Tired? Low energy? Frequent headaches? Feeling sluggish? Having trouble sleeping or sleeping too much? Dealing with less-than-stellar physical changes that are draining your zest for life?

How much easier would it be to get through your busy day and make decisions if you didn’t have the brain fog and aches and pains draining your mental and physical energy?

As music teachers are acutely aware, having an expensive high-quality wooden clarinet in excellent shape contributes to a beautiful sound, ease of playing and better response than a crappy plastic clarinet. Imagine your life as the clarinet – and imagine for a moment that your life is like the best quality wooden clarinet made.

Now imagine that the only reed you have is old, a little moldy and chipped. Even though the clarinet is top-notch, it will be nearly impossible to get it to respond favorably if the reed won’t facilitate the necessary response.

What if you now think of your life as the clarinet and the reed as your fuel – your food. No matter what kind of shape you are in, if you are not consistently consuming the kind of fuel that supports your physical and mental needs, then it’s like trying to play a fantastic clarinet with a nasty reed. It just doesn’t work very well.

The same is true for you. You must have your fuel, which is food, in order to function. There is a direct correlation between the type and quality of food you consume and every aspect of your health. Period.

For fifty-one years, I firmly believed it was healthiest to stick to the traditional food pyramid, which was built on a diet of starches and carbs and low in fats, but look where that got me. I also fell for the rationale that my weight was a direct result of the number of calories I consumed. I had no clue that the quality of the calories played a bigger role in everything from my weight to my quality of life than the number of calories. Once I understood and embraced the truth that what I’d being doing for five decades wasn’t working for me, my life changed.

My initial goal when I began the healing part of my journey was just to feel well enough to work without getting sick again. Feeling great wasn’t even on my radar. I had hoped to be on a fraction of the medications I was on at the time, never dreaming that I would be weaned off all of the pharmaceuticals I’d been on for decades. And being 5’7” and 200 pounds when I was sickest, it never dawned on me that within months I would weigh 135 pounds and wear a size 4 – and that I would have abs and a toned body simply through the gentle practices of yoga and walking.

If I had been told that my ADHD symptoms would be gone and my memory would be sharper than it had been in twenty years, I’d have laughed at the ridiculousness of that possibility. I had no idea what was in store for me, but I’m certainly glad I hit rock-bottom so I could begin my journey out of the downward spiral into which I had fallen. It was through this experience that the four cornerstones of my mPower Method evolved, the result of my own assessment and discovery of what was causing me to feel so horrible and what was helping me feel and function better. Once I finally figured out what had been such a mystery to me for so many years, I knew I had to share it with others who were going through the same suffocating experience.

The first component of my mPower Method is meals. The meals you eat are the basis of everything from how you feel to how you function. What you put in your body literally becomes your body. Our cells are regenerating constantly. Think about it – if you are eating foods that have been treated with pesticides, are filled with artificial ingredients, and have antibiotics and other hormones added to them, then those things are all going into your body. Your body isn’t meant to use these things in productive ways that help you grow, heal, think, and function, so many of the processes your body goes through become impeded and don’t work like they should.

Years and even decades of eating stuff that didn’t benefit my body took its toll in the form of excess weight, acne, memory loss, brain fog, ADHD, pain, repeated infections, infertility, and dozens of other ailments. I had gotten to the point where I figured I was so far gone with such a long list of health problems that there was no turning things around, so I was about to settle for just “not getting any worse,” but eventually I realized that option really sucked. Why should I succumb to being sick, tired, overweight, in pain, and feeling like crap when there might be a different possibility out there? After all, I was only fifty-one at the time. I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel, so I figured it was now or never and I took a leap of faith and never looked back.

We have been taught in the past that we should be eating lots of fruits, veggies, and nonfat foods and avoiding fats. Our diets are inundated with sugars, grain, additives, preservatives, added hormones, and all kinds of other things our bodies weren’t made to process, so our bodies respond with aches and pains or brain fog in hopes of getting our attention and letting us know what we are doing isn’t working. When we ignore those symptoms, our bodies have to do something more drastic to get our attention so we will stop doing the things that are making us sick. I didn’t get the message until my body was riddled with all kinds of ailments, including painful arthritis due to swollen joints, migraines, difficulty sleeping, difficulty staying asleep, a lack of energy, and brain fog that was so bad I actually went to my doctor, afraid I had early-onset dementia.

The bottom line as to why I felt so crappy and was constantly sick was because I wasn’t giving my body the kind of nutrients it needed to work properly, so it simply couldn’t get or stay healthy. It really was that simple, and I found that out after just a week of eliminating gluten from my diet. (I had done lots of research and asked a lot of health care professionals questions to help me figure out where to begin. This was what made sense for me. Your first step should be based on your particular needs.)

That one small change was eye-opening, so I added another by eliminating grains as well. Within a week of completely avoiding grains (which is not an easy task), I noticed that I had lost five pounds without even trying, my joints weren’t quite as painful, and my brain fog didn’t seem as bad as it had been. It was a real wake-up call and it motivated me to try another change – and when that made a difference, I tried another and another. I became addicted to feeling good, and when I brought my awareness to how I felt after every meal, I was able to identify things within my control that I could do to change my health. And when I ate foods that my body needed, I eliminated fatigue and found myself energized. Food was proving to be the absolute building block of everything. I could control what went into my mouth, so I could control much more of how I felt than I ever realized. That was empowering!

My husband, George, was witnessing first-hand the power of how changing a few of my eating habits was impacting my body and how my health was improving. He, too, began incorporating more awareness with his food choices and at the age of 58 is trim, fit, and playing ice hockey on a regular basis!

I have spent the last couple of years paying very close attention to the impact food has on how I feel, think, and function. I’ve also read everything I can get my hands on to learn more about how and why food is such an important component in how we function because I now see the clear correlation. It comes down to the simple fact that food is the building block of every cell in your body, so doesn’t it make sense that the quality of what you put into your body impacts the quality of your body and what it can do? Every cell in your body regenerates on a regular basis, so you are making new cells 24/7. If you use high quality materials (the foods that your body needs to perform at its most efficient and best self) then you’re going to have a better quality of life. Period.

My lists of symptoms and the foods that trigger them is long. I had no idea that the root cause of so many of the ailments that had plagued me for so long came down to each decision I made about what to eat. I didn’t need to go on a particular diet, like Keto or low-fat. Instead, I needed to find out how my body reacted to everything from the types of food (dairy/meat/grain/etc.) to the quality (grass-fed/organic/hormone, antibiotic free, processed, added sugars, etc.) I was consuming. Once I understood this information, I could then make choices as to what I wanted to do. If I wanted to eliminate the symptoms that were making me so sick I couldn’t go to work and function any more, then I had to change my behaviors. If I wanted to continue down the path that I was on, which was pretty miserable at that point, then I could just continue eating the way I had been and I would have undoubtedly progressed even further on the unhealthy track I’d been on.

Society has made it super convenient for us to grab cheap and handy meals and snacks just about everywhere, but most of those options don’t support the needs we have for sustained energy and stamina or to keep us at a healthy weight. We get so busy with jobs and other life events that our default mode often falls into picking up meals that are readily available even if they aren’t serving our body’s needs. The suggestions in this book will help you rebuild your gut, which is your “soil” from which everything else in your body is run. Once you get your gut in better shape, you’ll feel the results throughout your entire body.

When flowers and leaves wither and die, we prune those parts away so they don’t suck precious energy away from the parts of the plant that are trying to thrive. The same is true for your life – we must release from our lives the things that are no longer serving us well, and that means having a heart-to-heart talk with yourself and deciding you are ready to conquer your health problems once and for all. This involves reevaluating what you are putting in your body based on how you know it makes you feel. If that feeling (outcome) is what you desire, then you can make the choice to support it by eating the foods that help your body attain and maintain health that allows you to do everything you need to do.

The most effective way I found of figuring out what worked for me was to deliberately monitor a specific food or food group and its impact on my health. When I finally came to this realization, it was hard to know where to start. I needed some kind of systematic way to learn which foods were possible culprits for my health issues so I could stop eating things that might be making me sick. I had to do a lot of research and visit a lot of professionals to come up with the information I needed in this process.

Once I compiled everything I learned about how food impacts our mental and physical health, I created the Mojo Meter as a way to assess my clients’ biggest health challenges. I based it on the process I used to figure out what I needed. Just like me, my clients need and expect to see results, and they need to see them fast. I had run out of patience and time for doing more of the same old treatments, and since they hadn’t worked before, I finally realized they weren’t going to work again, no matter how many times I repeated them. If I wanted different results, I needed different input. There was simply no getting around it. We will use your results from the mPower Meal Self-Assessment to help you figure out where to start your meal modifications.

I learned that the joint pain I’d experienced since I was a teenager wasn’t actually a lifelong sentence – once I eliminated the foods that caused excessive inflammation in my joints, I was addressing the root cause of the swelling, and I went from being dependent on anti-inflammatory and pain medications and a cane to needing no medications and no longer hurting! Not only has the cane become a thing of the past, but because of my yoga practice, my body moves in ways it never has before (more on this part later).

There are a lot of resources out there with one-size-fits-all health plans and diets. Those don’t take into consideration your particular health needs, environment, family, job, and other variables. It’s really hard to sift through everything and know what will work and what won’t, but I will walk you through some resources I found to be particularly helpful to help you discover what makes you function at your peak.

You are always one decision away from getting closer to your goal. You don’t have to make a million decisions about how to change everything all at once. Just one decision at a time. Don’t stress about your next decision or what you will do tomorrow. If you keep this principle in mind, you’ll find this to be much more manageable and sustainable for the long haul, and isn’t that what you are finally seeking to do?

At first it felt like modifying my diet was all about “taking away” everything I loved. My comfort foods, the things I could make in a hurry or meals I could pick up on my way home from work were ingrained in every aspect of what my family and I did, so making major changes that required a lot more thought, time, patience, and often money (yes, better quality food is more expensive than stuff that can be processed quickly and with inferior ingredients) was daunting, especially since I was tired and felt crappy. It wasn’t long, however, before I noticed how powerful the tradeoff was – if I took the time to plan, prepare, and eat the types of foods that supported my brain and body, I became invincible. It was crazy amazing … and addicting. It felt good to have the weight melt off. It amazed me to see how quickly my skin cleared up, to the point where I often go out in public without make up on because I now feel so comfortable. The more attention I paid to what I was eating and how it made me feel, the more control I had in changing my destiny. That was empowering and I was hooked.

Now that you are ready to turn your health around, it’s time to start with a self-assessment so you can begin the transformation you desire and deserve. I can tell you about what I did to get healthy, but I can’t do the work for you. I can do it with you and share the resources I used, and if you follow the advice, you’ll experience a freedom that comes with being well that changes your entire life. It becomes easier to do the things you have to do, and you find yourself feeling good enough to do the things you want to do (how long has it been since that’s happened?). There will be challenges, but you have the tools you need to overcome them. And if you want to jumpstart your wellness with a free self-assessment, I’ve got your back…

You won’t be changing all your habits at once. Instead, you want to find the ones that will have the biggest and most positive impact. Once you see and feel the connection between the food you are eating and the way your body responds, you’ll be amazed. Then decide if you like those changes. If you do, great. If not, then make a different change.

I was skeptical that food had anything to do with things like brain fog and arthritis pain, so I approached this with a suspicious but desperate mindset. Until I actually felt the incredible changes in my body, I hadn’t believed the meals I ate could be that powerful and have such an impact on every aspect of my mind and body. Boy, was I wrong!

I highly recommend keeping a food journal, even using an app to track what you’re eating – I know you’ve heard it before and it’s a drag, but it is an excellent tool for helping you see where you are making progress and where you still need help. It also makes it easier to make good food choices when you know you are holding yourself accountable in writing!

The food groups I suggest eliminating are based on research done from various medical practitioners, the resources listed at the end of this book, and what I’ve learned through years of practice with my own body. Your body will react differently than anyone else’s, so be sure to pay attention to how you feel. Write down not only what you eat, but how you feel before, during, and after your meals. A simple happy face, word, or other indicator is all you need to start seeing patterns in the relationship between your meals and how you feel.

As you begin to make one change and then another, you’ll be blown away by the results. By taking time each day to deliberately make choices about the meals you are using to fuel your brain and body, you are investing in a new and improved you, and that’s why you are here in the first place.

In a nutshell, from what I’ve found in my own practice and with those with whom I work, there are some key food groups that have a huge impact across multiple areas you’re trying to address. If you are struggling with weight, for example, your most effective way to address it is likely through the elimination of grains. Think about it – when farmers are fattening up their livestock, what do they feed them? Corn and other grains. Those grains do the same thing to your body that they do to the cows and pigs – they add weight and bulk you up. Don’t believe me? See what happens if you eliminate grains from your meals for just one week. Not only will weight begin melting off, but you might also be delighted to discover that your brain fog is clearing up, along with the painful swelling of your joints. The benefits will become evident and you will quickly come to feel the correlation between what goes in your body and how you function.

By now, you may be a bit worried about what you can eat. It may seem like all I’ve focused on is elimination of food groups. That’s because a huge part of getting and staying healthy is resetting your gut biome, and the only way to do that is to change what goes in your gut. But in addition to eliminating what isn’t serving you well, you must also be vigilant about providing high quality meals that support brain and body health.

The list of what you can and should eat is long. For example, high quality lean meat serves to provide you with protein that’s necessary for helping you function. Grass-fed beef and grass-fed dairy provide excellent sources of healthy fats that keeps you going longer and at a steadier pace than any carbs and sugar can do. If you are not able to process or choose not to eat meat, your protein sources could include tofu, eggs, and nuts.

Many people turn to salads and other raw foods in an attempt to get healthy. Kale and other dark green veggies are full of vitamins, but if your body has difficulty processing them, they may cause you distress. Simply cooking them in a small amount of broth or high quality oil (olive, coconut, or avocado) for a few minutes to wilt them begins the digestion process and makes them gentler on your belly while still allowing you to access the nutritional benefits. 

ACTION PLAN:

Use a food journal or app on your phone to track your progress. Keep track of every food choice you make for the next twenty-one days. It takes that long to establish a new habit. And notice how you feel as your body adapts to the new changes. Sometimes the first few days our bodies actually feel worse before feeling better, so don’t let that get you down. Just acknowledge it and know it will get better. Don’t try to change everything at once – just the one thing you are focusing on at first.

Make a commitment to do your best to incorporate one new habit at a time because you are investing in your well-being so you can regain your energy, health, and vitality. You are worth it, so be as insistent on taking care of yourself as you would be if you were taking care of a loved one.

Be well!