HEALTH
I
am a 36-year-old mom
of two kids (Adeline, 6
and Luke, 3). I grew up
as a very competitive soccer player. I was strong and
lean, and I never had to worry about gaining weight—
even while out eating most
of my guy friends. Funnily
enough, my
husband
says he fell
in love with
me because
I ate more
than he did
on our first
date. This
lasted well
into my
20’s. And,
let’s suffice
to say that
I very much
enjoyed my
younger
years in the
category of
‘partying.’
But I never thought
about the
cumulative
effects this
overindulging was
having on
my body.
Probably
because
I wasn’t
seeing the
impact it
was having.
I looked
good, and
I felt good.
There was
no problem,
right?
Wrong. When I turned
25, I saw a picture of myself wearing a sports bra and
shorts, and I almost wanted
to cry. I didn’t recognize myself. I also didn’t recognize
the man next to me in the
picture. We had done it. We
had let ourselves go.
My biggest problem? I
had no idea what to do about
it other than cut calories and
exercise more. This method
worked temporarily, but over
the next nine years (and two
kids in between), my weight
fluctuated quite a bit. By the
time my second born was a
hausted, and unhealthy. It
felt like an out of body experience, and I did not like
what I saw. My husband and
I were both exhausted. We
would come home from work
and plop on the couch avoiding playing with our kids.
We ate dinner in front of the
TV. We exercised less
because we
weren’t seeing the benefits from it.
This
wasn’t supposed to be
us. We were
supposed
to be forever good
looking—
fit, trim,
healthy,
and active.
That’s how
we were
when we fell
in love with
each other.
We aren’t
even 40, yet!
It was
time to take
real action
and learn
why this was
happening
to us. I researched
and found
that our food
supply is
atrocious. I
learned that
our bodies
are retaliating against
our environyear old, I was at my wits
ment constantly. Between
end. I put in effort in the
the processed, chemicalkitchen and in the gym. Why ly-laden foods we eat and
wasn’t I looking any different the toxicity in our environin the pictures?
ment that we cannot avoid
I’ll never forget the mo(skin care, water, fabrics, air
ment where I sat on the
quality, etc.), our body is in
couch and saw the future of
a constant state of fighting.
my family: sedentary, exThe body’s natural reaction