Today's Watched & Rooted Wednesday feels extra special because today marks 7 years alcohol-free. 💚 For 25 years I was a horrible alcoholic. When I first got sober, I thought I was just quitting alcohol. Ditching the hangovers. I had no idea I was about to create a entirely different life. Annnnnd the greatest gift wasn't better sleep, more energy, or even better health. It was my family. I was given the opportunity to rebuild relationships with my kids and the people I love most. There were bridges I nearly destroyed forever, and over the years, one conversation, one apology, and one day at a time, those bridges were rebuilt. It has not been easy. Some days I wanted to throw in the towel and grab a bottle of Jack! BUT – my kids got their mom back. And now my grandkids get the Oma they deserve. And I was saved. Sobriety introduced to me Big Daddy J 🌱 That will always be my greatest victory 💫 Sobriety also gave me the clarity to rediscover my love of cooking, heal my relationship with food, BELIEVE IN MYSELF, and eventually create this incredible Rooted & Wild community. None of it would exist without that decision I made seven years ago. None of it. One of the biggest things I've learned is that healing isn't just about removing something. It's about creating the life that comes next. I think this is the part sober people struggle with the most! For today's Watched & Rooted Wednesday, I found a podcast that feels especially fitting. If you're curious about the connection between nutrition, cravings, brain health, and alcohol-free living, I think you'll really enjoy it. 🎧 No More Booze with Dr. Brooke Scheller: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ck5UGrj5j4Qv5M3p2m6bJ Whether you're alcohol-free, sober curious, supporting someone you love, or simply interested in how food affects the brain, I hope it gives you something to think about. Here's to healing, second chances, and showing up for the people who matter most. THANK YOU for letting me share this milestone with you. 💚

Okay so this one isn't really plant-based foodie related but it's important and honestly too good not to share. 😂 Grab something to sit on because these numbers might ruin your week a little bit. We spend so much time worrying about clean eating that we forget to think about clean KITCHENS. So today let's talk about the three things in your kitchen that are statistically dirtier than your garbage can. 🗑️ 🧽 #𝟭 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲 This one is the worst offender by far and the science backs it up completely. A team of German researchers led by microbiologist Markus Egert found 362 different species of bacteria living in kitchen sponges, with bacterial density reaching up to 45 billion per square centimeter. To put that in perspective — there's hardly any habitat on Earth where you'll find similar densities of bacteria, except for the human intestinal tract. Like WTF 😆😆 And here's the part that's going to ruin your day — Egert found that sponges collected from people who regularly microwaved or hot-soaped them did not contain fewer bacteria than uncleaned ones. In fact, cleaned sponges sometimes showed an INCREASE in two specific bacterial species — including one related to bacteria that can cause infections in people with weakened immune systems. The fix? Replace your sponge every week. No deep cleaning hack is going to save it. Just toss it and start fresh. 🌿 🚰 #𝟮 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸 You wash your dishes here. You wash your produce here. You probably wash your HANDS here. And it's quietly one of the dirtiest spots in your entire kitchen. Research has shown that kitchen sinks and drains contain particularly high amounts of E. coli. Think about everything that goes down that drain — raw vegetable scraps, food residue, whatever was on your hands or your sponge gets rinsed right back into that basin. It becomes its own little ecosystem. 🌿😬 A quick fix — disinfect your sink basin and drain regularly, not just the dishes sitting in it. 🧺 #𝟯 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗹 The one hanging by your sink that you use to dry your hands, wipe a counter, and mop up the occasional spill. Yeah. That one.

Jenny Rader-Bakos and I thought it would be fun to introduce our communities to each other while we're both making the move from free to paid on July 1. 💞🎉 I'm Kate—a trainer and coach for 20+ years, vegan for 10+, podcast host, journal lover, food prep enthusiast and passionate animal advocate. 💚 If you're vegan (or plant-curious) and looking for a supportive community to help you build healthy habits that last, I'd love to welcome you into Plant Positive. Inside you'll find: 🌱 The FREE 7-Day Plant Positive Jumpstart 💚 Coaching, encouragement and accountability 📓 Plant Positive Journal & Planner 🏆 30-Day challenges (our next Thrive in 30 starts July 1!) 💪 Simple frameworks to build clarity, confidence and consistency ☕ Weekly Coffee Hour 🤝 A community where kind-hearted people encourage one another to thrive. I love helping people simplify healthy vegan living so it feels achievable, sustainable and FUN! Whether that's meal prep, mindset, movement, journaling, or simply building the confidence that comes from showing up for yourself. If that sounds like the kind of community you'd enjoy being part of, you're so very welcome. 💚 🎉 Join before July 1 to become a Foundation Member and lock in free lifetime access. From July 1, Plant Positive becomes a paid community for new members.

What's your win this week? Drop it below — we celebrate ALL of it and ALL of you today. My win this week? I survived. Literally 😂🌿 And that's enough. We don't always need a dramatic transformation. Sometimes you just make it to Friday with your plants intact and your sanity mostly intact and you call that a W. 👊 I've also been working on a NEW classroom this week that will drop later today! You're SECOND pantry — Why my freezer is my BFF 🧊 Now drop YOUR win below — big, small, or just still standing. It all counts in here. 🏁👇

Y'all know what we celebrate on Fridays! It's ALL about our wins. Maybe it's big, maybe it's little. Maybe a new habit. More plants on your plate. Maybe it's simply YOU SURVIVED! Okay. I'm ready to share my mystery win from last week. 🫣 12 days ago I gave up marijuana. I know. For those of you in the US or Washington state you probably know it's completely legal here and I have used it comfortably for ocer 30 years. It has been my wind down. My creative space. My quiet. My comfort. And walking away from something that has genuinely been such a huge part of your life for that long is not small. It just isn't. I've tried before. Many times. But honestly, I just wasn't ready! Has it been easy? Absolutely not. 😂 Luckily guys, I'm still married 😆😆😆 Has it been worth it? Without a single doubt. 🌿 The clarity is real. The sleep is different. My mornings feel like MINE in a way they haven't in a long time. And honestly? The food tastes even better. Which I did not think was possible. 😂 I'm sharing this because this community is built on real life and real wins and this is both. We talk about nourishing our bodies with whole plants and this is just another layer of that for ME. Cleaner. Clearer. More rooted. 🌿 12 days. And I'm not looking back. Now tell me YOUR win this week. Big, small, messy, whatever it is — drop it below. We're cheering for you. 🏁👇