EVERYONE STARTS SOMEWHERE

A self-awareness junkie, I am! In the past dozen years I've attended more seminars, motivational speeches, conferences, and webinars; have read more personal awareness & self-empowerment books; and have connected & shared with more like-minded others along the path of my spiritual journey than I can count.

The spiral into my own personal evolution began around 2001, when I read Debbie Ford's best-selling book, Spiritual Divorce. Yes, I was in a marriage that wasn't working, but this book is about more than that. It blazes a trail of inspiration for anyone wanting to reach a higher level within themselves, and reclaim their lives. Reading this book began the liberation of my free spirit & was the beginning of my spiritual wake-up call.

Five years after reading this book, I emerged from my comfort zone and divorced in 2005, further searching the discovery of my most authentic self. I felt the fear, but clutched on the firm belief that each of us has the power to invent our lives as we want it to be, and to manifest positive energies into it (the Law of Attraction). This unwavering vision was the catalyst that gave me courage and pushed me forward to take the leap to create a better, balanced, and healthier world for myself and my then 8-year-old son.

I made a lot of changes that first year on our own. The biggest one at the time, I went back to college for 18 months. I also slowly learned an important lesson as my days threaded together into one big perpetual To-Do list: you can't be everything to everyone, and it's okay to say no when you have to ... or want to.

And so, I mindfully cleared my plate of keep-busy items that overshadowed our days. I excused myself from positions on my son's school board and Condo Association's board of directors. My son transferred from a privte school to a more challenging & resourceful public school, leaving a world of uniforms, strict regimen, and tiring fundraising behind. We found a good home for our puppy that was overwhelming our busy lives. It didn't happen overnight and it wasn't always easy, but we started to focus on what really mattered.

GETTING LOST SO I COULD FIND MY WAY

Growing up in the 1970's, I was in a fake-food hell. TV dinners, canned raviolis, Slim Jims, cheese doodles, and gallons of milk were in our kitchen on most days. My mother cooked conventional SAD (Standard American Diet) meals of breaded pork chops, mashed potatoes, and string beans. I hear of foodies (people who eat healthy) who grew up in whole-food-eating, vegetable-juicing, nutrient-loving pioneer, farming families and think ... oh my gosh, this was happening then?

It took 30 something years later for me to stumble on, trip face-first over, and then finally 'own' and celebrate my personal power over my well being. As a newly single parent, I had a sudden interest in wanting to feel better every day, and keeping myself healthy & able to take care of my son ... yet I had no idea the rabbit hole that was just beginning.

It wasn't long after giving up processed food, sugar, and junk drinks for too long before I lost weight, had more energy, and a 'brain fog' lifted. Organic foods hadn't debuted in a big way yet, and any bit of knowledge for me came from a Reader's Digest or Prevention magazine. I just simply made the best choices I knew how to, every day, with good intent.

I was oh so fascinated by my weight loss & added energy, and wanted to know how this was happening so I educated myself on everything nutrition. But I focused on the wrong things: reducing calories ... instead of the beautiful, healing nutrients that nature's food gives to our bodies. And so, before I got healthy, I got sick.

Food is powerful to a body's health (good & bad), and I soon found myself on the dark side of this power. I began manipulating my growing knowledge to create a diet of low-calorie and zero-fat foods. Within 7 months I lost 40+ pounds and went from a post-baby size 12 (8 years later!) to a size less-than-zero. Because my cholesterol dropped 140 points (280 to a normal 140), and I felt physically terrific & exercised daily, I thought I was healthy. And for awhile, I was.

What I didn't know was that our bodies need (the right kind of) carbs, protein, and fat to function properly. Good fat (poly- and mono-unsaturated) creates an energy source; it cushions & protects internal organs; it carries fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) throughout the body; and more. Yet I was getting zero fat, carbs, and protein, and minimal protein or iron in my diet from eating only (mainly) fruits and (some) vegetables for months. My body fat scaled in at a dangerously low 7% on most days.

I also learned these good fats are essential for healthy hair after my own began to fall out, or shed. My period stopped for many months as well, since estrogen is affected by weight being too low for an extended time. The coating of my tongue & the tone of my skin changed as it does when your body goes through a state of detox. Many nights I laid in bed scared to death I'd die in my sleep with my son in the next room because my heart pounded so fast & erractically. All of these things were symptoms of malnutrition, I now know.

And that's the problem I had created for myself: by not giving my body the nutritonal balance it needed from different foods, I was 10 pounds underweight for where my body wanted to be in order to be healthy. These symptoms were alarms from my body telling me it was not happy & something was not right. And while I vaguely recall sometimes 'getting' these messages, I know my brain would not accept it because of my Type-A-perfectionist behavior.

It took a 1,000-mile journey and a mountain climb to finally discover - and eventually accept - that I was abusing the very thing I was trying to improve (my health!) by not allowing the proper balance of foods in my diet. With the same zealous I started with, I did a 180 in my thinking and tackled new research.

This time, I set out to find the foods needed to heal myself and create overall (and lasting) wellness in my nutrition, my psyche, and ultimately my Life. I didn't realize until my later education that my new selection of foods was a fusion of the Macrobiotic & Okinawa styles of eating: whole grains, land & sea vegetables, fruits, legumes (beans), salmon, fish, and other whole, natural, fresh and seasonal foods. It wasn't until I attended IIN that I discovered the amazing power of raw foods, superfoods, fermentation, healthy condiments, nuts, and seeds, & incorporated them as well.

LESSONS BY LIVING

We each have our own bio-individual nutritional and emotional balances, and for me, finding mine was a trial & error journey I was meant to experience, and am grateful for. It wasn't fun, for sure. I was fortunate to have had the intuition, and later the professional education, to catch and heal my eating disorder. I now know that too much of even a healthy food can be damaging, because it crowds out room for other essential foods that need to give us our missing nutrients.

Ahh, there is an abundance of power in food. The Yin side is that it can heal, as well as ward off and prevent disease. On the Yang side, it can also create havoc and malfunction in a body - quickly realized or over time - if abused.

The Institute for Integrative Nutrition introduced me to all the different dietary theories. As contrasting as each of them are, can you guess the one common factor consistent throughout each one? An abundance of high-quality, organic, whole, natural, fresh and locally grown seasonal foods! We eat to LIVE and no matter how you package an eating style, the nutrients needed to nurture our body will ALWAYS come from our earth ... not a box, or a package, or a drive-through window.

Think of it this way: if a food didn't exist 1,000 years ago and our ancestors didn't grow it or eat it themselves, it's not a natural or whole food. Anything not in its natural state doesn't belong in our bodies because it means someone commercially manufactured it, genetically modified it, chemically processed it, or artificially sweetened it. Or good gosh, maybe a little of all. So consider, which you would rather have flowing through your blood and pumping your heart: earth-natural or factory-produced?

HELPING OTHERS: PAYING IT FORWARD

I radically improved my overall health and wellness by making positive changes not only in my diet and lifestyle, but most importantly in my approach to nutrition and life balance. It's easier to live every day what you believe, understand, and exercise. Our personal & emotional psyche has to lead the way, before healthy habits can begin to form. The more we understand the inherent power that food AND lifestyle habits have in deciding whether we are healthy or on our way to disease, the better we will honor the choices we make for ourselves, everyday.

As a single parent with a 20-plus year corporate job, I intimately know the challenges of finding a working balance of family, career, home, personal, play, life, spirit, exercise and self-care ... all while trying to find the time to cook, shop and eat smart. I also know first-hand the great amount of invested time and personal dedication it takes to become an educated food consumer and creator of your own destiny.

I have been there, I am living it, and because you are reading this, I know I am like you, in always craving to learn more and be my best, healthiest self. I'm your neighbor, your sister, and the woman alongside you at the traffic light. I am a mother, a lover of LIFE, and a real person who understands, is educated in holistic health & happy living, and walks the talk every single day. Healthy shopping, nurturing self-care, exploring resources, positive thoughts, gratitiude, meal prayers, and networking with other like-minded, healthy, kindred spirits ... these are all part of my every day.

I am authentically inspired & passionate about supporting and educating others on smart healthy living. I attended IIN to heal myself but in the end graduated with professional certification as a Holistic Health Counselor. I always believed that nothing is ever random, and every journey has its purpose: I now help others from my own personal experience and professional training.

As Buddha said, Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.

FULL CIRCLE KARMA

Debbie Ford was a guest teacher at my very first Integrative Nutrition class. As she entered onto the stage, I shook with tears, of coming home ... to myself. As she spoke for 3 hours, in between taking notes, I drew a process-flow-map of my life, recognizing & connecting the pieces in amazement & sheer gratitude, of how all the 'darknesses' of my life brought me the 'lights'.

After class, amidst 1,200 students exiting the Rose Theatre at the Time Warner Building in NYC, I had the wonderful and fateful opportunity to meet and share my transformation story with her. Through my tears, I was able to personally thank her for the aha! spiritual seeds and unshakable faith that she planted in my being. Faith in myself and faith in Fate, and Divine Intervention, and the simple belief that the Universe has a plan for each of us. I had brought my well-worn and highlighted Spiritual Divorce book to class that day and inside she inscribed a note to me:

Dear Rosa, I love you.
Thank you for stepping into your greatest self.
Debbie Ford.

Without a doubt, I knew I had come full circle.

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