Today’s Guest – Terry Walters
1. Your name, title, and age? What do you do (or did you do) for a living?
Terry Walters, best selling cookbook author. Age 46. My work is made up of many facets, all of which are geared to inspire and empower people to eat clean and live well. I am a clean food advocate, educator, health coach, public speaker and writer.
2. Who was the person that inspired you as a child to eat healthy and stay fit? What was their relationship to you?
My mom was and continues to be my greatest inspiration. She has always made her health and fitness a priority. She exercises regularly, eats clean, makes conscious healthy choices and never takes her good health for granted.
3. What did they do to inspire you?
My mom was a health food nut from the 60’s. She made every meal from scratch and the only processed food she kept in the house was the ginger ale that was reserved for company. We sat down to dinner as a family every night and our mealtime was as much about being together as it was about sharing a healthy, balanced meal. And as the dietary needs and preferences of our family changed, mom continued to educate herself so as to be able to provide the most nourishing and healing foods possible. Our food was always delicious, but I think it was more likely all the love that she cooked into it that made us thrive.
4. How did their lesson change your life?
From an early age I understood that the foods I ate influenced the way I felt, looked, thought, and even connected with myself and others. This has inspired me not only to maintain my own health and the health of my family, but to empower others with the knowledge and tools to do the same. To be able to have a career based around delicious and healthy food is an incredible blessing, but often I think it is the connection with so many incredible people afforded me by this work that is more nourishing than the food itself.
5. Do you convey their message to kids in your life presently?
Every day I cook a healthy dose of love into the food I serve my children. And while we don’t sit down to share dinner every night like we did when I was a child, we do share trips to the farm and grocery store, cooking and maintaining a garden of our own produce. They understand and embrace the ideals of eating clean – all 5 tastes and a rainbow of color. Sometimes they make choices that aren’t in their nutrition’s best interest (like all of us), but they understand the power of good food and nutrition, where clean food comes from, and they appreciate their good food and good health.
6. What would be your main message to children today to lead healthy lifestyles?
All clean food comes from the green kind of plant, not a processing plant. If you can’t imagine how it grows, don’t eat it. Eat a rainbow of color and all five tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and pungent – and if you don’t know where to begin, start with something green! Eat clean and live well.
7. Do you have a web site you would like to promote….web address only?