Haylie Pomroy - Fast Metabolism Food Rx: 7 Powerful Prescriptions to Feed Your Body Back to Health

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

Commonly attributed to Bob Marley

E very time you eat food, you trigger internal changes within your metabolism. Just the physical acts of eating, smelling, and tasting food activate metabolic pathways that ignite gene expression. They also signal the body to distribute sugars, stimulate hormone secretion, and regulate crucial processes such as mood, sleep, and energy. When you eat food, its nutritional content directly impacts how you feel, how you look, and how healthy you areor are not. Thats a lot of power sitting there on your plate, and yet for many of us, it isnt until we are not well or dont have the body or energy or immunity or blood chemistry we desire that it becomes critical to learn how to use that power.

No matter what you are struggling with, your food choices are contributing to that struggle. But your food choices can also contribute to the solution. You are not destined to declineto lose energy, health, fitness, function, and vitality. Its just the opposite. You have the power to solve your health issues. We all eat, and my hearts desire is to show you how powerful that action can be.

I write prescriptions using food as medicine, and I have spent my entire career learning what specific foods target which specific body systems and health issues. If you want to change something about your body, energy, or health, Im your girl. Im not a medical doctor and I dont write prescriptions for medications, but I am a nutritionist and my food prescriptions have been proven to enact real clinical change.

As I have been in the thick of working on this book, I have done a lot of soul searching about why I decided to step out of my comfy-cozy clinic world and move into the world of books and websites and newsletters. I had been sharing my thoughts on our bodies and wellness with those I met face to face, those who were struggling with a variety of health issues behind closed doors. But I didnt feel that went far enough. I have always said that I was thrust into this industry because of my own health crisis. But I think another very important reason that I came out of my clinic and went public with what I know was to create health for you. I have been privileged to walk with my clients through their health crises, and I have learned so much on these journeys that I feel compelled to share that learning with you. Food is such powerful medicine. I not only believe but also know for a fact that food, the right food, can truly heal the body.

But it did start with me and my own health struggles. You see, long before nutritional healing became my profession, it was something I needed to obsess about in order to reclaim my footing on my own slippery slope. I had to work through what food could do for me before I ever had to do it for anyone else. It was a matter of life and death.

I was well on my way to vet school when I had to take a medical leave of absence that forced me to learn who I was and what I wanted to become, both personally and professionally. So when I set out to write my first book, The Fast Metabolism Diet, I knew that my readers would want to know something about me before considering my advice on weight loss. Many had seen my clients on the red carpet, and because of this, they knew the quality of my sculpting work. Yet, I felt that they needed to know more about my personal credentials: Who am I and how did I learn to do that? I told readers about my training in the agricultural industry and animal science, and how I went on to study in many different fields to glean the best of what works from many different traditions.

When I wrote my cookbook, I took it a step further. I wanted readers to know about my culinary experience. Specifically, I wanted them to know that my family has a personal chefand its me. Im a mom and I make meals for my kids all day long. When I wrote The Burn, I took a slightly different approach to personal disclosure. I wanted readers to understand that many of my clients are not just perfect-seeming celebrities who are already in great shape and just need a little tweaking. I wanted people to understand that in my clinic, during my more than twenty years of experience, I have witnessed firsthand how although peoples bodies are not all the same, theres that one commonalitya tendency to get stuck on a plateau; and that searching for the