Every story has a starting point …
And for me, that story starts when I was 28. I was working full time, getting my Master’s degree at night. I pulled into the garage after a very long day of work and classes, followed by a nightmare traffic jam that had me on edge. A little upset, I parked, got out, and met my husband at the door.
His face said it all: “It’s your dad …”
Morning meditation and journaling, a workout and a walk, and finding time for the most important people in my life.
Perusing farmer's markets, tending my garden, cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and planning my next adventure.
Fad diets, lies about nutrition, eating for the sake of eating, and not taking care of yourself every day.
Good food, great conversation, a walk with a friend, and sharing a fantastic bottle of wine.
I started asking questions. I started reading everything I could get my hands on. Dr Dean Ornish’s Program For Reversing Heart Disease was one of the very first books I picked up. It led me to others, like John Robbins and Dr Caldwell Esselstyn.
Very quickly, I realized we had been sold a lie about food. The Western diet I’d grown up with wasn’t very healthy at all. It was convenient.
But what good is convenient if it leads to a health crisis?
My superpower is helping women become enamored with a plant-based lifestyle .... and use it to create Gorgeous Wellth!
Out of the blue, my fifty-four year old father had a massive heart attack. He didn’t survive.
I’d watched my father spend seven years of his life re-interviewing for his position with the “stable” company he had worked at for twenty-five years. I’d watched the stress build, his attitude change, and his health decline. I’d watched him count the days until he could retire at fifty-five, gain a guaranteed pension, and try his hand at something new.
He died of a massive heart attack seventy-three days before his 55th birthday.
Something clicked that day. A lot in my life changed.
My dad gave me the gift of being curious about wellness. He also gave me my daughter.
My husband and I were living large, both working long hours, with powerful goals that went right along with it. A child was the furthest thing from our minds. In fact, we questioned if we wanted kids at all.
But when my father died, I knew his one priority, the one thing he loved more than anything was his two daughters. His work had a sense of stress and frustration. He loved nothing more than to head to a baseball game with his son-in-law. Or talk about books with his daughters.
One year after his death, my daughter was born.
They say kids show up to teach you something about yourself. And my daughter almost instantly started teaching me about food. She declared herself vegetarian at three-years-old. I argued. I finally gave up and believed her at five.
When my daughter said “no more,” I had to quickly figure things out.
It’s the age-old question that plagues plant-based eaters everywhere.
I remember when I sat down to buy a car several years ago. We chit-chatted our way through the purchasing process, and somewhere in the middle we started talking about food. I told him I was vegan, and his response was immediate:
How do you get your protein?
There’s this misconception that protein only comes from animal products. Nothing could be further from the truth. Protein is in all kinds of foods. It’s in nuts. It’s in beans and lentils. It’s in the vegetables you eat.
The key is a balanced diet - a plant-based diet - that focuses on wellness, not just the foods you eat.
That really was my entry into wellness. Because the more I learned, the more research I took on.
I read wellness books for fun. I attend training on food, health, and wellness non-stop. I care about my health and have made it my mission to shorten the distance between decline and death. To live every day as if I’m a happy, healthy 100-year-old ready to take on the world. (Because if I want to be that person, I have to live today as if I am that person.)
“Gorgeous Wellth!”
I was vegetarian in my 40s. By my 50s, I was vegan.
Today, I thrive with a plant-rich lifestyle.
I discovered that food doesn’t have to be the mystery we make it out to be. Plant-based isn’t difficult. It’s not boring. It’s not something “you have to do.” It’s not a punishment, and you don’t have to miss out on “real” food. In fact, I eat far better now than I ever did when meat was a staple in my diet.
And I feel better too!
Wellness starts with food. I think of Hippocrates most famous quote almost daily: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. I believe that today with all of my heart.
I’ve been researching this stuff for close to 30 years. And I like to think I have a knack for making this stuff easy.
That’s why I’m here. Hopefully it’s why you’re here too.
Gorgeous Wellth - A Plant-Rich Approach to Healthy Living
“A Plant-Rich Approach to Healthy Living!”
What does foundational wellness mean to you? For me, it sets the stage for overall health. Health is the one thing we all seem to take for granted … until we have a problem. In midlife, we often receive a wakeup call that leads to wanting to do more to change.
That’s what this course is about. This is a free, 7 day email course designed to help you explore your mind/body connection to your wellness journey.
Start for Free Today!