Aliana Acevedo was born and raised in Puerto Rico. From a young age, she suffered from obesity, alcoholism, and mental health problems. As a result of an anxiety crisis and the resistance to take medication for treatment, she found alternatives in natural psychiatry. That path led her to learn yoga and to become certified as a therapeutic yoga instructor at Samadhi Yoga Institute in Puerto Rico. Yoga led her to know ahimsa (nonviolence) and to implement a vegan diet, although not a very healthy one. After learning about the benefits of a raw plant-based diet through The China Study and documentaries like Forks Over Knives, she lost 60 pounds. She is a graduate of the CNS and Cornell Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate program. Together with her husband, Giovanni Martínez, she is developing an agroecological project called Finca Agroecológica Green Healing that is 100% sustainable. Acevedo and Martínez are also the creators of Dátil, a family-owned company dedicated to the production of plant-based cakes free of sugar, oil, and salt. Acevedo also offers workshops on plant-based cooking. Follow her on Facebook and on Instagram here and here.
