Before you begin on your journey, I would like to share some insights that have served me well.

First – This is NOT a “Diet”

This is a life-style transformation and how we humans were meant to eat. Once you begin feeling and looking better, why would you want to return to eating inflammatory foods again?

Next – Have a WHY

Have a reason why you are embarking on this transformational journey. Without a true, undeniable reason that is greater than yourself, you may not succeed, feel like a failure and deem this way of eating unsuccessful. I’ve failed on other diets in the past but have embraced the knowledge gained, improved my life and my family’s lives dramatically and know that it is possible. So don’t sell yourself and this way of eating short.

For me, I had multiple reasons:

1. My kids—I wanted them to experience an awesome, long life.
2. Heal my husband’s damage from chemotherapy. That stuff’s no joke and can have life-long side effects.
3. Personal reason. My conventional doctor told me that I couldn’t overcome pre-diabetes with food alone. Blasphemy! I HAD to prove him wrong. And I did, in only a few months!

Prepare for Questions

Prepare for questions and some eye-rolling about your new lifestyle in advance for your family and friends. If your family is anything like ours, they will probably think that you are strange or trying to be better than them because only ‘those people’ shop at Whole Foods. It’s best to have a simple response handy.

Your Friends May Not Be the Only People Who Don’t Understand

Your conventional doctor will not understand that healthy eating includes lots of beautiful, grass-fed butter and other nutritional fats. I got the weirdest look from my doctor when she heard that I drink butter in my coffee. So, you may not want to “go there” with your doctor until you are starting to see positive changes or better yet, switch to a naturopathic doctor like we did. Being able to have an hour-long discussion about things like your adrenal glands and ashwagandha is a delightful change of pace at the doctor’s office. I highly recommend it!

Perfection is a Myth – It’s OK…

You don’t have to do everything 100% perfectly to be considered to be successful. If you can just remember my high school graduation quote: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” from Chinese philosopher Lao, you will be able to relax and take this one step and one day at a time. This is a process. It took you years to get your body in the mess that you’re in and you aren’t going to undo it in a day. Temptations are abound and unavoidable. Just think back to your WHY and carry on.