Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Brookins.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Candace. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My interest in food and nutrition was piqued while I was in chiropractor school, particularly after taking classes in Clinical Nutrition and Wellness. Learning about how food can change the body’s appearance, performance, and quality of life was mind-blowing to me. I began learning various recipes and experimenting with different dietary lifestyles, from being a ovo-lacto vegetarian to pescatarian, to vegan… I tried it all! Throughout this process, I continued to learn and apply more which led to certification as a personal trainer and working as a health coach. I began purchasing cookbooks and reviewing studies to figure out what was best for me and the first week of March in 2016, I committed to living a vegan dietary lifestyle. I used the information I learned to release over 40 lbs., improve my quality of life, and overall health. Before the end of that month, my grandmother passed away suddenly and it had a huge impact on my life. She was well known for her culinary skills and she had her own catering business.
I spent a lot of time with her, assisting in assembling packages, going on deliveries, serving tables at catering events, making frosting for cinnamon rolls, etc., and all those things came full circle in my mind and heart after she passed. I found myself drawn to cooking, baking, and gardening, all true joys and passions for her, to feel closer to her. She worked in a school cafeteria for decades, so while she had some rudimentary training and skills, the genius I saw in her was in her improvisations and intuitive cooking. While I knew some recipes, I desired to hone the skill to create intuitively, weaving love into every dish that makes it truly unique and memorable. To that end, I enrolled in a plant-based culinary school for their private chef certification program, graduated this year, and here I am!
Has it been a smooth road?
This has been quite an eventful journey, for sure… Lots of obstacles and challenges, I’ll share three. First, I always desire to give the best of myself, e.g. the most accurate information, perfectly delicious meals, sound advice, etc. The perfectionist in me tends to keep me in the background, working on things until I feel like they’re ready. The thing is nothing is ever truly perfect, in every situation, and I’m releasing that mental block. I have realized that what I do know and what I do have to give isn’t reaching who it should by remaining in the shadows. I will never settle into a way of being that is lax in giving my best, but also know that everyone’s best is different from day to day. I now choose to commit to being enough, one day at a time and encourage others to do the same. Second, as I mentioned earlier, my grandmother’s death left me devastated for a long time and it took months for me to start feeling anything close to normal. Prayer, meditation, cooking, and creating have helped a great deal. The third was getting through the rigorous culinary program with weekly assignments that took 15-20 hours a week, on top of working a full-time job in research, being a wife, and mom with active children was ROUGH. There were many days I came home from work, began cooking for assignments as well as getting dinner ready, taking pictures of assignments, putting everything away, and then writing up assignments for another two to three hours… So lots of 15-18 hour days, just to do it again the next day happened for months.
Please tell us about your business.
Planted Vibes is a beautiful manifestation of my quest to be healthy and whole, as well as serve others. I provide health coaching, health and wellness education, and private chef services. I intend to offer ancillary services such as personal training, chiropractic care, and other goodies in the future, but my current offerings are what light me up and where I feel I can offer the most impact at this point in my career. What sets my business apart from others is, well… Me! My positive attitude is contagious and I bring the best of myself to every interaction. I have an extensive background in health, wellness, athletic and personal training, and I look at people as more than a symptom or singular goal, but as a whole, resourceful, and empowered person. Regardless of whether we think we did a “good job,” no one can argue with the fact that whatever we’ve done up to this point has kept us alive. So I am here to help people build on that. However, they see fit for the moment and add more tools to their toolkit that they feel confident and capable to use, when ready.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the variety of things there are to do here in Dallas! Lots of culturally diverse activities, events, and opportunities to get outside of your routine abound here… And most things are free or very affordable. I also love how the plant-based community is flourishing in the DFW area right now! I don’t have to eat before I head out to meet up with friends (anymore); I love it! The thing I originally found frustrating about Dallas was how to spread out things tend to be; it is very challenging to live here and not have a car or use public transit (for ecological reasons). A way I worked around that was to find a suburb that had pretty much everything within a small radius and I have built out my life based on that. My healthcare providers, where I do most of my shopping, etc. are all less than two miles from where we live. I venture out to South Dallas for church and some shopping/events, but I have found my regular spots and when weather permits, I’ll just walk to get things done instead of driving all over the place.
Contact Info:
- Email: plantedvibes@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/plantedvibes
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/plantedvibes
Image Credit:
Headshots provided by Robin Lindsey
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