Founded by Dale and Elaine West, LRM works to spread the message of hope and healing, as well as to inspire others to adopt a healthy, plant-based diet. Our top reasons to go plant-based:
- To restore one's health to a new vibrancy
- To be good stewards of the planet, caring for God's creation
- To create a less violent world, in part by helping to put an end to factory farming
- To find enjoyment in all the wonderful, great-tasting varieties of fresh, nutritious foods
LRM is an Educational Alliance Partner with the Food for Life Program, established by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. PCRM is based out of Washington, D.C., and promotes preventive medicine through several innovative programs like Food For Life.
Dale and Elaine are both certified by Cornell University in Plant Based Nutrition and are also Health Ministers with Hallelujah Acres, which promotes a whole foods, plant-based diet (85% raw and 15% cooked), enabling vibrant health by helping to empower the self-healing body God created.
Nutrition and cooking classes will be available in the Gainesville/Melrose, Florida area in mid-summer 2012.
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Founder Bios
ELAINE WEST
Elaine grew up in New Lenox, Illinois and moved to Florida in the mid '80s. She graduated from Florida State University with Honors in 1995 and began a career in the mortgage business. Elaine grew up in a typical American home eating a typical American diet. She never realized that people actually drank water! All her family ever drank were sodas – lots of sodas – milk, and flavored drinks like instant lemonades and teas.
Many of her relatives had farms and her own family often raised animals for food. Even as a child she loved animals, and she often asked her family why they had to eat them. Her father's typical response was: "God made the animals for us to eat," something that she now knows is not true in the least. Many Christians use this same irrational reasoning to justify their consumption of living creatures. A reading of the first chapter of Genesis proves the fallacy of this ideology, though, as God created the animals before He created mankind! God clearly made mankind to take care of the animals and all of God's creation.
In high school, Elaine would have become a vegetarian, but she hadn't known then that there was anything else for vegetarians to eat besides salad! This is typical of people who don't understand another way of eating.
Still, Elaine has always loved to cook, and often cooked for her family of ten. Leaving home and cooking small meals was a real challenge when she was used to preparing huge quantities of food. Lasagne was her specialty.
In time, Elaine became a health nut and kept herself in excellent physical condition. Because of this, she fell into another trap – thinking that in order to build muscle and keep her body in peak condition, she needed to eat protein, and lots of it. Once again, dietary myths dictated her eating behavior.
Despite, her obsession with health, Elaine suffered from multiple physical problems as she grew into adulthood and was on many different medications for what was finally diagnosed as "irritable bowl syndrome." Not one doctor had asked what she was eating or suggested that diet could be part of her health problems. Allergies and constant sinus infections. which often lead to bronchitis and even pneumonia, were the norm. As she approached 30, terrible osteoarthritis began to limit her ability to do everyday things.
In the mid '90s, Elaine began rescuing pot-bellied pigs. After nine years of helping hundreds of unwanted pet pigs find homes while caring for six of her own, she was sent a video that had recorded abuse at a pig farm. Horrified and heartbroken after learning about factory farming and the way food animals were raised and abused, Elaine stopped eating meat. She continued eating dairy, thinking that because the cows and hens weren't being killed to provide milk and eggs, these products were acceptable. Eventually, however, she stopped drinking milk and eating eggs and within a few months, saw her terrible arthritis and allergies disappear.
It was a miracle for her. Not getting sinus infections two or three times a year and being able to once again lift 50-pound bags of feed was incredible! Being able to care for her animals meant that she could leave an abusive husband and manage on her own. With her arthritis pain gone, Elaine began a routine of strenuous workouts and, once again, pushed herself to stay in excellent physical condition. When it came time for treatments or vaccinations, it was not uncommon for her to easily catch and pin down pigs weighing much more than she did.
In 2005, Elaine met Dale West and inspired him to change his diet. Dale's transformation was nothing short of miraculous. Elaine writes: "Our journey to health has been so profound and so exciting, we wanted to share what we were learning with everyone."
Elaine's only regret is that she did not make these changes earlier in her life. She now invites anyone interested to join LRM and experience his or her own journey to amazing health. Again, she writes: "It's time to take back your health, and we're here to support, educate, and encourage you along the way!"
DALE WEST
"I grew up in a Baptist church where I later served as Sunday school teacher and deacon. (Later, I joined a Presbyterian church, where I continued teaching Sunday school, also serving as the church's webmaster.) In school, I played baseball and football and considered myself an athlete.
"Sadly, I witnessed my father die from diabetes and heart disease; just 28 days after his death, my grandfather died from cancer. I was crushed to lose them both at the same time, and had no knowledge that a simple diet and lifestyle change could have likely extended their lives. I was introduced to a whole foods diet just days after they passed away.
"Today, I am a retired Store Manager for Publix Supermarkets, Inc. I opened the Haile Plantation Publix in July of 2005 and was able to share the benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet with many of our team members and customers, witnessing incredible results, the most obvious being significant weight loss.
"Elaine and I married in 2005 and I became her partner at Rooterville, A Sanctuary Inc., a rescue and outreach program that encourages compassion for all animals. I started my own whole foods, plant-based diet; I lost over 50 lbs, my cholesterol dropped from 330 to 120, and my heartburn disappeared, along with my arthritis.
"Our nation is facing epidemic levels of food-related diseases that can and are being reversed through a simple diet and lifestyle change. LRM's goal is to share this life changing diet with the community, helping individuals to take control of their health."