The 10-day Vipassana silent retreat in 2007 was a life changing event for me. I feel lucky I came in touch with these spiritual teachings and the technique they teach at these retreats.

Meals were served 2 times a day: 6am and 11am. Luckily, we had a vegan chef who prepared excellent vegan preparations on all days! 😍 My transition to Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines has a connection with these meditation retreats:

• In 2007, I did the first Vipassana retreat in the midst of emotional turmoil. That retreat played a key role in stabilizing myself: {anger, frustration, hatred, ..} reduced in a big way. Since then, I have made it a goal to consciously work towards mental calmness.
• In 2012, I was experiencing some more turmoil, so I did a 10-day juice fast. On the 4th/5th day of the juice fast, I stumbled upon Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines. I was impressed within 4 hours of online research; I decided to follow them and I noticed that this combination of juice fast + strict WFPB guidelines helped me develop mental calmness in a surprisingly BIG way[ kinda commensurate with what I had experienced earlier through these meditation retreats.
• A few days later, somebody mentioned that my food plates appeared to be 'sattvic food'. I said, okay! 😀 👍 Ancient Indian spiritual texts mention that 'sattvic food' promotes positive states of mind and 'tamasic food' promotes negative states of mind. I haven't yet found a formal definition of 'sattvic' but intuitively speaking, simple meals prepared per Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines do seem 'sattvic'.
• This triple combination underscored the value of Whole Food Plant-Based guidelines for me: (a) Studies by {Ornish, Esselstyn, Barnard, .., many others} published in Lancet etc showcase remarkable physical health benefits, (b) I'm feeling mentally calmer through adoption of these food guidelines, and (c) These food plates are probably 'sattvic' as per ancient Indian spiritual texts.

Later, I learnt that exactly the same food guidelines also help our environment, helps us address climate change / global warming, are at the core of "Emerging Infectious Diseases", and so on. And around 2021-2022, I learnt about several interconnections between food and mood through videos by Dr Peter Rogers. In a FaceBook comment, he summarized: