Ready to make the leap to a plant-based vegan diet? Do it Real World Vegan-style, where whole foods and convenience come together to help you follow a plant-based diet!
What does “real world” mean?
It means most of us don’t actually eat 21 meals at home each week. We don’t cook each and every meal from scratch.
Not a diet, not allergy-free, not low-fat / no-oil, simply a way to eat for most people who want wholesome recipes to cook at home and to find the best convenience options.
Your Real World Vegan Guide
JL Fields is the founder and culinary director of the Colorado Springs Vegan Cooking Academy. She is a vegan lifestyle coach & educator, Food for Life instructor, chef instructor in the culinary program at the University of New Mexico-Taos, personal chef, career coach, and a corporate consultant offering wellness training, brand representation, and strategic planning services.
JL is the author of the forthcoming books The Vegan Air Fryer: The Healthier Way to Enjoy Deep-Fried Flavors (Vegan Heritage Press, June 2017) and The Main Street Vegan Academy Cookbook: Over 100 Plant-Sourced Recipes Plus Practical Tips for the Healthiest, Most Compassionate You (Ben Bella, December 2017). She is the author of Vegan Pressure Cooking: Delicious Beans, Grains, and One-Pot Meals in Minutes (Fair Winds Press, January 2015), co-author of Vegan for Her: The Woman’s Guide to Being Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet (Da Capo Lifelong Books, July 2013), contributor to Running, Eating, Thinking: A Vegan Anthology (Lantern Books, May 2014), co-creator of The Real World Vegan Meal Plan, producer and host of the radio show Easy Vegan (airing on Studio 809 in Colorado Springs, CO, 103.5 FM in Janesville, WI and podcasts on iTunes, Soundcloud, and Stitcher), and writes the monthly vegan dining review for the Colorado Springs Gazette.
A devoted culinary student, JL has studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute and Organic Avenue, and completed the Intensive Study Program at The Christina Pirello School of Natural Cooking and Integrative Health Studies. She is certified by – and on the faculty of – the Main Street Vegan Academy, is certified as a Food for Life Instructor by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and holds a Master of Science degree.
JL provides in-person vegan cooking services, lifestyle coaching and classes in Colorado Springs and the surrounding area as well as Skype and/or phone coaching throughout the U.S. and internationally. She provides career consulting for health and wellness coaches, chefs, and other professionals who want to develop their coaching practice. She is on the fitness faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership and is the online strategist for Flavorful Insight and The Soyfoods Council.
JL speaks on plant-based food and vegan activism, fitness and body image, making big changes post-40, blogging, and nonprofit management at festivals, farm markets, community organizations, and colleges and universities. JL shares plant-based education, recipes and cooking techniques, as well as animal rights information and resources, on the popular blog JL goes Vegan and launched the first vegan weekly online column “I Eat Plants” for the Life and Style section of The Journal News (Westchester, NY).
JL is the owner and lead consultant for JL Fields Consulting: Strategic Services for the Nonprofit and Education Sectors and she offers career coaching to people who are ready to re-imagine work and to professionalize their passions. JL serves on the board of directors of Our Hen House. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband Dave and Oliver, their rescued cat. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
