This is me wearing my favorite color.

You know her. Every neighborhood has one—the health fanatic. Earthy-crunchy, granola mom, bark-and-leaves eater, I’ve heard it before. It’s a label that used to make me squirm—some of my neighbors actually confessed to calling my kids the “pure vessels” a few years ago, too.

But after 15 years, it’s not a “phase” anymore, so I might as well embrace the reputation. The health fanatic thing has been a lifestyle my whole childhood, and my adulthood, too—after deviating painfully during the decade of my 20’s experimenting with “low-fat” fake foods, choosing white over wheat at Subway, and just generally disregarding nutrition and my health. I paid the price then and never want to go back.

Lest you dismiss this philosophy as “extreme,” let me say that we DON’T eat all raw, spend exorbitantly on food, or kill a big chunk of every day in the kitchen. We DO go to parties and eat some of what’s there. We have an abundant, busy work and social life. What my family does, anyone can do.

This site is the culmination of 14 years of research to figure out what the health fanatic must know, and boiling it down for you to a program that any newbie can start. I have helped hundreds of families and individuals make an easy transition to good nutrition. I regularly write and present publicly on nutrition topics and have sifted through thousands of studies, books, and articles to find what’s true and worthy of your time and effort. On this site I avoid anything faddish, cultish, or scientifically unsupported.

My world is rocked when moms tell me, “My kids love green smoothies, even though they’d never gone near anything green before!” So check out my 3-min. YouTube demo, use my recipe to start cranking them out, and write me your testimonial when YOUR kid enjoys a shake full of kale and spinach!

This site is a labor of love, the culmination of the health fanatic’s personal mission to helping families improve their nutrition and eat a diet rich in whole plant foods. My experience tells me that all children will eat right—if you have patience and good recipes, if you take the time to explain to kids why eating right is important—and if you remove the Pepsi, Hormel, and Frito-Lay. In short, if you embrace a few steps towards being your own version of the health fanatic.