Adler Jennifer - Passionate nutrition: a guide to using food as medicine from a nutritionist who healed herself from the inside out

Copyright 2014 by Jennifer Adler

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Sasquatch Books

Editor: Susan Roxborough

Project editors: Michelle Hope Anderson & Nancy W. Cortelyou

Design: Joyce Hwang

Copy editor: Diane Sepanski

Writer: Jess Thomson

Cover photograph: Michelle Moore

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-57061-945-8

eBook ISBN: 978-1-57061-946-5

Sasquatch Books

1904 Third Avenue, Suite 710

Seattle, WA 98101

(206) 467-4300

www.sasquatchbooks.com

: Where Calories Go, Source: Winning the War Within,

Eileen Stellefson Myers, MPH, RDN, FADA,

copyright 2008: Used by permission of Helm Publishing Inc.

Please note that the suggestions in this book are not meant to replace the proper role of a readers own nutritionists, doctors, or other health care providers. If you think you may have a serious problem, please seek professional help.

v3.1

For my mother

First, Id like to express the deepest gratitude to Bren Brown, Ellyn Satter, Evelyn Tribole, Marc David, Sandor Ellix Katz, Sally Fallon, Geneen Roth, Weston Price, Susun Weed, Michael Gershon, Adelle Davis, Linda Bacon, and all the other leaders and researchers quoted in these pages. Your wisdom and studies have formed the foundation of my practice, and without them I couldnt have built Passionate Nutrition into what it is today. Id also like to offer sincere thanks to the following:

To Byron Katie, for changing my life.

To Jon, my husband, for his encouragement and wisdom. His love and inspiration helped make this book what it is.

To Jess Thomson, my cowriter, for being an incredible wordsmith and partner. You define grace under pressure.

To researcher and nutritionist Emily Ziedman, my tireless assistant, thank you for helping with the legwork required for the book. You are my second set of eyes.

To the wise women of Passionate Nutrition, for their thoughtful work with clients, and willingness to build the dream together.

To Ritzy Ryciak, for the inspiration for this book.

To David Wiseman, for being there since the beginning.

To Kimberly, my loving sister, for all our shared memories.

To Irene King, for being my heart and anchor.

To Cynthia Lair, for believing in me and being a tireless advocate for the whole foods movement.

To Bill Gottleib, for advice and support.

To Sue Bates, for her introduction to the world of eating disorders.

To Jayne Halsey, for helping me learn to define healthy.

To all my clients and friends who have trusted me over the years, for sharing with me the intimacy of what they eat.

To Amie McCampbell and Mark Cohen, for taking the time to send interesting research my way.

To the books early readers, who offered insight, clarity, and assistance: Maggie Kemper Rogers, Lindsay Simpson, Hilary Halttunen, Rebekah Denn, Amy Howe, Heather Thomson, Tracy Erbeck, and Ross Kane.

To the countless farmers, purveyors, consumers, and advocates who are dedicating their lives to bringing whole foods back to the table.

To Maureen and Barry Christ, for sharing their house with us.

To Michelle Moore, who took the photo on the cover.

To the estimable team who helped make this book a reality: Gary Luke at Sasquatch Books; editors Susan Roxborough, Nancy Cortelyou, and Michelle Hope Anderson; marketing team Sarah Hanson and Haley Stocking; copy editor Diane Sepanski; and designer Joyce Hwang helped shape it into something one big step better than I ever imagined it being. Thank you for believing in me and being so constantly supportive.

To all the clients and friends who have trusted me over the years, for sharing with me the intimacy of what they eat, and to those who allowed me to use their testimonials in these pages: Anne Pomerantz, Laurie McCauley, Debi Carpenter, Adrienne Bloom, Rachael Alnwick, Stand, Cindy Lovell, Cheryl Marks, Janette Ahrndt, Joan Krussel, Donna Huss, Amy Gooden, Helen Tapping, M.R. Olhava, Cheryl Quinn, and Anna Sabey, plus handfuls of those who chose to remain anonymous.

And to my mother, for asking me to find a way to make the world a better place. This book is for you, and for the wise women who have led the way before me.

Reality is always the story of the past, and what I like about the past isits over.

Byron Katie

L ook at me. Go aheadtake a good, long look. (I wont mindIm stuck on the cover.) Im forty, but I dont have noticeable wrinkles. The skin under my eyes is the same texture and color as the skin on my cheeks. My hair could qualify me for a shampoo commercial. I look more like the owner of a successful nutrition-consulting practice than the poster child of poverty and struggle, but I spent my first two decades hungry, malnourished, and neglected. By age twenty, Id suffered the catalog of illnesses that plague the poor: malnutrition, heavy-metal toxicity, parasites, anemia, hypoglycemia, and debilitating digestive disorders. When my mother died of cancer in her early forties, I realized I had two options: I could suffer a short, painful life, as she had, or make a monumental change and overhaul my lifestyle. I began a journey back to health using food as medicine, learning through a graduate degree in nutrition, extensive world travel, and living off the grid that what we eat plays a powerful role in healing. This book shares my story and the wisdom Ive learned along the way.

Today I am the woman on the cover, but I probably dont eat what youd guess. I dont buy low-fat anything. I eat my salad with dressing, every time. I use a full stick of butter to roast a chicken (see ), and yes, I eat the skinoften before the chicken gets to the table. I believe that foods arent inherently good or bad; rather, its our relationship with them that determines their meaning. Eating is something we do multiple times a day, every day of our lives, so if were stressed about what were eating or not eating, were stressed every single day, all day long.

For that reasonand for many, many othersits important for me to emphasize that this is a book about your diet, but its not about dieting. Its about adding the right foods to your day instead of taking foods away, and eating things made with ingredients your grandmother knew. Its about stopping the painful, ineffective dieting cycle so many of us have suffered and using self-respect, self-confidence, self-knowledge, and self-love, instead of media and advertising, to make our food choices.

Theres a good chance youre like many of my clients, who have come to Passionate Nutrition since its founding in 2003 in search of a variety of answers, with one common theme: You want to lose weight, and you want sustainable success. You want to feel better, and you want it to last. Watching clients make positive changes to the way they eat and the way they feel about their bodies has been exceptionally rewarding. But as a nutritionist whose role often skews toward teacher, its frustrated me that my reach is limited to the women and men who walk through my doors. This book is for those who cant. Its my nutrition practice on paper. Its the story I tell my clients when they come in search of hope and confidence, but this time, its told through the lens of my personal history.