My name Mercedes Stoner I’m from Apple Valley California, originally from Inglewood, CA. I’m a single mom of two awesome kids. My son Landon, 4 and my daughter Lauren that’s 12. I’m in a Mompreneur, blogger, brand influencer & I’m studying to become a holistic nutritionist.
If you’re looking to lose weight check out healthycanbegood.com I also have my personal blog mshealthycanbegood.com for holistic cures and brands I love & Follow me on Instagram & Facebook at @mshealthycanbegood & @Healthycanbegoodmeals
What was the moment you realize that you wanted to go vegan?
I actually woke up one morning during a retrograde, my “BeGood’s” aka my followers know I talk a lot about Mercury retrograde. Lol! But yes. I woke up one morning during one of the retrogrades and I felt like God was telling me “You cannot show people the right way if you’re not doing things the right way. You’re not eating the right way. You shouldn’t be eating animals. Eating them doesn’t keep you healthy so you have to lead by example Mercedes.” And it was like after that, I told myself, it’s time to do what God wants me to do. And I did. I went vegan
How long have you been Vegan?
I’ve been vegan almost a year now but It seems longer. Lol! It feels longer though because I did it in steps. I’ve been transitioning since the end of 2020, limiting my meat intake. I actually haven’t had chicken since Jan. of 2020, then I became the pescatarian, eventually became vegan. Once you start eliminating meat & dairy from your meals, they don’t taste the same when you do eat them, I personally would get sick. I feel like if you rush into veganism most of the time it doesn’t last. But if you do it in levels, like you know first become a Flexitarian, Pescatarian, Lacto Vegetarian, Vegetarian, then vegan, its easier to maintain and not regress.
It seems like it’s easier & long-standing because you’ve gotten those things that you think that you need, out of your system, like the cravings.
Why is being Vegan important to you?
I got my gallbladder taken out this time last year and I had a cancer scare and all my life I’ve struggled with being overweight so all three of those factors made it even easier, you know for me to go vegan because I realized my health was in jeopardy, like things could get worse if I didn’t change my diet. I don’t want to be a victim of food. I don’t want food to take me out. My life is more important than eating animals.
Any recommended Vegan books?
The Happy Vegan by a Russell Simmons is one of my favorite vegan books. It helped me transition to veganism. Its funny because I actually got a chance to do yoga with Russell Simmons, (thanks to a good friend of mine )after I became vegan, so that was pretty cool.
Any recommended social sites, Facebook Groups or other?
My recommended pages would have to be on Instagram. Lol. Check out @vegantakeover @chefahki @badassvegan @theveganfatkid @vegworld
Do you have a favorite movie or videos or your own media that you want to share?
I actually have a few favorite movies. Stepbrothers is definitely on the top five. I love Coming to America, Friday, Friday after next, trading places. Lol! I love comedies. But my fave is “The Secret”. I feel like I’m kind of starting to master the law of attraction, so I try to watch it more often to brush up on it.
Do you actively promote veganism? How?
Yes . I promote veganism I’m on my Instagram page on my social media pages, when I meet strangers shopping at the grocery store, or just out in general. I have a vegan food page @healthycanbegoodmeals on Instagram that the “BeGood’s” requested. They wanted to know the things that I eat & the vegan brands I prefer, so I said, let me make a page so they can see.
What is the vegan stereotype you hear the most and how do you respond to it?
People always think that vegans are supposed to be skinny. Lmao!! We are all different sizes. We’re regular people. Most of us are on different levels of veganism. Raw vegan, the junk food vegan and then you have the people that are in between. How I see it, it’s not a competition. As long as you are not eating animals, to each his own, create a little balance though. I call it 80/20. 80% clean, 20% whatever else you want. Except GMO’s like I don’t like GMO’s. Eating organic and non-GMO is best of course.
What’s your favorite Vegan restaurant?
I’m a vegan food blogger/brand Influencer, so of cours, there’s a few but I think my favorite has to be Veggie Grill and I am kinda stuck on a Bright Star vegan restaurant. It’s a Thai restaurant they have pretty good food so yeah the veggie grill & Brightstar.
Please share your favorite vegan recipe?
My favorite recipe would have to be my vegan apple tuna. You can see below for the recipe it’s so good!! Put it on Ezekiel sprouted bread always so good!!
Organic lemon juice
1 Green or Red Apple
Apple cider vinegar
Vegan mayo
Organic sweet relish
Organic mustard
Organic green onion
Organic red onion
Organic pepper (Don’t add salt until you taste it, it has salt in it already)
Some encouraging words for new Vegans?
Take it slow and I don’t compare your vegan journey to the next vegan’s journey. don’t get hard on yourself if you find yourself eating vegan junk food one day and the next day you’re drinking green smoothies, just create a healthy balance and continue to stay away from eating animals and continue to eat plants.
What does living cruelty-free mean to you?
Having empathy towards everyone & everything. Including animals. Using clean products that aren’t full of toxins. Eating clean food, that doesn’t have GMO’s & pesticides.
What are you favorite Vegan non-food products or companies?
That’s a good question. I’ve recently partnered with a few brands, and I’d have to say, my fave, nonfood, vegan companies are, Reserveage, Diamond Formulas (Herpanicine), Solaray Yeast Cleanse,
What is the toughest Vegan item to find that you need?
I love the beyond meat burgers and right now they’re mainly sold at WholeFoods and I don’t have a whole foods where I live so I literally take my Enviro bags (it’s an insulated reusable bag) when I go to whole foods like 30 minutes a way to transport my burgers you know so it’s kind of hard to find out here.
Talk about a time when you struggled with your Veganism?
When I went to the Price is Right. They had no vegan options. So I went 6hrs or so without eating and I ended up appearing on the show as a contest. Lol!
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