Why I chose to move back to NORTH CAROLINA!
By: Queenetta Moore, CPT, LMT
So, if you have not heard my latest personal newsâŚ.it is that Iâm moving back to North Carolina! Why?! Itâs the main question Iâve been asked after sharing the news with close friends and family.  Why would someone move from beautiful, sunny, bikini-clad, Miami to cold and gloomy North Carolina; especially in the FALL?
Well, Iâve taken the time out to share some of the reasons for my move back to NC after 2.5 years in Miami here.
 It all started with a proposal from @getfitwithnic_! Blame her or thank her, depending on if youâre upset or happy about this decision. LOL!  During our #FitSummerTour, we got a chance to spend some quality time in NC with my friends and family.  During a random moment in conversation, Nic blurts out (this is her blunt and outspoken personality, lol) âI think you should move back to NC!â I immediately looked at her as if she had lost her everlasting mind Ă a Country term lol.  I seriously couldnât even entertain the thought much longer, even after having her list some very convincing reasons.
 a.    I had more help with my daughter (All of my family lives in NC)
b.    I had a great, supportive, group of friends
c. Â Â All of my former clients missed me and were ready to return to training.
 As I stated, I didnât give it too much more thought. I returned back to Miami at the end of our tour with no thought of moving back to NC.  Not long after, I started my company (@21DaysToPlantBased) and couldnât believe how time became an even scarcer resource.  Being a single parent, helping your child with homework, building a brand and a business, while still maintaining some sort of personal time seemed nearly impossible.  Though I am blessed to have the help of my daughterâs fathersâ family locally, I couldnât help but think, what if that resource was not always available?  With my business requiring more and more travel, I NEEDED the convenience of being able to drop my daughter off at a family memberâs house or have them take her to school should a travel day fall throughout the week. The wheels began to turn.
A few weeks had passed and I didnât give the possibility of a move too much thought. Â The weather was awesome. I was able to lay out and get my daily dose of Vitamin D with ease. Â This is very important to me, if you know me lol. Â
Plant Pure Nation, a documentary by one of the most influential leaders in the Plant-Based movement, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his son Nelson, was showing at a local cinema. I had been waiting to see it for a while and had been out of town during past local showings. Â I was ecstatic. One of his documentaries, Forks Over Knives, had been influential in my conversion to a plant-based, whole foods diet. Â What else could this father/son team offer me?
Not even 30 minutes into the viewing, my mouth literally dropped.  I watched, in disbelief as they recruited 130 people out of a small town in NORTH CAROLINA called Mebane, and reversed chronic conditions the participants had been experiencing. I was speechless (thankfully, as it was a movie cinema). For those of you who donât know NC, I had lived in Durham, NC. Located about 30 min away from this small town of Mebane.  With nothing but a set of Tanger outlets, and some really cheap gasâŚ.you would blink and pass right by it.
This international, PlantPureNation movement, led by the most influential man in plant based nutritional research was occurring in my back yard? How did this happen and I not know anything about it? I literally got up with almost 40 min left in the documentary and pondered. Â I couldnât sit still. Â Was this a sign? Maybe Nic was right! Clearly, this was not just by chance. Â
 At that time, I intentionally became more receptive as to what was written in the stars for me.  I looked for signs to move or stay situated in Miami.
 Well, my last and final confirmation came while sitting at my laptop, working on 21DTPB. An old neighbor of mine emailed me a very stunning article.  By the title alone, âThe 10 Most Vegetarian Cities in America.â
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vegetarian-cities-in-america_56200629e4b050c6c4a4f155?utm_hp_ref=taste&ir=Taste§ion=taste
 I viewed it, knowing the article would be full of cities on the West Coast and probably Northeast. Never in a million years did I think Iâd see any city in NC on this list.  I was wrong.  Ranked #1, Durham/Chapel Hill.  I closed my laptop and sent the link to every one of my friends that I had talked about this move to.  That was it. Anyone who knew me at the time of my move KNEW the MAIN reason I moved was because it became increasingly harder to dine out.  The options were limited or not even available.  Most people didnât even have a clue what a âVeganâ was.  I had been offered shrimp and shellfish on more than one occasion when explaining my dietary restrictions. To even see that the term âvegetarianâ was linked to NC was monumental.  I had to do it.
 Other signs have occurred since then but this is mainly it.  For the rest, youâll have to stay tuned :)
Personally, I feel my move away from NC was what I selfishly needed to grow and learn more about the culture, lifestyle, and different foods that would help me successfully maintain my commitment to stay plant based. Â I have likened this to going away to college. Â During those years, we learn at an accelerated pace what we may or may not have learned in our small towns. Â Though some choose to reside in their college towns, it is something to be said about those who return to their beginnings and share their newfound, wealth of knowledge there. Â
With Durham County growing in the number of undiagnosed diabetes cases, Columbus County being the unhealthiest county in NC (where my family resides), and the most recent news of my grandfather recently losing two of his toes due to diabetes, I couldnât ignore it. Â
 My time has come to share the knowledge Iâve learned in these 2.5 years with the people I love the most.  This is my lifestyle; one that I am very passionate about and can not wait to bring the vibrancy and healing nature of it to The Carolinas. Â
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