Before Part 2 with Joanna Steven, an update on my latest Fashionation.
Along my summer’s “remineralizing” journey toward health and wellness, some days I’m terrible, and on others I do it in style. What does that mean? It means pursuing goals in your own style, according to whatever your best may be. I teach my son the power of being a leader of his own life, by helping him understand what it means to live his life with his own style…but how often do I take my own advice?
This summer I’ve asked myself, am I doing my best? Am I pursuing my goals in my own style, the way I know I can? When I don’t exercise, am I being lazy? When I eat something that’s bad for me, am I feeding my emotions instead of my body? If I’m great 90% of the time, why am I hard on myself 90% of the time! It’s time I start rewarding myself for achieving my goals in my own style!
Joanna Steven, nutrition coach and author who focuses on real, whole foods diets, using ancient wisdom from cultures who thrived without pharmaceuticals, multi-vitamins, or scientific studies, shares more of her perspective on health…
By saying, “health is so much more than food,” what do you mean?
When one’s health improves after a new diet, food becomes super important. Food is not just calories; it’s much more than that. A good diet can improve our mood; strengthen our bones, and more, but a social life, fun, laughing, reducing stress, etc. are very important too. We can eat all the organic food we want, if we’re stressed and overwhelmed, we won’t be as healthy as someone who’s joyful, relaxed…and eats a little pizza with friends.
Why did you dedicate your life to health and nutrition?
I found that conventional wisdom regarding diet was flawed. The food pyramid has not helped people become healthier, and it’s not because they are not following it. At 14, I had acne, heartburn, anxiety, depression, and more. I didn’t understand why I was so sick. After all, I slept 8 hours a day, ate from every food group, and exercised. When I left to study in France, things got worse. It never occurred to me that food was to blame. When I went vegetarian, my heartburn disappeared, but not all my other problems. One day, I came upon Tonya Kay’s interview. She didn’t eat meat or dairy, and she didn’t cook her food! She looked great, and mentioned that eating raw got rid of her acne and she got off medications for manic depression. I went raw and the results were quick. Within days my acne disappeared, and my anxiety and depression completely lifted. I started gaining a healthy weight and my stomach cramps were gone. From then on, I worked with health experts to find keys to great health. I took advanced science classes, and read a lot to compensate what I wasn’t being taught in school. After my law degree, I earned a Masters in Psychology – I realized you couldn’t just teach people to eat well. People can understand what to eat easily, but implementing change is harder, because of psychological hurdles. One of my biggest passions is helping people become healthier through eating a better diet adapted to their needs. Seeing people get stronger and healthier is immensely rewarding.
We send men to the moon, but we poison ourselves with pharmaceuticals. How did ancient cultures thrive without them?
They didn’t try to be better than nature. Nature, when it comes to diet, has it right. The problem is, since we’re omnivores and evolved, the “right” diet can be confusing. There’s not one diet that’s right for everyone, but some concepts are right for everyone. The rest is fine-tuning.
In the Remineralize program, I teach ancient health secrets such as fermentation, culturing, and phytic acid breakdown, and tricks to increase nutrition, which are necessary in an age of soil depletion and reduced meal times. I hope people will realize that downing supplements to be healthy is inadequate. Human beings didn’t survive by pure luck. Supplements didn’t always exist. Let’s stop looking up to pharmaceuticals and labs to give us back our health. Everything we need is already out there.
Joanna on Facebook http://facebook.com/JoannaSteven
Joanna’s website http://www.joannasteven.com
Read more posts by Stephany Greene here. Stephany is a contributing blogger for JenningsWire.
