Interview with Karen Silva - 1901

SPEAKER A Hello. SPEAKER B I'm Kaysie Butler, and I want to welcome you to healthy living around the world. I'm on site at herghelia lifestyle centre in Romania, and my guest today is Karen Silva. Welcome, Karen. SPEAKER A Thank you, Kaysie. I'm very happy to be here. SPEAKER B Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you. Now, I understand that you are from Mexico, but now you are all the way over here in Romania. Tell me, how did that come about? SPEAKER A Well, it's actually a very interesting story. I was studying in America and one of my friends there told me that she was an English teacher here when she was younger. Okay. So she told me all about the place, she invited me to come over and here I am. SPEAKER B Wow. Okay. So you've been here for how long? So far? SPEAKER A This is my 8th month, I think. SPEAKER B Very good. Now, it would seem natural for people here at this lifestyle center to have some value of living a healthy lifestyle. Can you share? How did you come to appreciate healthy living principles? SPEAKER A Yes. When I was twelve years old, I decided to become vegetarian and eventually I became plant based. I also started to do more exercise and this had an amazing impact in my health. I lost around 22 kilos. SPEAKER B Wow. SPEAKER A I also stopped getting sick. I had a ton of energy. I was happier, in a better mood. And after seeing all of these amazing changes, I really realized the amazing things that the health message can do for you. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER A So I decided, well, why don't I get educated in this? Why shouldn't I get farther training so I can teach others to live in the same way? SPEAKER B These principles have had a big impact on your life personally, haven't they? SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B That's amazing. You have obviously experienced lot of benefits from this. What would you say is your most favorite healthy living sort of habit that you have in your life at the moment? SPEAKER A I think exercising. SPEAKER B It is exercise. SPEAKER A Because of time. Sometimes it's a little bit hard to squeeze exercise in my life, in my daily routine, but when I do it, I just feel like I'm in such a good mood with a lot of energy, I feel happier, like I get more accomplished, and I just feel rest better at the end of the day. SPEAKER B Yes, that's a lot of good benefits there that you've had. Now, another question I have for you is how has living a healthier lifestyle impacted you spiritually? SPEAKER A Wow. Well, I think the most important change that I notice is a clearer mind. SPEAKER B Okay. Yes. SPEAKER A I noticed that after living refined sugars or two fatty things, I started to feel more aware. I was able to almost think faster also. It changed my mood. I started to feel happier, more energetic also. And this affects the way in which I understand the scriptures. And I feel like I can listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit better okay. SPEAKER B Right, so it's enabled you to be more able to comprehend spiritual things and connect with God? Exactly. Wow, okay, so that's a real help then, for your spiritual life? SPEAKER A Yes, definitely. SPEAKER B That's interesting. Now, what would you say to someone who is maybe contemplating making some lifestyle changes and maybe they're just looking into it or feeling the need to it? What words of maybe advice or suggestions or things that you've learned through your experience would you say to someone who is wanting to do that? SPEAKER A Well, I would say do it for the right reason and have a good motivation. A lot of people get into it because they want to look better or they want certain piece of clothing to fit or look better and all of these things. But this is not the right motivation because when you don't see the results as fast, you will give up or you will stop and throw the towel how they say. But if you do it because you want to serve God better, because you want to keep your body holy for God, because you want to have a good body to serve Him better. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER A For selfless reasons, then you'll have the motivation to continue. Do it. Also something that I tell my loved ones a lot is do it for your family. SPEAKER B Yes. SPEAKER A So you can have more energy for your children, so you can have more energy for your husband. And all of these things I think, are a great motivation. SPEAKER B Right. So is this the kind of motivation that has helped sustained you in your journey of living a consistent, healthy lifestyle? SPEAKER A Yes, I want to be a good example for my parents, for my brother, and for my uncle. Everybody in my family, not all of them are vegetarian, not all of them follow a healthy lifestyle. And at the beginning they were a little worried about me. Karen, are you going to be okay? Are you going to have any deficiencies? But after they saw the impact that he had for me and how happy I was, they realized that it was okay and they started to make some of the changes actually. SPEAKER B That's amazing. I know for a fact that motivation is one of the thing that a lot of people struggle with in terms of making sustainable, long term lifestyle changes. So that's very powerful, what you shared. Well, thank you so much for being with me today and sharing on this program. SPEAKER A My pleasure. SPEAKER B Our guest today has been Karen Silva. She's here in Herghelia Lifestyle Centre as a student and she's been sharing some of her perspective and experience with us, for which we're very grateful. We've been recording on site in Romania. I'm your host, Kaysie Butler, and thank you for tuning in to Healthy Living around the World. God bless.