Producing a Healthier You

Healthy You Network’s recently opened community center offers a variety of resources for people exploring, and already embracing, a plant-based, whole foods lifestyle.

As interest in the local food movement rises, more and more people are understanding the value and power of knowing where their victuals come from, how they are grown and the environmental impacts of choosing organic provisions.

It is also becoming abundantly clear that our shopping choices have the ability to build stronger communities via economically supporting local growers while sustaining our own personal health. Research supports the fact that we are what we eat and the fuel we put into our bodies determines the vibrancy and longevity of our lives.

But, short of hiring a nutritionist or health coach, it can be a challenging feat to understand where to begin and how to proceed. To fill that gap for the Tucson community is Healthy You Network (HYN), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that touts the benefits of a plant-based, whole foods diet; generally defined as emphasizing vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes; consuming unprocessed or minimally processed foods, and excluding all animal products while minimizing salt and sugar.

Comprised of working volunteers and a board of directors, HYN was established in 2011 with a handful of people who recognized the need for outreach and education; a need to share with folks the fact that most chronic diseases are often a result of dietary decisions.

Robert Cheeke, vegan bodybuilder, speaks at the Healthy You Network Nov. 17 VegFest. photo courtesy Healthy You Network

The group began hosting symposiums, bringing in the who’s who advocates (scientists, athletes and medical doctors) of the plant-based diet. While the public interest was there, as evidenced by attendance at the events, HYN realized “they needed to sustain and support people interested in this lifestyle and be an outreach center,” said Media Relations Coordinator Jamie Roach. “They needed to establish a place for both people who were already plant-based and for those considering it.”

At the end of October, that goal became a reality when HYN opened its resource center at 3913 E. Pima St. Roach said HYN will hold food demonstrations, first Saturday monthly pot lucks, along with offering lectures and a book and DVD library.

The center’s events will be affordable, Roach said, as “we want to reach the community at large and don’t want price to keep people away.”

In that spirit, HYN is now Tucson’s – and Arizona’s – vanguard as hosts for the free VegFest on Sunday, Nov. 17. Taking place at the Hilton Tucson East, 7600 E. Broadway Blvd., VegFest brings opportunities to learn about the fitness and environmental benefits of being a plant-based, whole foods consumer. Similar events happen nationally and internationally, but this is the first of its kind in the state.

VegFest runs from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., with presentations by Caleb Torres, June E. Stevens, vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke, Milton Mills, M.D., Sunizona Family Farms and Tucson Organic Gardeners along with a Fed by Threads fashion show.

It will showcase a peek into “what the whole food lifestyle looks like and tastes like,” Roach said. “It is all about the food!”

More information on HYN, its community center and VegFest is available at HealthyYouNetwork.org or by dialing (520) 275-7999.

Category: Community, Events, FOOD & DRINK