Here goes nothing!

I’ve always been perfectionistic…waiting until everything was just right before taking a risk, gathering as much information as possible to make sure I was making an informed decision, and consulting more people than necessary to reduce the likelihood I would “mess up” or make a mistake. I have lived most of my life terrified of failing.

If I read just one more book or took another class or watched one more video, then maybe I would be ready…maybe then I would be enough.

What is enough anyway? That word has plagued me for as long as I can remember. Am I smart enough? Pretty enough? Happy enough? Healthy enough? Generous enough? Good enough? You get the point.

I’ve lived most of my life this way, taking calculated risks when I was just about certain I would benefit. People call people like me “control freaks”…my dad says I just have a “high need for certainty.” I’ll take the latter.

You’re never going to please everyone. I’m saying this to myself as much as I am to you. To some people, what you offer will be good enough, and to others, it won’t. The sooner you figure that out, the more content you’ll be.

So, in the spirit of “enough,” I’ve decided to take a risk…to feel the fear and do it anyway because I know what I am called to do with my life and I don’t want to wait another minute to have an impact.

Food, nutrition and health have fascinated me since childhood. Whether I was learning how to bake from my mom or my neighbor Miss Muriel, working at a produce stand in high school, or reading about trans fats in college (surely a popular topic of discussion among 18 year olds!), I loved learning whatever I could about food and nutrition.

Even though I considered myself healthy, back in 2010, I was carrying around over 20 pounds of extra weight, taking Prilosec on a daily basis for my acid reflux (since age 19!), and struggling with other digestive, sinus and respiratory issues I had had since I was a kid.

I saw a dozen doctors, was treated with countless rounds of antibiotics and had six ear and sinus surgeries by high school.  I even developed some adult acne in my early 20s.

No one talked about the possibility that food could be related to my symptoms. No one. They just gave me another pill, sent me to another specialist, performed another surgery.

I’ve spent the past year learning more than I ever thought possible about food and nutrition as I’ve become a health coach.  I’m still just scratching the surface, but I’m excited, and I’m ready.

So, here I am, at the start of my healing, deciding that what I can offer is enough. 

My hope is that you will benefit from what I’ve learned along my journey. Eating real food – food that our bodies were designed to eat – can be delicious, enjoyable, affordable, nourishing and healing. We can look and feel better, have more energy, and get sick less often.

It scares me to think of starting this blog without having everything in order or knowing how often I’m even going to post on here, but guess what? It’ll be good enough for some and not enough for others.

Here goes nothing!