In case you've ever wondered what it would be like to eat like a pop diva, congratulations — your wish has been granted! Beyonce has just launched a vegan meal delivery service in conjunction with exercise physiologist Marco Borges' company, 22 Days Nutrition. I have only question about this venture: Does it come with a multi-platinum recording career, too?
Beyonce and Jay-Z took Borges' 22 Days Nutrition challenge, which involves switching to a totally vegan diet for 22 days, during the winter of 2013. Though Bey didn't convert full to veganism at the end of it, she did make a pledge to include more plant-based foods in her diet; as such, it's not totally surprising that she'd want to team up with the guy that inspired her to make a healthy lifestyle change with the goal of inspiring other people to make that same change. Said Beyonce in a press release, “I am so grateful that I took the challenge and credit Marco with leading by example. He is the most energetic person I know and it's all because of his decision to live a healthy lifestyle.” She continued, “He came up with a great program to get people motivated to make better nutritional choices. All you have to do is try. If I can do it, anyone can. I am excited to partner with him.” How excited? I''ll bet this excited:
22 Days Nutrition's meal delivery service isn't quite the same idea as, say, services like Plated; while Plated provides you with the ingredients you need to cook a meal yourself, 22 Days Nutrition sends you the full meal already cooked, which you then reheat. There are three plans to choose from, each at different price points: One meal a day, which comes out to about $14.85 per meal; two meals a day, at about $10.89 per meal and $21.8 per day; and three meals a day, at about $9.24 per meal and $27.72 per day. You can pick the length of time for which you want the delivery service to run, as well, with options including five days, seven days, and the full 22 days. It may not be the most cost effective way to eat healthy, but if you want to make a change but don't know where to start and you have that sort of cash at your disposal, there are worse ways you could spend it.
I do have one little nitpick about the whole thing, and that's the fact that the idea behind the length of the program — 22 days — stems from the oft-repeated claim that it takes around 21 or 22 days to develop a new habit. As you may recall, a recent study debunked that claim; it actually takes about 66 days, and moreover, the original hypothesis was, as recorded by Maxwell Maltz in the '60s, “These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.” (Emphasis mine, because the “a minimum of” bit is the important part.)
But at the same time, I don't meant to rain on anyone's parade; 22 days seems like a solid time frame in which to give a nutritional change a shot, so whether or not you “develop the habit” of veganism by the end of it, odds are you'll at least know whether or not a vegan diet works for you. Besides, I like that 22 Days Nutrition is focused on just that — nutrition — and not on, say, losing weight. Weight isn't necessarily an accurate measure of good health; a well-balanced diet full of fresh veggies, whole grains, and plant-based proteins, however, usually is.
Want to know more? Unleash your inner Diva over at the 22 Days Nutrition website, or check out a sample meal plan at Glamour for a quick look at what you can accomplish on your own.
Images: Giphy (2)
