This Blue Zones resident medical shock led her to a plant-based diet

It hit me directly. Three out of five people in my healthy family were cancer patients.

That was shocking, and that was also really scary. I spent a lot of years kind of in fear,

when was the shoe going to drop for me? About 15 years ago, I had routine blood work done.

The doctor came in, and sat me down, and she said, Karen, has anyone ever told you that you have lupus?

And she said that, well, on your blood test it shows that your CRP levels are up to about 13.

The normal range for CRP was around one or two, and mine was 13. That was shocking to me. I never heard that before.

And I'd never certainly been diagnosed with lupus. So after the scare, I started doing my own research.

And I discovered that many people who focused on eating plant-based

were doing a lot better in the healthy category. The first juice cleanse I went on, I

went out and bought a juicer, the cheapest one, I could find. And I set it up in my kitchen, I bought all my organic vegetables, and I didn't follow any recipes.

I just juiced things that I liked. And I did that for 15 days. Following the 15 days, I went back to my doctor

and was retested. And the CRP had dropped into the low normal range. So just by changing my diet, I could be making

huge differences in my health. As a result of all of that, my family does embrace a lifestyle that includes

a more plant-focused diet plan. And everybody's healthier because of it, my husband

as well. He fought a little bit against that, because he's kind of an old fashioned meat and potatoes guy at first. But now he gets elbowed at work all the time.

And are you eating that salad again? Are you eating that quinoa bowl? Once my family was on board, we decided to offer it to the community, give the opportunity for people

to come to a place which is focused on plants. It's been really exciting to be sharing

the information and the lifestyle changes and the opportunities. It's been so rewarding, and