I went from a sick, stressed-out veggie hater to an energetic, infectiously encouraging NOURISH evangelist who can’t wait for the eggplant to ripen in her garden.

I’d been fighting the same 20 pounds for 10 years (and losing) when I was faced with a one-two punch of a lupus diagnosis and life-threatening cancer scare.

My doctor was telling me I needed to eat differently if I was going to live. But I thought I was eating right … I had mastered low-fat spins on my favorite junk food so well that I was contributing to the most popular food magazines in the country (you can read the deets on my professional life here).

So I asked the experts—top researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, Tufts, Penn, etc.–where I was going wrong and what I needed to change.

I’ll tell you what, not one of them handed me a list of “power foods” or talked about some magic metabolic state. What every single one of them did tell me turned out to be distinctly un-newsworthy.

In a nutshell, they said, “Eat lots of seasonal vegetables and whole grains made delicious with healthy fat. And look at the protein more as the side than the main.”

Even more interesting was the addendum each of them added after a pause. They all made the decidedly unscientific observation that eating isn’t just about the food … it’s about the entire experience of eating.

They’d found the healthiest people in the world also enjoyed eating. These hard-baked scientists were confirming something I’d glimpsed during my time living in France, Greece and Latin America: That a meal was greater than just the sum of its nutritional parts.

I spent the next five years figuring out how to make those naturally nourishing foods into meals that I would crave every day (remember, I was an avowed veggie hater!). I knew that if I didn’t want to eat something, I wouldn’t for very long. I also unlearned a lot of the old paradigms (olive oil is going to make me fat!) that were hindering my ability to change.

Five years later, I was 20 pounds lighter, healed of my sickness, more energetic than I’d ever been as an adult, and looking forward to the farmers’ market each week.

And then … I became a mom.

Suddenly everything I’d learned about what to eat and why became even more important, yet any kind of cushion I’d had with time went completely out the window.

I had to simplify.

With about 30 minutes to get dinner on the table from start to finish, I had to develop a whole new set of skills.

It took a concerted effort, but I eventually developed an eating practice. You’ve heard of a “yoga practice” and a “meditation practice,” meaning you develop your skills as you carve deeper into the habit by returning to it again and again and again. Well, eating can be a practice too.

I knew what to eat, I knew how to eat, and I knew how to cook the meal within the confines of a busy schedule. And I wanted more than anything to share what I’d learned and shrink the time it would take others to get to this place of being nourished themselves.

So I launched NOURISH Evolution. I began speaking on TV and teaching at places like Rancho La Puerta Resort and Spa. I wrote a book, NOURISHED: A Memoir of Food, Faith and Enduring Love (with Recipes), about my journey.

Now, I’ve stepped into my life’s calling of empowering people like you to make a lasting shift from processed to real foods, while inspiring a mindset that allows you to fully enjoy all that the shift brings with it.

Because you know what? Being nourished is an incredible place to be. It’s like a big bear hug from someone you love combined with the zest of adventure.

Buckle up. Because here we go. I’m so glad you’re here.