I don’t remember the moment I realized I had to make a change. It was a long time ago. But I do remember the moment I took my first step towards learning to be a healthier me. 

I sat on the floor of Chapters in front of whatever section contained books about detoxing and I had a few scattered on the floor. I finally settled on a book called Grail Springs Holistic Detox: For Body, Mind & Spirit by Madeleine Marentette. I liked the “zenness” of the book. 

That lead me into learning about raw veganism. Which I focused on for quite a while. Not 100%, but by incorporating smoothies mostly and more salads into my diet. And so my journey went for about a decade. Introducing new ingredients and new flavours and slowly my taste palate changed to enjoy more fruit, vegetables, and nuts/seeds and to add them more often to my food. 

My boyfriend, now husband, was not so keen on my enthusiasm for spinach or how I could drink a brown smoothie (mix carrots and spinach — orange and green — you’re gonna get brown) much less a green one. 

For a while I was making multiple dinners etc, which took a lot of time and energy and didn’t really last. Sometimes, I gave up on my journey and slipped back into a more Western diet. But as time past and I yo-yo’d around in my food consumption looking for the happy medium between what I wanted to eat and what my family was willing to eat, we found compromise. 

This past year, over a decade since I sat on that Chapters store floor, I have schooled into some certifications and submersed myself into the world of nutrition for body, mind, spirit, and, more recently, environment.

My husband has turned a new leaf and become very much on board with finding healthy choices for both our bodies and our home environment. I’m ecstatic to say I feel like this has become a team effort! But man, that was a long journey and it’s not done. 

So what brought my husband on board? If I had to guess, I’d say for one, I was consistently trying to better myself, successful or not, I was always trying. I think “trying” is catchy if you set the example long enough. 🙂 And the answer he gives is he had to admit that the meals I was making tasted good and he was much more willing to come on board with me. He started asking a lot of questions and the one in particular was “what’s in this that makes it good for me?” And now we’re at the point when he’s cooking he’s asking what ingredients he can change up to make his dishes healthier. 

It’s been a long journey towards improving our health through diet and lifestyle, and we’re still on this journey. But the message I want to put out there is, if you’re the one striving to improve your health and your meeting resistance in your home be it a spouse or kids or teens, there is a way. Through consistency, enthusiasm, trying great tasting food, you can achieve your goals with reduced resistance and stress from the family. 

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