finding a passion project

Once I had made the decision to leave my "day job" behind for a year, and in the spirit of the "finding my bliss" project that I had set for myself, I began to think about how I would manifest bliss by exploring an interest I had nurtured for years: nutrition. I have been interested in nutrition and the power of food for a long time. I read and savour cookbooks cover to cover, like novels, before cooking from them. I know.....weird! In the past I read a lot of different bestselling diet books: Atkins, the South Beach diet, the Zone et al, but without ever really implementing them fully into my lifestyle. I took what I wanted from them, but only whatever appealed to me or resonated particularly with me. I noticed that each book seemed to say something different about diet and what we should be eating. Low carb, high carb, low fat, no meat, mostly meat. It was all so confusing. Because of all of this conflicting advice, I never totally bought into a particular diet regime, but the science of nutrition caught my interest. Later, I began listening to podcasts and some of my favourites became interviews with functional medicine doctors and nutrition and holistic wellness experts. So many of these speak so eloquently and persuasively about food's power to prevent, and even resolve, disease and the power we all have to change our health and our lives through positive changes to nutrition and lifestyle. All of this resonates hugely with me, particularly as a sufferer of a chronic disease. I began to carry out my own online nutrition research and, as I read more, a light switched on and I began to appreciate exactly how powerful food could be. It was a real "eureka" realisation and, as I learnt more, I was astonished at how shortsighted I had been when it came to my approach to my nutrition and lifestyle. How could I thrive if I wasn't feeding my body (and mind) with nutritious whole foods or making healthy lifestyle choices? As I began to dig into the nutrition and wellness world further, I came across an organisation called the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York which runs a course in nutrition and health coaching. The intense course would teach me not only about my passion, nutrition, but would also give me the tools to pass onto others what I learnt. And, guess what? The course runs for a year. How serendipitous! It was perfect. It didn't take me long to decide to sign up.

Photo by the lovely @lusticlife