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Feeling Younger is an Inside Job
It's Never too Late
I remember that day quite clearly - it was April 10th, 2010, and I had just started my first blog. My daughter was making me a Facebook page no matter how much I protested. I didn't want one and she announced loudly, "Mom, nobody is gonna find you without it and I'm making you one — it's happening!"
The second person who posted on my page was a man who said, "Inspire us, please!!" I gulped hard and my eyes filled with tears and my heart swelled. I really wanted to help people feel good, but I felt inadequate and uncertain about how I could do this. I'd been making cultured food for ten years and not a day went by without consuming them, but I had no idea if anybody would tune in and listen. Every fiber of my being wanted people to feel better just as I had by consuming these foods, so I started and told myself I would give it a try and see what happened. I feel like I have been following bread crumbs my whole life. I have always loved recipes and cooking, I collected dishes and cookbooks like they were pennies and I loved medical research and discovering the health benefits of food. I've done this since I was a young woman and even in childhood, I was obsessed with food and recipes. Fast forward to when I was 50 years old and that's when it all came together. I started my first article and FB post, and then the journey really began and every area of my life changed dramatically and quickly. I can't imagine my life without all of you in it. Just recently I went to a seminar on inner growth. There were a lot of lectures and they had us do a lot of meditation and all I could think about during meditation was you . . . and yogurt and kefir. I'm not sure who I love more. My heart would swell with thankfulness and while everybody else was trying to find ways to change their health and grow their business— my cup kept running over in gratitude. At 62 I have more wellness than I ever dreamed of and a business that helps me and my staff live meaningful lives. It took going to that seminar for me to realize that what I was seeking was inside of me and around me — all along.
"It’s never too late to be who you might have been." ~ George Elliot
People who inspired me
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her first book when she was 65. She was depleted of resources by the great depression and her stock market investments, and friends encouraged her to write down her experiences and stories. Her first book led to many others and would turn into the popular TV series Little House on the Prairie. The books have been continuously in print and have been translated into 40 other languages. Her first, and smallest, royalty check from Harper, in 1932, was for $500, equivalent to $8,780 in 2016. The royalties from the Little House books brought a steady and increasingly substantial income to the Wilders for the first time in their 50 years of marriage. Laura has inspired countless people with her stories and life, and one of those people just happens to be me.
Sister Marion Irvine started running at age 47 when she was overweight and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Irvine became the then-oldest person to participate in the United States Olympic Trials in track and field in 1984 when she was 54 years old. She regularly ran on the marathon circuit and the media nicknamed her "The Flying Nun." She broke numerous age-group records in distance running events during her career and has been inducted into multiple running halls of fame.
Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, began painting at 76 after arthritis forced her to give up embroidery. She continued painting until the age of 101 - long enough to see the canvases she had sold for $3 fetch prices north of $10,000. Her works have been shown and sold in the United States and abroad, and they have been marketed on greeting cards and other merchandise. In 1969, the U.S Postal Service made a postage stamp from one of her paintings. Moses' paintings were of rural life and called "old-timey," and she said that she would "get an inspiration and start painting; then I'll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live."
Louise Hay is the founder and owner of my publishing company, Hay House. She wrote her first book at 52 years of age and started the publishing company when she was 60. She's been known as one of the founders of the self-help movement, and her book You Can Heal Your Life has sold over 40 million copies. Louise died recently at 90 years of age. I did get the chance to meet and talk with her before she died, and she personally told me that she has had kefir every day. She's an inspiration and has inspired thousands of people; and she has published hundreds of authors, including me. She's a cultured food fan and someone who inspires me to be my best. I love her.
My Body Was Struggling
I was 41 when I first found cultured foods. I felt old, discouraged, and sick. I remember resting on the couch and watching documentaries about people who had changed their lives and done extraordinary things. At first, I got sad because I wanted to feel better, but I also wanted to do something meaningful with this life that I had been given. However, I didn't know where to turn. The medical community kept telling me that all my problems ran in my family and I was getting older and this is just what was bound to happen. Then they gave me a list of medications and that's when I got really, REALLY mad. I hated being pigeonholed, given a label, and having somebody else telling me what my future was going to look like. My body was struggling, but I wasn't down and out yet. I still had a fire in me and I was going to slay this dragon and find the life I wanted. And God help me - I was going to be one of those stories of triumph - or die trying.
This is when I found cultured foods; or rather, they found me. (Check out my story video) We were made for each other. They became my heroes and set my whole world on a new path. You can change your life as soon as today just by changing what you eat. What you eat is what your body is made out of, so it stands to reason that if you eat foods with good living microorganisms you will feel alive inside. But cultured foods are more than just simply foods. They're teeming with life in the form of probiotics and this, my friends, is what you mostly are. Ten times the cells in your body, you're 100 trillion bacteria. If someone loved you enough to give you life and place this inside of you, don't you think you should pay attention to it?
Bacteria Is Mostly Keeping You Well
Bacteria digest your foods, fight foreign invaders, make vitamins, help you digest nutrients from your food, and they do this - and more - each and every minute of the day. With everything you do and everywhere you go, you spread your bacteria, leaving your unique signature of bacteria and your mark on this world. Bacteria can change your mood by making serotonin in the gut, and bacteria in your gut make you crave certain foods depending on the different strains you have. This can set you free from food cravings and addictions and make you crave the foods that love you back. By changing the foods that I ate and eating lots of cultured foods, I began to change. Not only did my body change, but my everyday life began to change, too. You see, when you become well it opens your heart and all you want to do is give back and help others. Most health and wellness experts were at one time sick themselves, and as they became well they couldn't help but tell others. This is how you change your life - you change yourself. It can be as simple as changing what you eat and adding cultured foods. Then your 100 trillion helpers will start to grow and become strong and you will change from the inside out. This is what happened to me. This is how I went from laying on a couch to building a community of people who are getting well and helping others do the same. I am here to tell you, "CHANGING WHAT YOU EAT WORKS!" You will change your life and the lives of all those around you. You'll spread your good bacteria here on planet earth, making this world a better place just because you eat healthy, life-giving cultured foods. It's true, it matters what you eat. It affects everything.
Just Pick One And Start There
Start with one cultured food. A glass of kombucha, a few spoonfuls of cultured veggies with a meal, or perhaps a pickle. How about a kefir smoothie for breakfast? Just pick one and start there. Start changing the world inside of you and let those 100 trillion helpers you have inside of you work with you. All I did was change what I put in my mouth, which in turn changed how I felt. And feeling good led to becoming an author, a speaker, having an online presence, developing a thriving store, and more. It is kind of blowing my mind all the things that are happening to me, but I'm not any more special than you. I was a stay-at-home mom for years, homeschooling my children and teaching them to follow their own path, never realizing that I was leading the way by changing myself. I just made the decision to do it. That was the hardest part.
Here Is Where I Started
Here is where I started and the first cultured food I made – Kefir Made Easy 
You can do it! I believe in you and your bacteria. You're more powerful than you can imagine. Please don't waste this precious life by not feeling good, you don't know what you're missing.
Listen To My Podcast
Use Your Body and Brain to Feel Younger and Stronger. Cultured foods are my secret weapon to staying young. Let me show you how easy it is to retrain your body, using your second brain – that resides in your gut!
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