...how do we live a healthy life?

So, the year is 2005. I'm in college, and it's my first year without my mother or the dorm kitchen to cook my food. My meal of choice is macaroni and cheese, occasionally with freezer-burned chicken nuggets on the side. The only vegetables I tolerate are corn and green beans, which, when coming from a can, hardly count as vegetables. I don't exercise, besides a quick stroll across the street to the building where my classes are held. After two years of eating processed and fatty foods in the dorms, I'm not in good shape.

Fast forward to today -- while I still have a long way to go, health is much higher on my priority list. I'm now an avid vegetable fan, I've run two half marathons, and I practice yoga pretty regularly. I spent a year teaching about healthy eating in Chicago, and I continue to teach about it at my school in New York. I've lost 15 pounds since my lazy days in college, and I've also learned to cook a thing or two.

I couldn't have done it, however, without some inspiration. Inspiration from my mom (who quit smoking after thirty years), from books, from cooking blogs, from online articles, from friends who patiently taught me to cook.

My goal with this blog is to be a source of inspiration, or motivation; a place to go when you need a little push to get outside and run, or cook a vegetable-based meal, or kick an unhealthy habit. To clarify, I'm not limiting this to any one person's idea of "healthy living." We all have different ideas about what health is, and I think part of this blog will be exploring how wide of a net this idea of health can cast. I'm open to posts about anything, from tiny tips on exercising, to fad diets, to feeling good no matter what your weight. 

With any luck, this will be a blog filled with resources, favorite recipes, meal planners, websites for eating and exercising, community events to join, and inspirational ideas. Living a healthy life in today's society is complicated and challenging. Check back whenever you can, to hear from people who are all struggling with the same thing you are: When our days are filled with fast food, comfortable cars, and busy schedules, how do we live a healthy life?