Joanna Gaines Wasn’t Always Joanna Gaines
“For me, it was about learning to try.” ~Joanna Gaines A few weeks ago I came across an interview that Chip and Joanna Gaines, of Fixer Upper and Magnolia fame, did with Jenna Bush. Always interested in success stories, I watched from beginning to end. I didn’t think much about the interview again until today…
Get Fiber Fueled and Gut Healthy
When I received the notice in my email that a book I had pre-ordered, Dr. Will Bulsiewicz’s Fiber Fueled, had been downloaded to my Kindle, I started reading it before I even got out of bed. It took me a day or two to find enough time to finish it because I had to fit…
From Donuts to Potatoes-Meet Esther Lebeck Loveridge
Esther Lebeck Loveridge is the poster child for a Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) lifestyle, only she’s not a child. She’s in her mid-70s. (She has a childlike love of the world and the people in it though.) She recently published her story in From Donuts to Potatoes, My 366 Day Journey on a Plant-Based Diet. …
Simplifying the Whole Food Plant-Based Menu
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about the need to clean up our diets in light of the current Coronavirus pandemic, and she was honest with me, “There is just so much! I get overwhelmed by it all!” As I thought back to my first encounters with the WFPB way of eating, I…
When the COVID-19 Crisis is Over What Will Have Changed?
I’ve been thinking about what “The Great Pause” from the COVID-19 Pandemic is going to teach us in the end. What will be different when we re-open the country, the world? Will we just go back to our old ways, or will we restructure our lives from the lessons we have learned? I, for…
Loving-Kindness in the Time of Coronavirus
This morning after I let the dog out, fed him and my two cats, I crawled back into bed to steal a few more minutes of sleep. That’s when I had the nightmare. There was a black dog barking ferociously at me and a high speed chase involving a white pickup truck and many cars…
Love Doesn’t Hurt: Lack of Love Does
I’ve had an epiphany! The fog has lifted, and the clouds have parted, at least in my mind, and as cheesy as it sounds, the lyrics of I Can See Clearly Now are looping through my brain. I have had this type of realization or insight before, but only once as enlightening as this one,…
The Bacon on Your Plate
“Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They’ll believe anything they see in print.” ― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web I am a native of the state of North Carolina where, I am often not so jokingly reminded, there are “more pigs than people” due to the vast industrialized pork industry in the eastern part of the state. Just…
Eat to Prevent and Maybe Reverse Cancer
“For example, three hours after eating a cup of broccoli sprouts, the enzyme that cancers use to help silence our defenses is suppressed in our bloodstream to an extent equal to or greater than the chemotherapy agent specifically designed for that purpose, without the toxic side effects.” ~Dr. Michael Greger, Nutritionfacts.org When I lived in…
I Love Myself
Does this sound egotistical? Can you say this about yourself? Would you believe that saying this one phrase as a personal mantra can be life-altering in the most positive way? It is true. Affirming our own self-love can have wonderful results. While most of us have no problem listing our shortcomings, focusing on what we…