About
My journey to Whole plant-based Food started when…
In 2007 I lost my fifty-year-old brother, Larry, to untreated heart-disease and Type 2 diabetes, lifestyles and food-related illnesses. I had begged him to get help and to see an obesity doctor; to get treatment for his Type 2 adult-onset diabetes; to start taking care of himself, to start taking walks. He told me what I wanted to hear and said he was getting help; that he was taking walks. He wasn’t. This was before Obama care. He didn’t have health insurance. He was helping all those around him but put himself last. Only a few months later, after a conversation on the phone when he told me he felt worse than the two times he had had pneumonia, I flew down to Florida to try to help him. I was too late. I had to have the fire department break into his house. I found him no longer breathing. He had died in his sleep. His heart could no longer pump the blood through his system. His lower legs were purple from the untreated diabetes. I was the one who had to call my father to give him the news. It was devastating for all of us who loved him. It was a wake-up call for me. I was medically obese myself, and 60 lbs overweight. This was a when I started my own journey towards a healthy lifestyle.
Do you have a loved-one you worry about? A father or mother, sister or brother, husband or wife or a good friend who struggles with a food-related illness such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure or depression and has been told to lose weight by their doctor or health practitioner? Maybe this even fits a description of yourself.
My name is Roxane Johnson De Lear, and I started my business, Vege Joy, a Whole Plant-based Personal Chef and Culinary Nutrition Expert service, because I know, from personal experience and research in science, that our health and the quality and vibrancy of our lives depend on the food we eat. Through the art and science of Culinary Medicine, I have a mission to help people who desire better health but may not have the knowledge or time to prepare the food that will support health and longevity. I provide delicious and creative whole plant-based meals cooked in your home or business. I take care of it from shopping to cooking, to storing your meals and clean-up. As much as I am able and depending on your budget, I aim to use organic, non-GMO, locally sourced produce in the meals I make for you. I desire to feed you and your family nutritious and delicious food that provides you with the energy and well-being and that supports you and a sustainable planet. I use sustainable packaging that can be composted or reused and I stay away from plastics as much as possible.
I love to cook and have been doing so for many years on my farm-to-table plant-based journey. My knowledge spans simple whole food fare to more complex eclectic and ethnic dishes using plant-based ingredients. I believe that food should not only be good for you, it should also be amazingly delicious. Great tasting food happens with creative recipes, high quality, healthful ingredients sourced from farms regenerating healthy soil and growing produce with flavor in mind. Local, organic and seasonal foods are available from the farms and food providers I work with; including produce, grains, legumes, wild edibles, dairy & eggs (for vegetarians) and specialty items such as fermented foods and condiments.
