Sherra Aguirre

Thank you for visiting my website.

Throughout my adult life I have had a keen interest in promoting and maintaining my own health and the health of those around me. This includes extensive reading and attention to books, articles and research on diet, lifestyle and environmental issues all of which led me to natural solutions for good health and quality of life. In addition to a plant-based diet, meditation and yoga have been important contributors to my journey of whole-self care for more than 25 years.

Although anyone can benefit from my book and work, I have a special focused on my fellow African Americans, particularly women, because we are on the front lines of a national health crisis. Historically in America we have had to challenge the status quo on most fronts in order to survive.  Today restricted access to wholesome food, nutrition and comprehensive health care are perfect examples of where we must find solutions to thrive. These solutions have their roots literally in the soil, and in our West African history of herbal medicine and organic farming, popularized across the American South. Now combined with current and evolving scientific evidence of the health benefits of a whole plant-based diet, it is even more important that we reimagine our food traditions.

Yes, we can absolutely enjoy great health and great food! In Joyful, Delicious,Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease I will share food shopping guides, simple prep methods and recipes to enjoy a wide variety of familiar and some not so familiar, delicious, nutrient packed foods on a budget and on a busy schedule. Readers will learn how to avoid the advertising traps for unhealthy food disguised as something that is good for us. Great tasting whole foods have the power to disease-proof us, and our families, and to reverse chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease and even common cancers which affect our communities disproportionately.

I wake up every day and am grateful for my health, the enjoyment of simple delicious foods and the feeling of abundance they represent. I want to empower others both inside and outside of our community, to experience the same for themselves and their families. Just as importantly I want to increase the awareness of the connection between our bodies’ own intelligence and that of our natural environment, and especially the healing power of whole foods and herbs fresh from our Earth.  

Sherra Aguirre's Intro to Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease from Sherra Aguirre on Vimeo.

An experience eleven years ago changed the way I would think about my body and my health forever.  I decided to make an investment in myself by spending a week at a health and detox spa in the California desert, something I had never done before. I was fighting burnout at work and coping with the recent death of my mother.  The spa founder, Susana Belen was the most energetic sixty-something year old I had ever met.  During one of her sessions she shared a powerful metaphor with the class. Susana asked us to visualize the trillions of cells in our bodies, each of which faithfully performs a very specific function necessary for our health. Each of these tiny, microscopic entities exists for no other reason than to promote our well being according to its functional “intelligence."  She spoke with a quiet passion about their unconditional love and devotion to us in a way that made me believe that I could feel that love.  

 

That night in my small cabin, after my evening meditation, I started to sob and could not stop for what seemed like 15 to 20 minutes. Looking back, I know that the stresses of work and the loss of my mother had weighed on me heavily for several months, and that somehow coming to this place and meeting Susana was part of my healing process. It was the voice however that she gave to each tiny cell in my body that touched my heart. That night alone in my room, I experienced a flood of gratitude and humility to be the recipient of such love, unacknowledged, unearned and so freely given, and I continue to feel it strongly to this day.  The behavior of our cells is the very definition of unconditional love! Because I am now aware of this wondrous intelligence within me and in every one of us, in every living creature and Earth itself, I want to return this love each and every day. Love is our most powerful motivator for good health and a joyful life.

I invite you to join me on this journey of healing and wellness. Please sign up for my mailing list for updates and ideas to make your journey a healthy, joyful adventure with success stories and recipes that delight and inspire our bodies and souls.