By: Faith Ralphs

I grew up in Sedona, Arizona in a large family, eating what is now referred to as SAD (Standard American Diet). Although we ate lots of fruits and vegetables, we also drank some Capri Suns, poured corn-syrupy maple syrup on our pancakes, and ate the occasional pepperoni pizza. But everyone was fit and healthy, so why not?

Fast forward to when I was about 15. My grandparents on both sides were suffering from various chronic diseases. It was hard to watch, and I think it made my parents think about preventing such problems from happening to them. We also had some friends who didn’t eat refined sugar (ever!), and that inspired us. My mom joined a Word of Wisdom email group and read a book called Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman about the power of plant foods. She says she gained a testimony of those principles, and it forever changed the way she cooks. She shared some things she was learning, and I decided to join her in not eating meat. I am very thankful for my mom’s influence and example.

Although not fully whole food, plant-based (WFPB) yet, I didn’t eat any meat from the time I was 16 to when I left for college at 18. While at college I was more of a social meat-eater. On my mission in Paraguay I tried my best to get fruits and vegetables, but I also ate a lot of beef and more white bread than ever before in my life, trying to be polite to those who fed us.

Every marriage and family has their own food culture, philosophy, and health habits. When I got married we had to establish our own. My husband, Carson, had given up cow milk as a teenager to see if it would clear up his acne and prevent his frequent ear infections. He stopped guzzling the stuff and voila! His skin cleared up, and his earaches went away. Although he didn’t drink cow milk when I met him, he ate a typical college boy diet otherwise (think lots of spaghetti and $1 frozen pizzas).

My husband knew, before we got married, that I was prone to only eat meat for special occasions, that I bought almond milk instead of cow milk, and drank green smoothies every day. He loved that about me (and still does, thankfully!). I told him I’d be willing to cook him meat if he really wanted me to, but he said he was fine just eating it at restaurants. Although we didn’t eat meat, we still bought eggs and cheese those first few years, and probably way too many tortilla chips.

Fast forward to when we’d been married three years, had lost two babies due to incompetent cervix, and were now struggling to conceive for months. I had several symptoms of PCOS and rarely ever had a menstrual cycle. Although I thought I knew that a vegetarian diet was the healthiest, I needed reassurance. When you google the best diet for PCOS (or any other insulin-related disorder), you’ll be told to eat low-carb and high-fat. I desperately wanted to get pregnant and really needed to figure out how to eat to improve my fertility.

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