By enrolling in this course (and beginning it), you’ve taken an important first step toward a healthier life – taking action. That first step, overcoming inertia by moving from inaction to action, is often the hardest part!

This course has two goals:

1. to provide a big-picture overview of some changes you can make that will improve your health (and/or that of your family), while keeping that overview simple and approachable
2. to provide you with concrete information and resources to help you actually make those changes.

With #1 in mind, I’ve laid out the course so the chapter headings serve as a quick-reference “checklist” of sorts (and I'm also providing you with a printable checklist so you have a "just the highlights" version).

With #2 in mind, we're only going to delve into these areas one at a time, so you can focus on one without the "noise" of all the others. I encourage you to only go as deep into any given area as you feel is achievable right now.

How to Approach the Material

Because we're all at different points along the journey, there are a few different ways you can approach the material. You may find that different approaches work better for you in different modules, or at different times.

1) If all this is new to you, just take baby steps. Most modules are set up in such a way that you can make a major change in that area, or you can make a small change that gets you moving in the right direction. Unless you have a significant reason to make a sudden huge change (like life-threatening illness), or you take a particular interest in a given area and find it fun, I strongly recommend you start with baby steps.

A small change is easier to adjust to and easier to maintain. You can always come back and take another step later (and I encourage that!), but it’s generally better to make a small change and be successful than to make a large, unsustainable change and end up frustrated.

2) You can periodically cycle back through the modules to catch whatever has fallen by the wayside. It happens to all of us – we start out with good intentions and then life happens and we drift away from those good habits. If we don’t pay attention, we may end up sick before we realize that a lot of important things have dropped off, one by one. If we periodically reevaluate, we can get back on track. Don’t beat yourself up over it! It just happens. Reading back over the material periodically (or taking a fresh peek at the printable checklist) will help you pick those good habits back up while it’s just one or two that have fallen by the wayside.

3) As you get comfortable with the changes you’ve already made, you can go back through and make deeper changes. Nearly all of us can always improve. Maybe the first time you read the probiotic section, all you were up for was buying yogurt, but the second time through you want to try kombucha, and after a year, you’ve decided you’re ready to try your hand at making your own probiotic foods at home. (That’s just an example; your situation might be different!) Cycling back through periodically will enable you to continually move toward healthier choices, one small step at a time.