Buddha-Full North Vancouver

What else to do in a spare hour than to finally hang out at a good all vegan place in North Vancouver: Buddha Full.

It’s got this “all raw vegan” vibe but they serve both raw vegan and cooked vegan food and the interior and design is just beautiful.

First of all, I came in and by accident got to listen to the conversation two of the staff members had... it was about Christmas dinner and one of them shared that he had to sit at a non-vegan Christmas table. Sounded like music in my ears. Yes, I miss this: hanging out at work with co-workers that share the same Moral believe-System with oneself: it’s not okay to pet the rabbit in the backyard and make the dog a family member but at the same time eat parts of pigs or cows. Fundamentally, that was always my main point: animals are all the same, share the same feelings, pain, love, have relationships, no matter what species they are. 

Having worked in 3 different all-vegan restaurants, having made a ton of friends in those jobs, was just awesome. Okay, my pay cheque might have been minimal and I could only do this because I was living rent-free, but it was just a great experience. 

Now, witnessing this conversation, old memories come up and make me smile. 

I ordered a “Kick-start latte” as I was just about to go to spin class. It tasted really good, sweetened with dates only, but nothings greater than having dates, lol. 

If you’re ever in the area around the bottom

of Lonsdale or at the Quay, make a trip to Buddha Full. 

Check out their menu online. Follow their Instagram. 

Have a glance on their menu:

Food, Wine and Wishes

On August 22, I had the pleasure to join the event “Food, Wine and Wishes” at Loutet Farm in North Vancouver.
It was a charity event with silent auction to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Loutet Farm. Loutet Farm is a project initiated by the North Shore Neighbourhood House.
This project is called Edible Garden Project.

“The Vision: Employing underutilized public parkland provided by the City of North Vancouver, Loutet Farm’s goal is to operate an economically viable urban farm within a residential area. Funds generated through the sale of the produce are directed back into the operations of the farm while creating valuable green-collar jobs for north shore residents. In addition, the Loutet Farm offers a range of workshops and hands on learning opportunities focused on sustainable food production for both adults and children.”

Over 200 people are working at Loutet Farm, a non-profit urban farm; producing tons of vegetables per year that are used to provide food to people in need. This is quite unique. 

I'm sharing this because the idea of having urban farms in cities is great; a project to grow local and seasonal vegetables, to teach children the steps between planting seed and harvesting food and to work outside in the nature together - we need more of this. 

It was a beautiful evening with my colleagues and I thank my work for the spontaneous invitation.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Plastic reduction tips

I wanted to write this blogpost for a long time. I don’t think a lot of people are aware of this topic: Plastic. I feel like, every time I start to discuss it with someone, most people just roll with their eyes. They think: Let’s focus on what is actually important, plastic is not on their list.  

I don’t want to sound negative in this post, however I think it is relevant to talk it out. 

The fact is: I try to avoid plastic as much as possible. I’m far away from being a perfect example. My toothbrush is made of plastic. And some foods I buy are wrapped in plastic. My shampoo comes in a plastic bottle.

Still, I find myself turning around in the supermarket in slow motion – and I feel like an alien.

The fact, that almost everything is wrapped in plastic is shocking. And if there are loose oranges or avocadoes in the supermarket, people still go and get plastic bags to transport them. I don’t understand this behaviour. I really don’t. Especially when it comes to something like oranges and avocados, fruits and vegetables that we peel before we eat; there is not even a hygienical benefit to putting it into a plastic bag! Why is a cucumber wrapped in a condom? Why? 

It makes me wonder, there must be a big marketing going on behind the scenes. Maybe people think that their fruits and vegetables are “brand-new” if it comes wrapped in plastic. Maybe they like it because they think that nobody has ever touched it before they after unwrapping it. Which is not true. Someone does the picking, the assorting (finding the moldy and bad veggies), someone does the quality management. Lots of people can have their fingers on your cucumber, before it gets wrapped in its condom.

Maybe its just that soft, straight, see-through shiny feeling that we like between our fingers. It makes us think that we buy is a high-quality product. Wrapped for us. Like a birthday present. 

Whenever my boyfriend and me go shopping together, I have a really good time. We have fun, only picking the fruits and vegetables that you can buy loose without any plastic. We almost always find everything we need, or else we simply substitute things (like picking sweet potatoes instead of a plastic bag full of normal potatoes). These exchanges don’t harm our creations, our meals. In fact, sometimes it even tastes better. We like the change and we like the feeling of not supporting the plastic industry. We transport our veggies and fruits loose in our own textile shopping bags that we like to reuse. Here in Canada, they use the concept of “un-packed self-service fill up stations” where you can bring your own container and fill up your customized amount of products, like nuts, seeds, noodles, rice, herbs and spices, oats, wheat, anything. I love that concept. No plastic garbage is created, unless you rip off a new plastic bag to fill it up (which is totally against the beautiful concept).

When we arrive at the cash register, we see lots of people with lots of single plastic bags. One for the tomatoes, one for the bell pepper, some people even stuff them with products, that are already wrapped in plastic! It’s unbelievable. 

If you think I am overexaggerating then read this collection of facts: 

• On average, a plastic bag is used for 11 minutes.
• An average European causes more than 100 kilograms of plastic, every year.
• In the oceans there are over 100 million tons of plastic swimming right now. Of course, sea life is affected by this. Fish, and all other sea animals struggle and die out because of this. Birds that catch fish are affected too. Scientists found plastic in seagulls and sea eagles
   for example.
• Once plastic is produced, it wont disappear. Actually, it takes 500 years till plastic rottenes.
• One tube of toothpaste may contain up to 10% of microplastic. 
• Plastic often contains a softener, bisphenol A. Its scientifically proven to cause cancer, asthma and infertility. 
• Only 11 out of 100000 substances, that are used for the production of plastic in the last decade, have been analysed.
• The plastic industry in Europe only makes over 500 billion Euros every year. I didn’t quite find the number for north America and Asia but it must be at least equal.

Isn’t that shocking? What kind of world did we create for our children and grand-children? 

If you want to improve your plastic consumption (and at the same time save some $$$); here are some of my tips:

• Recycling: You can re-use all plastic bags that you have at home right now. If they are dirty, wash and dry them. Use them, as long as possible, now that you have them. 
• Prepare for your shopping trips: Set aside some textile shopping bags and some of the smaller plastic bags that you already have at home and take them with you when you go shopping. 
• If you go shopping unprepared (or you forgot your bags at home) here is a lifesaver: Just grab a cardboard box (you often find those at the fresh veggies or fruits), it should help you carry your groceries to the car. Bonus: while heavy plastic bags often rip, these boxes hold way more weight!
• Collect your organic garbage in a separate bin. Order garbage bags online that are made of corn starch, they will just disappear with your vegetable and fruit garbage.
• This one is for all women: Use a mooncup/lady cup/menstrual cup instead of tampons. Ok, its made of silicon but it will last a long time and you save so much plastic garbage by simply not buying tampons anymore.
  For all mamas: Use textile diapers for your baby. These diapers are made to reuse. You can put them in the laundry. This is also a lot cheaper.
• Topic: Toothbrush/Toothpaste: I use a toothpaste that is made out of natural ingredients only, it comes in a little glass jar and it whitenes the teeth. Also there is the option of purchasing a toothbrush that is 100% recyclable, its made with wood/bamboo, check it out here. Its not a lot pricier, and you get a good quality.
• Getting fresh veggies and fruit: Check online if you find a local market in your area. You will not only get good quality from local farms, but also support the local vegetable farmers. Also its nice to eat “with the season” and adapt a little bit to what is available right now. Sometimes you get good deals on these markets as well. 
• Water bottles: If you want to avoid buying water bottles, consider getting one nice metal water bottle, that you can refill. I cant drink tap water where I live (it just doesn’t taste good to me) so I got 2 15 litre bottles that I fill up, either in the supermarket on a fill-up station or in the nature by the creek (we found a natural quarry nearby).
• Replace takeaway articles with re-use articles: Use a metal bottle instead of plastic bottle, bring your own coffee cup to starbucks instead taking a plastic cup. Cheap, There are even straws made of glass or metal that you can put in the dish washer. Get one good razer instead of single-use razers. By the way, here is a trick to use razorblades longer than just for a week (up to a month): Simply use an old pair of jeans to sharpen it: With slight pressure, move the razorblade in opposite shaving direction over the jeansfabric. 
• Have a backpack or shopping bags with you when you go to get new shoes, clothes or books. The cashier almost automatically puts them into a plastic bag. 
• Check your clothes and avoid (unless its sportswear) polyester. Polyester is plastic. Use tencil, cotton or linen instead.

Please share this with your friends and your family. It is really important that we all do steps in the right direction now. 

*The links added just serve as inspiration. There are no affiliates attached, I don't get anything if you make a purchase.

MEET in Gastown / MEET on Main

Hey, if you ever come to Vancouver, this should be on you top ten to-do list. Meet in Gastown or Meet on Main. I can totally recommend this restaurant, and now I'll tell you why.

Maybe you have experienced something like that in the past: You walk into a restaurant, you read through the menu and you just want to order everything.

Whatever I ordered so far was out of this world. When I first discovered MEET, all I could order was one of their burgers. They have so many delicious (all vegan) burgers on their menu, it's incredible (for example a "southern bbq burger" with whiskey sauce or a "mac n' cheez burger" which is loaded with mac and cheese sauce made from cashews). I always thought I'll miss out on something if I order one of their bowls or a salad instead of these crazy delicious burgers (that - by the way come with a little side salad and a mountain of fries). I was wrong. Their other dishes (for example "the lovely" - a bowl with brown rice, kale, coconut bacon, marinated organic tofu, shredded carrot and a fantastic almond satay sauce makes me hungry just thinking of it!) are also very good! They have a really tasty chili sin carne on their list, that you can always order on the side! 

However, for your first visit, I would always point to the burgers on the list. 

I don't really know if you can make a reservation (because we ended up there more or less spontaneously) but I would definitely recommend that. This place usually is extremely crowded, sometimes the waitress told us to come back in one hour. 

I didn't really get to order many desserts, because I was just so satisfied that there was no need for it. Next time, I will definitely try the deep fried banana or a cheesecake. 

The pricing is more than fair. You pay around $15 for a main dish, which is - in my opinion really a good price considering that there will definitely only be vegan food on your plate and some of the ingredients are organic!

If I am asked which location I like better, I'd go to Gastown. I just love the atmosphere there, vintage tables and loft style come together in the old part of the city. It's located at 12 Water St. and Meet on Main is located at 4288 Main Street. 

Check out the menu here.

Fact is: You get everything here. Vegan, optional gluten-free. Healthy and nutritious and a little greasy and fast-food-style. Go and check it out!

The New Forks Over Knives Magazine

Forks over Knives is a really good documentary about the health benefits of a plant based whole foods diet. If you haven't watched it yet, you can watch it on iTunes, Amazon or on Netflix. Recently the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy released a documentary called 'What The Health' that uncovers more facts about how massive the impact of vegan food on our health is. You can watch it here. 

My intention was to add in as many vegan documentaries as possible into a post, that is about a magazine. Sorry, not Sorry. 

However, this magazine earns some serious credits. Its 96 colored pictures are full of interviews, success stories, expert tips and other interesting stories. For me, the craziest fact is, that there are over 70 delicious vegan and healthy recipes in this single magazine. You might think, US$ 9.99 is expensive? With that many recipes, I can call it a cookbook. Also its not financed by advertisements because its completely ad-free. Forks over knives calls it a "Bookazine"

I attached you a recipe down below, which shows how to prepare the burrito bowl from the front cover. Copyright Forks over knives. 

Get your copy before June 26th! You can order it online and the shipping is worldwide. I don't get paid for this, haha.
If you live in the States or in Canada you can also check out Save On, Walmart, Safeway or other grocery shops that sell magazines, or bookstores.

I can totally recommend it. BTW: Imagine the world was vegan. Impossible? And here comes a free tip: Watch this movie about it. 

Loverope - a simple individual positive reminder

Dear Readers,

I am very pleased to finally start this english blog! Besides some technical issues I was dealing with a full schedule so I just couldn't really get myself to write and post.
But I really want this blog to be filled with quality, with things I want to share and thoughts I have at the moment, than just being all about creating content and promoting things to make money.
Or, to say it in a positive way, I want to be who I am and I want to share whats happening in my mind. Be who you are is a message that we should all remind ourselves - everyday.
One way to do so, is Loverope.
I found Loverope on Instagram. Loverope, is a customized simple individually handcrafted bracelet, that reminds you of exactly what you want to be reminded of. 
Whenever you look on your hands, you can read the words on your Loverope - and yes, thats a good way of reminding yourself. Lucky as I am, I won a Loverope thanks to a Giveaway, and mine says now the words Vegan, Love and Namaste. These are three little reminders, that are very important to me.
Vegan: Veganism is not only my way of eating food. I don't need to be reminded to eat vegan food instead of non-vegan food. ;-) The word Vegan is a daily reminder of being active, and spreading the vegan message.

Love: Love reminds me of loving myself. For me, its always easier to give Love to others than receiving it from myself. In this case, my biggest challenge is to think positive about myself. 
Namaste: Namaste is a word I really got to know in my Yoga Teacher Training. Translated it means: 'I see the Light in you.' It helps me realize that there is the same light in everyone of us, and it helps me being less judgmental. It's also a good proof that there are things, words, and sayings that I know for a very long time, but it takes some time to really get the full understanding of what it means (to myself).
If you are interested to create and order your own Loverope, check it out here
(worldwide shipping, $20.95)
__________________________________________________________________________
HERE IS YOUR DISCOUNT CODE - 20% OFF YOUR ORDER: JULIALECHNER20

What I personally really appreciate is the use of Vegan Leather. 
I also want to thank Chris from Loverope, he answered some questions for my blog. You can read the full interview here. Just a quick spoiler: You can feel his wisdom in his answers!

1. Before we get into this, could you introduce yourself and give one fact about yourself that you really love.
Hey I’m Christian and one fact about me is that i put Love above anything else.

2. Can you tell us what the idea behind LoveRope.bracelet is and how this project has started? Sure, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family (my parents have a family business selling mushrooms & berries - importing and exporting them) and my dad overtook that business from my grandfather, but he was never really happy with it although it brought good financial returns - sooo I thought to myself: “Well no matter what I do in the future it will be something that will make me happy despite of the money I earn and things I do." So i went out into the world and created myself through post-its sought out to make the world a happier place through a 12.000 mile road trip and now I am creating my own bracelet that shall spread the love. 

3. Do you believe in the power of mantras? Do you think we need a daily reminder of being positive? 
Thoughts = Words = Actions = Reality
So if you ask me if Mantras are power I would say Mantras = Reality
We all need a daily positive reminder to love ourselves everyday a little more - this can come in form of a person/situation oooor a little bracelet in my case :)

4. Do you think meditation is important? Does it help us to manifest what we want to experience in life?
Meditation creates space for your divine vessel to receive (informations, manifestations, guidance)
Manifestation is an essential tool for our human experience - many things can be experienced so much better and richer when they are manifested - like how it is to be an entrepreneur and have your own company or startup or blog or prodcut

5. How important is gratitude in your opinion? 
Gratitude = Start of all Abundance
If we don’t foster Gratitude daily we are walking a way of these abundant mentality and you know where we end up when we don’t direct our thoughts in a positive direction (thoughts = reality)

6. Are you vegan? (if yes, when and why did you make the transition?)
I am not vegan, I am vegetarian. I was vegan for 3 months but then gave it up due to social settings and frequent travelling/non-availability to get pure vegan choices - that might change in the future. India is a great country to eat 100% Vegetarian all the time.

7. Is there anything you want to say? 
Yes, follow your dreams. They are all possible. Take baby-steps and leave. your. mark. You are unique just like everyone else. Thank you soso much for your time & effort to read that.
You can reach me via:
www.chrisitianmauerer.com - www.loverope.net - www.instagram.com/christianmauerer - www.instagram.com/loverope.bracelet
Eternal Love & Blessings
Christian
♡

Before the Flood - Full Movie

Leonardo DiCaprio and National Geographic created this wonderful movie, that I can highly recommend. It is more than important to watch this and learn about the environment, the planet and the change.