Meghan Telpner - UnDiet: The Shiny, Happy, Vibrant, Gluten-Free, Plant-Based Way to Look Better, Feel Better, and Live Better Each and Every Day!

INTRODUCTION

Nutritionista at Your Service

G reetings, salutations, and a back-handspring,triple-flip welcome to the land of UnDieted love, super fun, and a dash or twoof awesometown. Thank you kindly for choosing me to assist you on this adventurewe are about to embark upon together.

Ill bet youre a little curious about how Icame to be doing this kind of cheerleading for abundant, vibrant living. I am,by training, a certified nutritionist. I went to school, studied, and learned awhole lot to earn the honor of wearing that title but nutritionista soundsmore fun. As a nutritionista, my mission is to get you looking and feelingamazing, without making you weigh your food, portion out three almonds for asnack, or employ a calculator to count the calories and ounces of this or that.My entire philosophy around health, and the roundabout path that took me frombeing a fashion school grad to singing and dancing to the tune of healthyliving, evolved by way of my own severe health challenges.

Despite how sweetly this profession fits, I hardly cameby it naturally or should I say organically? I didnt grow up eating sproutsand had never heard of sauerkraut before, let alone considered making my own. Myfamily ate pretty well, but I was more familiar with macaroni-and-cheese from abox, white-bread sandwiches, and rolled up fruit snacks than I was with brownrice, kale, or a smoothie. Up until my late twenties, I was not a person wholoved being in my kitchen, had an interest in alternative medicine, or even gavemuch thought to my health. A nutritionist was certainly not what I had aspiredto be.

The roundabout path to becoming a nutritionist includeda degree in fashion, travels through rural Africa, a career in advertising, andexploding intestines. I didnt get into nutrition and health until I had to; Ididnt learn to make brown rice, kale, and smoothies (often with kale in them)until I had exhausted all other avenues. Most of us come by natural healththrough desperation and my story is no different. Some of the information beingshared in these colorful pages is what I learned through my extensive formaleducation earning my nutritionist certification, as well as through intensivepost-graduate study. Most of it though, the really great nuggets that set UnDietapart from every other health, diet, and lifestyle guide, is the Why didnt Iever think of that?, Thats such a great idea! and I have to give this a try!juicy a-ha bits of info I have learned through everyday practice as I striveto maintain optimal health, and also in my work motivating, challenging, andhopefully inspiring others to do the same.

Some of my own transitions were very abrupt illnessoften forces us to do things we might never have previously considered. Most ofthe changes however have been gradual, simply learning as I live. The way I seeit, the UnDiet lifestyle is a bit like yoga it is a practice. All we can do isjust keep practicing, hopefully getting a little better every day, as wecontinue to learn new things and incorporate a little more into our lives.

Ill be totally honest here: every morning I am mildlyastounded when I juice my greens, pack up my lunch, and ride my bike over to theMeghan Telpner Inc. headquarters, that my personal desire to feel great hasfueled more than a journey toward my own personal health. I never expected thatI would become a teacher of abundant living for others or that Id continuelearning right alongside my students, and will forever be teaching at the edgeof my own knowledge. There is no division between the work that I do and thelife that I live. I practice what I preach to the very best of my abilities.

This health thing is ongoing and will always be changingto suit our needs. My approach is to make healthy living as fun as possible:take what you can, leave what youre not ready for, and maybe youll come backlater and give it a try.

Recipes Made (Easily) WithLove As much as I like topretend Ive got my chef whiteson when Im in my kitchen, Iam not a trained chef . I taught myself to cook by learning about the powerful healing benefits of key foods, and then figuring out fun waysto make them. While the main rule was that everything had to be health-promoting , what was more important was that everythingalso be delicious and nice to look at. Therefore, my recipeshave become known for three important things: their yumminess , their prettiness , and their ease . Thats what I have here for you, in UnDiet yummy, pretty, and easy recipes. And,heres an added bonus: they are all gluten-free , dairy-free , and vegetarian (always with vegan options ), with a concentration on package-free , from-scratch cooking. I haventa clue what the calorie counts are on these recipes and quite frankly, itdoesnt matter (youre about to understand why!). Be sure to check them out;they just might change the game for you!