I have always been a vegetable fan. Even as a child, they were my favorite food group, and in restaurants, I ordered vegetable plates, to get as many as I could. Even though my family ate meat and dairy, we alway had lots of vegetables, and not just a bit as a side, so that gave me a head start. When I was pregnant with my first child, in 1975, my then husband gave me a book called: Be A Healthy Mother, Have A Healthy Baby. THAT was the start of my deep dive into health and nutrition. I started eating tomatoes, something I had previous not enjoyed. I learned to love them. I read everything I could find on the topic, added wheat germ to dishes, made whole wheat bread and was very early in the “grate up carrots and hide them in your kids’ peanut butter movement” After listening to John Robbins, author of Diet For A New America, speak in 1987, never ate any ground meat again. I was never a fan of meat that looked like an animal so, I made boneless skinless chicken breasts and some steaks, occasional seafood, but mainly we ate vegetarian. Not vegan then, so lots of dairy. After reading, Diet For A Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappe, I discovered lentils. It was a revelation to me, I loved them and still do. Much to my children’s dismay, I served lentil soup or spilt pea soup frequently. I grew a garden, bought low fat milk and followed all of the latest nutrition advice of the time and used herbs, spices and lemon juice in place of salt. My kids loved what I made, often volunteering me to make snacks for their day care or sports teams, and saying, “My Mommy is the best cooker” …………until they started eating food from the S.A.D. at school or friends houses. (Yes, I packed lunches but kids being kids, they traded my wholesome food for the high salt, sugar and oil items that were infiltrating the market- not always, they were good veggie eaters) My daughter came home once when young….6 or 7? and said, “ Mommy, they had clear bread” after her first experience with “Wonder” Bread. At least I started them out right.

Later on, a late in life marriage and, what was to have been an 18 month move to Alaska to work in Army Mental Health, and living in the land of fresh seafood we joined the wine club, dinner party circuit and ate a lot of seafood, some steaks and still LOTS of dairy. As often is the case, after a few years of this my weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and other labs all shot up. By this time, I started hearing about WFPB (Whole Food Plant Based) eating and was intrigued. I had always kept “going vegan” in the back of my mind as something to aspire to, but with no real plan or idea where to start. I had dipped my toes in the vegan water a few times, but without all the fabulous online recipes and info we have access to, today, it quickly was dropped by the wayside. Fast forward to 2018 and WFPB info started bubbling up everywhere. It all made so much sense to me, I had always been a label reader and tried to stay away from processed and non-organic items. This new - well to me- approach FELT right. The part about NO OIL was baffling at first. Hadn’t we all been programmed to think of olive oil as a magical elixir of health? I started listening to the National Health Association Podcast-NHA Health Science Podcast and Nutrition Facts Podcast with Dr Michael Gregor and learned the WHY of no oil. As of mid-2022 I transitioned to fully WFPB No oil, very low salt and, never being a sweet eater, using a little date or maple syrup for sweetening. I quickly lost 62 pounds and have kept it off the past 48 months and my blood pressure stays around 115/77, my labs are all perfect and the chronic joint paint I had suffered with for over a decade has all but vanished. I am able to move freely and pain-free. I’ve had friends say I look ‘“ 10 years younger” and my skin is like it was in my 30’s. And, I NEVER really ate the SAD and still experienced this much improvement. I’ve worked as a psychotherapist/hypnotherapist for the past 35 years and it has been a very rewarding and satisfying career. But, now, I am making the change to being a WFPB/Vegan Mind-set and Empowerment Coach. THIS is my passion. I help people who want to make the transition but don’t know where to start as well as coaching for mind-set to stay on track.