The Vegan Warriors is a veteran-owned company that coaches busy moms and women veterans and helps them transition to a plant-based diet. Furthermore, they feature health warriors who encourage individuals on their health journey. This week The Vegan Warriors would like to place the spotlight on Safura Osmani, Co-Owner from the Jax Vegan Couple.

Celeste Everett, Owner of The Vegan Warriors exclusive interview with Safura Osmani.

Safura Osmani moved to Jacksonville from Chicago for its warm climate, great people, yoga, and organic produce farmers. She has been on a vegan quest for 10 years. Since moving to Jacksonville, Safura hosted block parties and potlucks to show neighbors and friends how to eat satisfying Vegan Indian/Fusion Food. With her sharing spirit, she gave our interviewer Celeste Everett a sneak peek into her health journey.

Celeste: What interested you in focusing on your health in 2018?

Safura: I have been focused on my health for about 10 years now.  My mother passed away 26 years ago at a young age with kidney disease and heart failure. My husband Ubaid’s parents passed away from stroke and heart disease at a young age also. This lead us to do tons of research and follow all the plant-based experts in the food and health field. We read The China Study, watched Forks Over Knives and learned more about the teachings of doctors Joel Furhman, Michael Greger, Joel Kahn, Michael Klaper, John McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, and Neal Barnard. Today’s post is dedicated to my mom, my husband’s parents and everyone else who is battling health issues, cancer or some type of disease. Please know that there is help out there to get you to reverse your disease and make you feel better through proper eating. We have been vegan for 10 years now and it hasn’t been easy! When we went vegan we began feeling more energetic, stronger, creative and happier than ever before. We want to eliminate disease and live a happy healthy life and we are focused and passionate about helping others.

Celeste: What are some ways you feel your health journey has affected others to jump-start their journey?

Safura: Friends & family always came to us for advice. They saw how great we were feeling and looking. They saw that we only ate whole food plant-based food.  When we went to parties we ate a salad at home and did not eat the bad food served at parties. I did cooking demos at home and invited friends to come and see how to cook healthy plant food without oil.  I shared tips on meal-prepping and grocery shopping and they loved that and incorporated it into their own lifestyle. To help everyone, we launched our social channels Jax Vegan Couple last year with the mission to educate, engage and inspire others and help them on a healthy whole-foods plant-based journey! To further our passion for cooking and to hone our skills we became certified in Forks over Knives nutrition cooking classes. We follow some of the top blogs and participate in webinars and forums such as GMOs Revealed, Vaccinations, and Stem Cell Research to name a few. We wanted to combine our desire to cook plant-based food with the knowledge of what is a healthy diet ¬– and to create a cuisine that is healthy, hearty, and flavorful. We offer FREE tips, resources, and recipes to our followers to educate, engage and inspire them to make better health and lifestyle choices. This is our way of giving back to the community. We would truly appreciate it if you Share our story with your family & friends and Follow us on our social channels: blog jaxvegancouple.com, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest & Twitter.

Celeste: What health tip advice would you like to share?

Safura: Some tips I would share with others is to incorporate fruits and vegetables that are in season and eat one each day.  On Mondays to have a Meatless dish and not eat meat once a week.  To clean out the pantry and fridge from junk food.  If you don’t have it in the house you won’t eat it.  To meal-prep on Sunday and have a plan for what you are eating the whole week.  Chop and cut fruits and veggies, make a pot of soup, make a pot of grains, broil and bake veggies and use this for lunch and dinner throughout the week.  Keep yourself hydrated, drink lots of water and not soda or juices which have empty calories.  The biggest advice is to just start small and incorporate it each day.  Also, do exercise each day something as simple as just walking 20 minutes a day is so beneficial for your body.

If you are a health warrior and want to be featured in a major publication on our next warrior spotlight, go to theveganwarriors.com and submit a form at the Feature a Warrior tab.