Buy Fresh Food and Fast Track to Wellness

Buying fresh food and cooking it will put you onto a fast track to wellness. Buying fresh can be a little more expensive than buying canned or frozen foods, but with a little comparison shopping you can keep your costs down, and it's worth it. Not only do you eliminate many preservatives and chemicals from your diet, it tastes better and you get more protein for your buck.

My 89-year old mother is an inspiring role model for wellness 

I also come from a family of fantastic cooks who all cook real food and buy fresh.

In the past year my mother has sent me three wonderful books on diet, Wheat Belly Cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant, and Moosewood Restaurants Cooks at Home. I don't know if other families are like this, but may of my family's emails, phone conversations and visits have some discussion of great recipes in them.

And it has paid off - at 89 my mother looks about 70, is extremely sharp, has the energy of a 50-year old, and is a great role model for Wellness Over 40.

Back in the 1970s no-one in our family was allergic to wheat

On the other side of the family, my Ukrainian grandmother was another great role model and lived into her mid-90s.

Not only did she buy fresh and cook real food, she grew most of it herself in her legendary garden.

When our family celebrated Ukrainian Christmas Eve on January 6 each year, all of the 12 meatless dishes were home-cooked by my grandmother.

Back in the 70s when this picture was taken, no-one in the family had wheat allergies yet. Was wheat different back then?