2016 - "Not Even A Taste!"

A Real Foods Warrior

The clock struck midnight, our goals sat unfinished, and a smuggled sugar cookie was waiting on my pillow. Here’s how 2016 actually began.
How We Met Ron

Several months ago, a good friend came by to visit my husband and me. In conversation, he mentioned he was doing some marketing for a man named Ron Williams — who had been named “Natural Bodybuilder of the Decade.” Ron was about to run a six-week program built specifically for business owners, and our friend asked if we’d like to join. We jumped at it. My husband and I finished that course, then signed right up for a second six weeks. Somewhere in there we simply fell in love with Ron and his wife, Tonya — and we came away certain we’d all be working together, somehow, down the road.
When the Clock Struck Midnight

Last night, as the clock struck midnight, my heart sank. We hadn’t reached our business goal, and I hadn’t reached my fitness goals — while so many others around us had. I reached up and pulled down the sign taped to the back of our door, the one we’d hung to celebrate as though we’d already crossed the finish line by December 31st. The what-ifs started circling: if only I’d done more these past months, if only I’d held a little tighter to my goals.

To keep myself from sliding into that heavy place, I made myself stop and count what had actually made this year extraordinary:I am alive. At the start of 2015, I could barely make it to Mexico in a last effort to save my life. Answers were found there (documented on this blog).
I am still married after fifteen years — including some genuinely hard seasons that could have pulled us apart.
We have five beautiful, healthy children.
We live in an incredible neighborhood full of remarkable people.
We have access to organic and non-GMO foods.
I get to work with extraordinary people, and my clients are out of this world.
We’re in the top 3% of our company — even if part of me wished it were the top 0.01%.

And I could go on and on…
The Sugar Cookie on My Pillow

Last night, after midnight, once all the kids had wandered sleepily up to their rooms, I pulled the comforter back from my own pillow — and found an adorable little five-year-old tucked there. When I lifted my sweet daughter out of her uncomfortable spot, I discovered what she’d been guarding: a gluten-free sugar cookie, remarkably intact, smuggled upstairs beneath her back. I set it on the bookcase, brushed off the crumbs, and we all went to bed.

In the morning, the very first thing I saw was that perfectly preserved cookie. (It’s the local Charlotte Bakery brand — those of you who know it know exactly how tempting it is. We only buy them for special occasions, like New Year’s Eve.)

As I looked at it, the first thought that came to me was clear: I will not let a sugar cookie be the first thing I taste in 2016.
Not Even a Taste

Then I thought of my daughter, and of all my children, and how much I want them to grow up loving the foods that make them strong — so they can have all the physical, emotional, and mental strength God intends for them. And then I thought of Ron Williams.

He once told me that a friend offered him a dessert and pleaded with him to have just a little taste. Ron simply said, “Not even a taste.” He’s one of the most decorated natural bodybuilders in the world — the sole recipient of the “Natural Bodybuilder of the Decade” award, a seven-time winner of Mr. Natural Universe, Natural Olympia, and Mr. Natural World (winning even one of those is remarkable; he’s won all three, seven times each), and a 2008 inductee into the INBA Hall of Fame. And yes — he’s our coach.

As I thought of Ron, an idea took hold: what if I made it my goal to become a real foods warrior? What if I spent a whole year truly choosing the foods that make me strong? The doubts started swirling right away — but then I steadied myself with the only promise that actually works: I’ll take it one day at a time. Just today. I can do that.
How 2016 Actually Began

I went downstairs and looked at what was in front of me, and asked a simple question: what does my body need to heal and be strong? I ended up making a drink of fresh-pressed lemon, cayenne, raw honey, and echinacea — and that became the first thing I tasted in 2016. Then the kids and I juiced some apples together, and it made me grin to watch that little five-year-old drink more than her fair share.

So, dear friends — my husband has joined me in this. I want to be a true real foods warrior, and I’d love for you to come along. If we want our children to reach for healthy choices — to bring real food to parties, to school, on trips — then we have to show them the way ourselves. We lead by example.
Grateful for Every Bump

Here’s to an incredible 2016. I believe my husband and I will meet our business goals. We’ve hit some bumps over the last few years, but I’m grateful the road hasn’t been smooth, because of everything it taught us. Once again, the hard parts have refined me — enough that I can look back on 2015 and say thank you.

When I first started training with Ron (about eight months after Mexico), I was only just learning to drink water normally again, and I couldn’t do a single push-up. When Ron saw my feeble attempt, he laughed and said, “I’ve never seen that before.” Six weeks later I could do fifty-plus modified push-ups in a minute; six weeks after that, twenty-six full push-ups and another thirty modified before I had to stop.

It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve stumbled. It only matters that I get back up and try again.

I’ll only truly lose if I quit — so here’s to never, ever giving up. And I have a feeling that learning to choose real food will ripple out into every other corner of my life. As we learn to dance differently, others will follow.

Ron has reached out to keep mentoring us. Bring on 2016. I’m going to do this.

To close, I’ll borrow the words Ron begins and ends every conversation with:

“Praise the Lord.”

Details coming soon…

With much love,
Steffi