This economy is supported by a pharmaceutical industry eagerly serving up costly drugs to clean up the mess. The bottom line? It's been too difficult and too unappealing for most Americans to give up a way of eating that has been made more affordable, more convenient, in our minds more correct, and in our experience more tasty.

We are a nation of people who have come to rely on experts and magic bullets to lead us into health. Although "experts" can be a wonderful source of inspiration and gathered knowledge, they are no substitute for cultivating our own desires and inner wisdom to guide us through change. And magic bullets don't come cheap. There is and always will be a price we pay for "easy." The price might be in the dollars we pay for medical care, fancy spas, personal chefs, or structured diet programs. Or it will likely be at a more precious price, the cost of our health and quality of life when we use a myriad of medications with all their side effects, or the cost to our well-being and our self esteem when nothing we try works. We've been sold "instant," and that's what we're used to – instant pudding, instant weight loss, instant drug relief. But changing our individually and collectively declining health requires more time and patience than "add milk and stir," "lose ten pounds by Christmas," or "just one pill spells relief."

Many people have gotten the message that 90 percent of illness and poor health can be treated or reversed through daily behavior choices that each of us has under our control, such as food, exercise, drinking, and smoking. After talking over the past few years with hundreds of people about nutrition and health, what I have noticed is that more people than ever are aware of the toxicity of sugar, refined carbohydrates, and manufactured fats.
But most are overwhelmed by the prospect of making the shift to a healthier way of eating in the midst of already overburdened lives. It's no wonder we are still choosing to spend billions annually on high-priced drugs, high tech surgical procedures, and out-of-control health insurance premiums.

My vision for this book was to create a coaching manual that would inform, inspire, and be the next best thing to having a personal nutrition and cooking coach available 24/7. Understanding how the body uses the food you're eating to either support or deplete health is a great motivator for you to make a change. But translating that understanding into action is another "kettle of fish," as the saying goes. The gaps between knowing what to do, knowing how to do it, and doing it consistently can be quite large, and they have swallowed many of us repeatedly. Learning to tell the difference between what nourishes your body and what fattens the food industry at your expense isn't easy.