This latest from my favorite videographer Greg starts with delightful footage of the elephants, including our adoptees, at the Sheldrick Wildlfe Trust in Nairobi. Quite soon he seques to the wart hog story. Lots more, including updates on the “ellies” as they call them!

Cosmetic Procedures:  Does Getting Tossed by a Warthog Count?

“Have you had work done?”

As I approach “when I’m 64”, I find this question is being asked of me more and more at my presentations.

My response?

If the skin resurfacing, scars and scratches on my left arm from last year’s tossed-by-a-warthog incident in Africa counts (see video above), then the answer is “yes”.

Same with the abrasions still visible on my back, over six months after this incident. I told you a bit about this woldlife encounter in a previous article on the warthog tossing – yet now Greg has edited the video clips to tell more of the story. He mixed it with some other priceless footage from our last journey to Africa.

Yet to our surprise, minutes later a stare-down with this full-sized ball of hooves, muscle and tusks ensued.  I knew something was about to happen and sure enough, it did.  Without time to move out of the way, this cute-looking mass of energy charged past me, slamming his head into my legs, sending me air born with my feet higher than my head in the air.  Landing on my back, the biggest injuries were the massive bruise on my leg (see video) and the “skin resurfacing” still visible on my left arm.

After helping clean my woulds, lead elephant keeper Edwin met with me to coordinate an event I was planning in coordination with The Plant-Based Journey for proceeds to go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Accidental Lipo

If the permanent indentation on my right thigh – essentially “liposuction” –  from the time on our trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands – a stingray latched it’s mouth clamp onto my leg and started to suck until I was able to pound it’s chest enough with my fists until it released, then yes, I’ve had “work done”.
As an outdoor grrrl and dancer since forever, I have scars and permanent markings all over my body from falling out of trees and slamming my dancer’s shins against the living room coffee table.

I’ve Done The Work

So while I haven’t had “work done” in the usual sense of the term, I explain in response to the question “Have you had work done”, I go on to explain, “But I’ve done the work.” All that means is I continue to do what I have done for years.

Whole Plant Foods Diet

Base your plate on whole plant foods, for all the health protective, disease preventative, and regenerative properties plants provide.

Stay Active

Every day I engage in playful physical activity – a ‘joggle’ or ‘ramble’ in the morning on most days, meaning a combination of running or walking through the woods.

This simple activity ritual always gives the day an energetic start and boosts brain power for the tasks ahead.

Morning exercise such as this is an easy pattern to keep up with on all of my travels, whether for speaking engagements or the travel adventures that Greg and I have been taking since forever. I compliment this with frequent afternoon mountain bike rides along lazy wooded trails, and three times a week a strength-training workout with Fit Quickies and yoga strengtheners and stretchers.

Mindfulness Practice

A mindfulness meditation practice is like getting the transmission fluid in your brain renewed on a daily basis.  While the food is the foundation of feeding the body, and physical activity critical for vitality and healthy brain function, this practice provides the juice and pivot point for a degree of clarity and equanimity that helps me navigate all the ups and downs of what I call the human predicament.  Life!

Which is precisely why I stress this element of the three pillars of food, fitness, and frame of mind with people who come to me for help with successful plant-based living, weight loss, and well-being.

Without revolutionizing our patterns of thinking and reacting that are giving us what we are getting with our health and our weight, for many of us overlaying a new dietary approach gives us the gas without a transmission.

It’s why I’ve insisted with each of my publishers that frame of mind be addressed in The Plant-Based Journey and Fit Quickies. Without looking at this critical element, we don’t have an honest presentation of what is really essential for generating lasting well-being.

How About You?

It seems to me that the plantophiles and plant-based eaters I know are getting more energetic and youthful, in stark contrast to many of those I encounter who aren’t as conscious about what they put on their plates or in their bodies.

Yes, many aspects of our health and appearance are genetic – yet we have a large degree of impact on genetic predisposition and how it plays out in our body by what we do with our diets, our thoughts, and our physical activity.

How about you?  Have you had people comment on your physical condition?  Or tell you that you look younger than your years, or have more vitality than those younger than you? Tell about it in comments below.

Enjoy what you eat!