Is this you?
Here are some of the challenges I can help you with…
Social pressure
You’re trying to eat differently, but you’re surrounded by people who don’t understand or support your choices. You don’t want to disappoint your family, stand out at social events, or have to explain yourself every time you say no to something. It’s exhausting to feel judged, pressured, or like you’re always inconveniencing everyone, but you don’t know how to navigate these situations without giving in or making things awkward.
Feeling deprived
You want to go plant-based, but you don’t want to give up the foods you love. You genuinely can’t imagine life without your favorite meals, treats, and comfort foods, and you’re worried you’ll be left feeling deprived and constantly thinking about all the things you can't have.
Tired of starting over
You've tried so many diets, resets, detoxes, challenges, and fresh starts. You throw yourself into something new, feel amazing for a little while, and then sooner or later it becomes too much to maintain. Life happens, you slip back into old habits, and you end up right back where you started. After going through this cycle over and over again, you’re starting to feel hopeless and like there must be something wrong with you.
Emotional eating + cravings
You’re stuck in a cycle where you know you’re not physically hungry, but you still grab something to eat. Maybe you’re tired, stressed, lonely, bored, or overwhelmed, and food feels like the easiest way to feel better, even if it’s only for a little while. You want to get out of this cycle, but you’re not sure how. You’ve tried telling yourself to just have more willpower or stay disciplined, but that hasn’t helped.
Information overload
You're trying to figure out how to eat healthier, but everywhere you look, someone is telling you something different. One person says fruit is bad for you, another says you should eat nothing but fruit, and someone else says you need to eat tons of protein. You're overwhelmed by all the conflicting advice and don't know what to believe anymore.
Not feeling comfortable in wellness spaces
You’ve been in wellness spaces where you couldn’t fully relax because you were always aware of how you might be perceived. Maybe you’ve felt judged because of your body, sexuality, gender, race, disability, neurodivergence, or because you don’t fit the usual picture of who wellness spaces are for in some other way. You want support with your health, but you don’t want to spend the whole time wondering whether a space is actually safe before you can open up and be honest about what you need.
You're at your grandmother's house and everyone has an opinion about what you're eating. You're there for Sunday dinner, and the table's full. There's rice and peas, oxtail, curry chicken, macaroni and cheese, and fried plantain. You love this food. It's everything you grew up on. But you've been trying to eat differently, and you're not sure what to put on your plate. Your cousin notices you hesitating and says, "don't tell me you're doing that vegan thing now." And suddenly the whole table is weighing in on why you need meat to be healthy.
This is your fifth attempt at eating plant-based, and part of you is already waiting for it to fall apart. You've done this before… felt amazing for a few weeks, your joint pain eased up, you felt lighter and more alive, and then life got busy, and you slipped back into old habits. Now your knees are aching again and you're dragging by noon, and you're starting over from square one.
Every time you look for guidance on going plant-based, it feels like it’s just not for you. You're at your laptop, feeling bloated and miserable after dinner again, and you go to YouTube and type in "how to go plant-based." But every thumbnail is the same thin white woman, the same aesthetic, the same girl boss energy that has nothing to do with your life, and not a single dish that looks like anything you grew up eating. You close the tab.
You know you want to go plant-based, but when it comes to actually knowing what to eat, you have no idea where to start. You're scrolling Instagram and come across someone’s before and after. In their before photos, they look tired and sluggish, and their after photos show them looking vibrant and energized. They mention how their fibroids have started to shrink, they lost weight without trying, and their brain fog cleared up. You start feeling hopeful that you could have that same transformation. But when you try to picture what you'd actually eat for dinner tonight without meat or dairy, your mind goes completely blank.
You've been trying to make plant-based versions of your favorite foods, but nothing tastes the same, and you’re starting to wonder if eating healthy means never enjoying food again. You sit down to dinner with your fried "chicken" made from oyster mushrooms and cashew "mac and cheese" that took two hours to make and ingredients you had to track down at three different stores. You take a bite and it's... fine. But it's not the same. You eat half of it, then pick up your phone and order takeout. Again.
You join a plant-based membership hoping to finally get some support, but the community is overwhelmingly white and feels like it has nothing to do with your life. You start going through the content and it looks good. You're feeling cautiously hopeful. Then you make your way into the community section. One of the first things you see is a photo of a white woman with "locs" holding a bowl of fruit. A few posts down, a white guy is "rapping" about beating up meat eaters. The comments are mostly fire emojis. You just wanted to learn how to eat more plants. You're not sure what you just walked into.
You finally find a black plant-based community that feels like home, until someone shares their pronouns and the comments turn ugly. You spend the first few days just reading, nodding along, feeling a sense of belonging you haven't felt in any of the other groups you've tried. Then someone posts a sweet introduction, sharing their name, their health struggles, and that they go by they/them. Some people welcome them warmly, but then things shift. Someone calls it an agenda, and the comments just get uglier from there. You scroll looking for a moderator response, only to see one of them heart-reacting the ugly comments.
You come across a post from a white plant-based coach you follow using slavery imagery to make a point about diet, and the comments are full of praise. It's an AI-generated image of enslaved black people in chains with the words "stop eating like a slave" written over it. Underneath is a list of foods from your culture. The post has hundreds of likes. People in the comments, most of them white, are saying things like "so powerful" and "this needed to be said." You read through waiting for someone to push back. Nobody does.
If you recognized yourself in one or more of these scenarios, you're exactly who this is for.
Who I work with…
If you're still not sure this is really for you, I primarily work with black women and others who often feel excluded or uncomfortable in typical wellness spaces. It doesn't matter where you are in your plant-based journey. You might be:
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A complete beginner who has never tried plant-based eating
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Someone who has tried going plant-based before but keeps starting and stopping
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A vegetarian or vegan who heavily relies on starches, vegan junk food, and meat substitutes, and wants to start eating more whole fruits and vegetables
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Someone who's already plant-based but not seeing the health improvements you expected, or even feeling worse
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Someone who has tried a raw vegan diet, but found it unsatisfying and wants to incorporate some simple cooked foods without feeling guilty or negatively impacting your health
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Someone who isn't particularly interested in plant-based eating, but you're dealing with ongoing health issues and want to explore what changing your diet can do
There's just one more thing I want to mention before you decide if this is right for you.
My approach works best if you...
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are willing to take things slowly and trust the process​
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are open to learning and trying new things in the kitchen
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are willing to be honest with yourself about your habits and patterns
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want to understand the why behind what you're doing, not just follow a meal plan
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Does this sound like you?
If so, I'm confident I can help you go plant-based and stay plant-based without feeling deprived or overwhelmed in the process.
Want to stay connected?
I’d love to walk alongside you and support you on your journey. Every week, I share all the things I wish I knew when I first started on this path, and what I’m learning as I go. I also share what I’m eating, so you’ll have plenty of simple meal ideas to try when you need some inspiration.
