Love to eat healthy, it's easy and I'll show you how!

              Do you live to eat or eat to live? Why not both? I have been a victim of preconceived notions about healthy eating that have again and again led to my failure. I've thought; it's too hard, it's too expensive, the food will be boring, it will taste bad, it will take too long, etc. If you stop and think about how much time, money, and effort you put into baking a cake or making your favorite dish, you'll realize that it's always worth it. When food is made with passion, when it is baked with love, it turns out to be a satisfying and enjoyable meal. It doesn't take much to do this. Use the same techniques and tools that you use now. Prepare meals ahead of time. Keep it simple. Fresh, raw food is full of flavor. You don't need to add a lot to give it flavor like you would a cooked meal. Don't make a list of the things you can't eat but instead make a list of all the things you CAN eat. Keep it positive. Another good trick is to find recipes of dishes you already enjoy but in a healthy form. Or really get into and create your own! You'll love sharing your creation with others and this will fuel your desire to eat. Variety is the key! I used to love mac-n-cheese, I ate it constantly. Then I got burned out on it and really I'd rather eat anything but mac-n-cheese. Be sure to eat different types of fruits and vegetables, try new things. Really try them, taste them, chew them, enjoy the sensation of eating. Food is delicious and if you sit down and focus on what you are eating you will become satisfied and full faster. You can do this, you really can. Take it one meal at a time, one day at a time. Before you know it you'll look back and wonder how you ever did it any other way.

                      Most of you who know me, know me as Heather. Heather has a long history and something of an unpleasant past. Heather's past has helped to create who I am today and I wouldn't trade that for the world. However, I've started this journey to reinvent myself, under a new name. My middle name is Jean, it was my mother's middle name. It was her mother's middle name. It is my father's mother's middle name. It's an important name to me. All three of these women have played a very important role in my life and each serve as a role model in their own way. Even as an artist I sign my artwork as Jean. So as you can see Jean is very important to me for very good reasons and seems to fit the person I am becoming.

                  In these pages are the different ways that I am growing. I am improving myself and in that way improving the world around me. It is my desire to be a happy, healthy, eco friendly, perhaps a little bit hippy, woman of God. It is a journey for me and it's one I want to share with you. I believe that the joy is in the journey not in the destination. So let's take this journey one day at a time towards happiness and health.