If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?

Healing truly does start in the kitchen, and that is what inspires me to get as many people as I can back to cooking their own food. As many of you will agree, it is not always possible to have home-cooked natural food. We live in the “real world”: we travel and we often have to eat what is available at the time. My husband, Bill, and I understand this since we travel frequently. Yet, we have no ailments, take no medicine, have great energy and maintain a very good level of activity. Energy and restful sleep will come naturally with great health when we look at how healing begins in the kitchen.

For some, it takes a short while to adjust to changing their diet, but gradually old paradigms melt away and a new, healthier and happier way of thinking develops instead. You will feel cleaner, more organized, happier and healthier than you ever could have imagined possible.

Macrobiotics and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are like a never-ending journey. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. If you understand the importance of keeping your biological systems balanced – working properly in the most efficient way – your body can create a regenerating environment, instead of a degenerating environment.

As we look back upon our life we often realize that the moments in which we have truly lived are the moments when we have done things in the spirit of love. If we love what we do, it makes us happy, fulfilled and energized. Lucky me: I am blissed and blessed because I love my work. That work is to use my personal experience, observation and study to enrich people’s lives by helping them improve their health. Much of that work is contained in the pages of my book Go Vegan.

As I was writing the book, I thought about all the people whose lives could be improved by simply using natural solutions to their ailments and those of their loved ones. Often it is the simple things that produce the best results – I see this weekly in my students and clients.

The sad truth is that so many of us suffer poor health and unhappiness because we do not have simple and practical information on how to make positive and productive changes to our lives. Out of need springs desire, and out of desire springs the energy and the will to achieve this. I hope that my book and work can give you some ideas on how you can improve your health and maintain good health today and all year round. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything: they make the best of everything.

Picture yourself experiencing a day on which all your physical, spiritual and emotional traffic lights are flashing green, and you feel alive with great energy, free of the usual aches and pains. What we eat is one of the primary factors in achieving that kind of life. My work is about teaching all who cross my path how to take responsibility for their own health. My suggestions are uncomplicated and user-friendly just like me. You simply remove all the animal foods, processed junk and fast food out of your diet and replace them with the most delicious plant based food.

If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?

This thought-provoking question has been my mantra for many years: it is printed on the front of the apron I use in cooking classes. When we think about our bodies as our home from birth to death, our perceptions can change about how we treat them. Would you fill your house with junk? Would you never clean it up or wash the windows? Would you let it slowly fall apart around you and simply move from room to room? Probably not, but many of us treat our bodies with the same neglect. Most people take better care of their cars than their bodies.

What we eat says much about how we feel concerning life in general and ourselves in particular. This respect, or lack of respect, is reflected in our state of health. What we eat today is who we are tomorrow. When you start to think this way and regard your body as sacred and precious, then the will to cherish and nourish it will come easily. Highly processed food and junk food will become less appealing to you, because you will not wish to violate your body/home. The desire to keep your home clean and comfortable will become a habit.

Much of the information in Go Vegan is inspired by the macrobiotic way of life. This system of health care and personal development originated in Japan but is based on a traditional understanding of diet, health and well-being recommended by ancient peoples from all over the world. It is a modern interpretation that is not therapeutic but directed more to general daily use and health maintenance. One of the interesting things that I discovered is that the modern macrobiotic approach to eating is consistent with the conclusions of modern nutrition studies. The only difference is that the macrobiotic approach is not a rigid diet, but describes a different way of looking at food – a way that is simple to apply and takes into account the relationship between what we eat and the environment.

Human beings are part of the environment, not separate from it. Global warming and other environmental problems that we now face are a result of acting as if there was a separation.But this is not a new issue. For centuries human society has lost the sense of stewardship that many primitive peoples possessed; now is the time to renew that bond with nature. Eating well is one of the most impactful acts we can engage in to create a healthy planet.

When we respect the life of every living creature, we discover what it means to be human. Regardless of our state of health, there are always things we can do to improve our body/home.

I was not blessed with children; however, it does not make me feel any less responsible for leaving a lighter footprint on the planet than if I had seven children, and for doing the best I can do while I am here. This is what motivates me and drives me forward with my vision for a healthy world. The greatest adventure you go on is to live the life of your dreams. You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside by feeding your body with healthy, wholesome food.

The purpose of my work is to share information and clear up confusion for consumers. My health consultations, classes and retreats are always focused on how to protect, improve and maintain good health for the individual and the family. It is my commitment to provide common sense and practical solutions that are in line with solid science. Health is too important to give it away to corporations and food companies.

I hope my book serves as a valuable resource for creating a diet that is healthy for you, the planet and to end the death and suffering of our animal kingdom. But how can you hope to discover the new, without a spirit of adventure? Make this an exciting time, learning about new foods and how to cook them.

We should all acknowledge and thank our bodies each day for our continued good health and not take it for granted.

Health is everything – without health, everything is nothing.

In good health