I’ve partnered with One Degree Organics to bring you these delicious, vegan pumpkin apple overnight oats . All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Well and Full!

Being a blogger is weird… you post things on the internet that represent who you are at the time, and you never really know who’s reading it unless they comment or engage. But having a public chronicle of your life can be tricky because people are always changing and growing and learning new things about themselves. Especially for me, being in my mid-twenties… talk about “How To Become Yourself 101”.

When I started Well and Full, I was 22, working at a corporate job, and was following a strict vegan diet. Now, two and a half long years later, at the precipice of my 25th birthday, I find myself in a life situation that I never could have planned for. And sometimes I’ll look back on some of the things I wrote/said back then and think, “What in the heck were you thinking?!” 

I mentioned this on Instagram yesterday, how I used to food shame myself for not eating “healthy” enough, and food shame others if they weren’t vegan. I remember this one time specifically, when blogger Tara of The Whole Tara came out as not being vegan anymore. At the time, I was in the peak of my vegan-ness, and I wrote this long comment on her post talking about my vegan experience that, now, comes off as completely “holier-than-thou” and judgmental. So, Tara, if you’re reading this, I want to sincerely apologize for the awful way I represented myself. But I learned this lesson the hard way, when I received nasty emails and messages in response to my own post where I came out as not being vegan anymore. Talk about a 180.

I think that there’s a delicate balance between advocating for what you believe in passionately without being aggressive. But I trust that there’s a place for promoting the things that are important to you. For me, that means sustainable food practices – like supporting local farmers and small businesses, buying organic when you can, and advocating for farming methods with the least amount of negative environmental impact. Which is why working with a company like One Degree Organics means so much to me. They’re a family-owned business that has 100% traceability with their products – meaning you can enter in the code from your box of cereal or bag of oats, and “trace” its origins from harvest to box. How cool is that? Plus, there’s the added factor that food is meant to be enjoyed as a gustatory experience, and that foods grown with this type of care and love simply taste better.

Okay, so I know this post covered a lot of things, but here’s the main takeaways:

1. There’s a way to promote the things that are important to you without food shaming
2. One Degree Organics is awesome in so many ways
3. You will never regret acting with kindness and grace

What are your thoughts on food advocacy? Let me know in the comments!