CHAPTER 1

My Journey from GrilledCheese to Grilled Veggies

Well, I wasn't always the healthy woman I am today. I grew up on LongIsland eating food from packages (sorry, Mom!). Although my mother triedto encourage me to eat vegetables, I never would. My cousins still, to thisday, love reminding me of the time my aunt made me eat canned stringbeans with dinner and I proceeded to throw them up hours later on thefloor of the dining room.

Growing up, my favorite foods included anything sweet. I will confessthat many a breakfast consisted of a wrapped chocolate cake: think Hostess,Drake, or Entenmann's. There wasn't a Yodel or Yankee Doodles cupcakethat I would refuse. Our family dinners consisted of some kind of meatand a potato, and I was always the last to finish. I would come up withcreative ways to hide my uneaten food: underneath the rim of my plate,in my napkin, or—my favorite—in the bottom of my milk cup. Later,when I was off at college, I wasn't much better. I think I ate grilled cheesefor lunch and dinner for most of my college years. My friends back thencalled me the Dairy Queen. My love of sweets and ice cream didn't changeas I got older.

After college, I landed a job with the same advertising agency that Ihad interned with in New York. The position I was offered was in Detroit,Michigan. I was happy to get a job after graduation, and the idea of movingto another big city really appealed to me. My life became filled with work.I loved my job, I loved the people I was surrounded with, I loved beingin another big city, and I was happy with my life. I positioned myself as avery hard worker, putting in six days a week and making myself availableat all hours. I had great movie role models of working women back then.Remember Melanie Griffith in Working Girl and Holly Hunter in BroadcastNews? These two women made it okay to be powerful and hardworking. Iso wanted to be them! I had visions of climbing the corporate ladder andmaking a lifelong career for myself in advertising.

Back then, my diet still wasn't great. Breakfast, if any, was usuallycoffee and a pastry. Lunch was a take-out sandwich from a deli. Dinnerprobably consisted of the free hors d'oeuvres from the local bar whileout with coworkers. It took me several months of living on my own tounderstand that food could affect the way I felt. My health food epiphanycame when I shared a house with a girl from Italy who never ate anythingfrom a box. Daniela made cake from scratch. I thought cake from scratchmeant opening a box of Duncan Hines. I'm not kidding! I never had a"homemade" cake that wasn't from a box. Daniela opened my eyes to realfoods: fruits and vegetables. I tasted fresh vegetables, not from a can or thefreezer. I remember having fresh string beans with shallots and olive oiland loving them (not throwing them up)! I recall details of eating my firstroasted beet—that sweet, earthy flavor was something I never would haveenjoyed years earlier. Daniela even started a little garden in the backyardwhere she grew her own tomatoes. I can still see her making her homemadetomato sauce at the kitchen stove. I slowly started cooking my own meals,which included fresh vegetables.

Once I opened my eyes to eating better, I started going to the localhealth food store with guidance from a coworker, Linda. I can recall thestrange smells that filled the store. It was like a supermarket, but I didn'trecognize the items on the shelves. The people who filled the store werehappy, and patrons lingered in the small café. I sampled some of theirprepared foods'some I liked, but some had strange textures or smells that Icouldn't get past. It was a whole new environment. I tried different cerealslike oatmeal rather than a top-selling box type. I started eating more fruitsand vegetables and gradually adding healthy foods to my life.

My health transformation didn't happen overnight; it was a process.Part of my job was to visit McDonald's restaurants and eat their food. Itwas my job to get people to buy McDonald's food. Back then, I didn't havea problem with that; nowadays, I would.

During the next ten years, I paid more attention to health. I did a lotof experimenting with different foods and ways of eating. I ate meat, andthen I gave it up for a while; then I started eating it again. I bought a juicer.I learned where all the health food stores were in my neighborhood. AsI made healthier food choices and felt better in my body, I noticed otherparts of my life were not working so well. I was working for a companyI didn't like. I was in a relationship I wasn't happy in. Something had tochange.

I quit my job after seven years, left a long-term relationship, and movedback to Long Island. I left the advertising world, and went back to schooland became a licensed massage therapist. I reconnected with my highschool boyfriend. He didn't know it, but he had stayed on my mind allthose years. Frank was just about to finish his ten years of schooling. Hewas in his last semester of his orthodontic residency. It seemed that bothof us had finally made room in our lives for each other. We got married,bought a house and an orthodontic office, and settled down to have a baby,all within two years. Life was good, and I was happy. I seemed to be livingthe life I was meant to have.

Fast-forward to my first pregnancy. I remember reading and watchingTV shows about childbirth, thinking I wanted to do it differently. Okay,let's be honest here. I have a real phobia about needles. I have always beenfearful of IVs in my arm or hand as well as having to give blood. I was soafraid of getting the IV put into my arm for the birth of my child that Ithought, if I can deliver this baby naturally, I won't need the IV. I found adoctor's office that also had a midwife on staff. I made all my appointmentswith the midwife. My thought process was this is a naturally occurring event,so why add interventions unless necessary? I researched natural childbirth,took classes, and prepared fully for the experience. I was ready!

I successfully gave birth to my son, Frank,...