Why HOW 2 HEALTH?

Five months after Hunter was born, when I first became sick with the tumor, I began a massive crusade to educate myself. I learned all that I could about how to eat in order to boost immunity (how to give myself and my family really strong immune systems) and how to prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. And in the midst of childbearing, the other thing I was concerned about was how to maintain a healthy body weight!

One of the most important things for me was how to be really happy about everything we ate. John and I love to eat and I have an intense empathy for anyone who is about to undergo a radical shift in what they put (or don’t put) in their body. I have experienced first hand, and observed John experience deep emotional loss when fasting or "giving up" a food. We still eat chocolate - masses of it actually ;-) we make little cashew or almond "butter" cups! We still have treats is what I’m trying to say.

I don't want you to read something I have to say and then reject your greatest culinary pleasures. I just want to show you ways to incorporate some seriously powerful ingredients into your daily life, making everything you do to your body a positive and concerted step towards your own physical health.

Be your own doctor. Take control and understand your body.

This is where I feel I fit in. I did so much research after being told that I most likely had stage 4 colon cancer and that I should have chemotherapy. After surgery, my new oncologist told me that in her opinion, diet really didn't figure into a proactive protocol. This approach, I think, is craziness!

The concept behind what I believe is this: There is a certain environment in which every living creature thrives. Mother Nature is brilliant. There are thus various environments in which every living creature suffers or dies. And cancer is no exception. Cancer cells can thrive in the body or they can be destroyed in the body.

I now have a lifetime ahead of me to learn, discover, and try new, super tasty ways of creating a body that is inhospitable to disease. A body that feels good, a body with increased energy and vitality, a body that maintains a healthy weight, and enjoying life all the while! By the way, I consider myself a total hedonist! I really like to feel good, and have the energy to dance around whenever and wherever. I was a Deadhead in my early twenties :)

I am also one of those people with an incredible capacity to research, retain, and sort through medical research and data. This stuff fascinates me. How the body reacts to what we put in it and on it, is fascinating to me.

I’m lousy at remembering details with regards to other aspects of life. I have a strong resistance to learning computer functions, I don't pay attention and remember directions, I am shit at math....and still have to ask John how to figure percentages.

BUT, I am really, really good at understanding how the gut works, how the immune system works, how our blood sugar level affects our body, how to prevent infection and how best to fight infection. And I have come to learn that this sort of information is overwhelming to many.

I am forty years old. I was raised in the "better living through chemicals" era. Hamburger Helper, Chef Boy Ardee, Ritz crackers, the Keebler Elves and all their tasty little chemicals and preservatives, Twinkies and Suzy Q's, Sara Lee, and Pepperidge Farms, Nestle (there will be more info to come on these bastards), Campbell's soup (one can has enough MSG and sodium to kill a rat), pop tarts and High Fructose Corn Syrup coated granola bars.

Now that's the shit that killed Elvis...

We were the generation of Teflon cookware, non-stick pans! Did you know that if a parrot were to be sitting on your shoulder while you are frying something in a Teflon pan, the fumes from the pan can kill the bird? Brilliant.

Now there is so much more information available to us, and thanks to the internet, we can share that information. There is a lot to weed through however, and again, this where I come in. I do this research as religiously as anything. It is part of God to me. We have access to so much of Mother Nature's bounty nowadays, thanks to the internet and the ability to source products from all over the world.

For example, purple corn powder. Ever heard of it? I can teach you how to make a really tasty hot drink from this powder (and tell you where to get it) that is such a potent antioxidant, so insanely good for you and makes you feel so good. And cancer cells hate it.

Do you understand cancer cells? Do you understand the way your blood sugar reacts to different foods?

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT 85% OF OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM RESIDES IN OUR GUT?

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT 60% OF EVERY PRODUCT YOU PUT ON YOUR SKIN IS INGESTED IN YOUR BODY?

Are you comfortable with the idea of eating the lotion you put on your body to moisturize, tighten, or tone?

I have learned, by necessity and desire, how to live without chemicals. Whether it be cleaning my house, sanitizing my kids hands at the playground, or beautifying myself (shampoos, scrubs, makeup, moisturizing skin, etc.). I would like to share this wealth of information in the hopes of educating people on how to free their bodies (and our planet!) from toxic residue. We have had enough of the chemical age. People are ready to become pure again :)