12 Steps to Whole Foods

Preface
If you struggle with your weight and have been on countless diets, you should be assured that pounds will melt
off when you begin eating and enjoying the best foods God put on the planet, in their unadulterated state. You
may feel that this is the first time you have lost weight and kept it off, and not felt “deprived.” Fads—and
dieting in general—should be counted part of your past, not your present and future.
Or the flip side of the same coin is that if you are underweight despite eating what everyone else is eating, you
may not be absorbing nutrition. It’s not just overweight people who need to address nutrition! A study released
in 2007 showed that over half of people who are normal weight are “overweight” on the inside, their organs
marbled with fat. The study discovered that people who are normal weight but do not exercise are at a higher
risk of morbidity than overweight people who exercise regularly.
This is just one of many examples of how one’s appearance on the outside, then, does not always indicate
health. (Neither does the fact that you don’t often catch the bug going around necessarily, by itself, indicate
good health.) You will achieve an optimal weight when your body is receiving the components it needs every
day to build healthy tissues—not when you spend short periods of time suppressing calories or eating a strange,
unnatural diet heavy in protein or lopsided in some other way.
My experience is that every minute you spend in the kitchen preparing whole-plant foods (60% to 80% raw)
will yield you two minutes in increased energy. You might find yourself tackling projects you’ve always meant
to do but never had the energy for.
Your expenditures of time and commitment learning about nutrition and preparing food should be considered
an investment in your family’s future—not a chore. I have considered carefully how to minimize that kitchen
time, because I’m a busy working mom of a big family, too. So 12 Step recipes are simple and easy to follow,
without long ingredient lists and complicated steps.
Best wishes for your future of a long, vibrant, energetic life!
~ Robyn Openshaw
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 7