.

To the Girl Scouts organization, I ask you to put health above profit. Your leadership in this area could inspire other companies to follow. I implore you to stand by your mission of “Building girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.” With that could come a tagline change, “Be a Smart Cookie, Raise a Health Nut.”

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Meet "The Plant STRONG 5ive"

We are so excited to share with you today our new blog name and logo!

Let me explain our reasons for the change.

Rolling out the Breaking Four blog was a snap decision. It was the night before Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast and about five hours before our power disruption. Matt and I were sitting in the living room and I turned to him and said, “I think we have a blog in us.” Several people had suggested to me that I start one, but I recognized they said this only because I write for a living. I always scoffed at the idea because I never felt I had a point of view worth sharing with a broad audience. But the night before Sandy something felt different.

Matt asked what I would write about. My gut knew what I wanted to discuss -- nutrition, specifically our whole-food, plant-based lifestyle -- but I worried that I’d turn people off. I’ve seen people tune out the minute they hear the word “vegan.” Would anyone I know seriously want to listen to Matt or me champion it? That had definitely not been the trend thus far. I thought for a few moments and responded, “We’ll set a goal to complete our first full marathon in less than four hours. We can call it Breaking Four (a take on our favorite television show Breaking Bad) and share our training journey.”

Matt was game (running a marathon had already been in the cards for us for 2013), but deep down he knew where our passion really lie -- whole-food veganism. He asked if we would talk about plant-based nutrition. I said “yes” but that it couldn’t be our focus for the reason I described above.

That was it in a nut shell. I did a quick Google search, found Blogger, created Breaking Four and piloted it to a small group of Facebook friends who I knew were fitness enthusiasts for their feedback. The rest, as they say, is history.

It didn’t take me long to find my voice and it was exactly where Matt suspected it would be -- in the world of whole-food, plant-strong living. Food fuels our body so what we put into it matters more than anything. Knowing that, believing that and living that how could it not have been the focus? If we can inspire or motivate even a handful of people to make better dietary choices, just as author Michael Pollan; health advocates Kris Carr, Kathy Freston and Chef AJ; athletes Rich Roll and Scott Jurek; and Doctors Barnard, Esselstyn, Campbell, Fuhrman, Ornish, et al have done for us, then this blog will have served its purpose.

Over time, I grew more comfortable writing the words “vegan,” “plant-based” and “whole-food.” The emphasis naturally shifted from running almost exclusively to nutrition.

Recently, I had the pleasure of taking a food blogging course at Manhattan’s Natural Gourmet Institute with vegan chef and author Alex Jamieson. Alex stressed the importance of defining very specifically your target audience and niche and then selecting a blog name that supports both. Though Matt and I still plan to train and run a sub-4-hour marathon in September with half marathons and other races sprinkled in between (we seriously love running), Breaking Four does not define who we are nor is the name intuitive to those we are trying to reach.

Our journey has also never been just about Matt and me. It began and continues today as a family. Our children will go on to have families of their own, armed with the knowledge that Matt and I lacked for 40 years. Their children -- our grandchildren -- will benefit on day-one. How extraordinarily lucky we are to be in positions to break the cycle of unhealthy eating and living … not just for us but for our children, their children and their children’s children!

While individually our Plant STRONG 5ive family is at different stages in our journey, our end goal is the same: to grow and thrive within the plant-strong community and to share our knowledge and lessons learned with all of you.

The Plant STRONG 5ive brand is inspirational, aspirational and it defines who we are and how we live. Simply put … it’s our niche.

Before I close, I want to thank my husband for conceptualizing The Plant STRONG 5ive logo. I hope you like it as much as we do!

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