Change-your-life makeover: we started a fast-food addict and a sinusitis sufferer on the path to good health. Learn the secrets of their expert-recommended plans - Our Third Annual Natural Health

Natural Health, Sept, 2003 by Erin O'Donnell

FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, we made a tantalizing offer: to treat some lucky readers to an all-expenses-paid natural treatment plan for their pressing health concerns. We received hundreds of letters, and after careful consideration, we chose two readers: a woman with a fast-food habit she was desperate to break, and another who had such severe sinusitis that she couldn't breathe through her nose. We set both women up with naturopathic physicians--practitioners who use natural and gentle approaches and therapies like diet changes, herbs, and homeopathy. Here's the scoop on what worked for these women--and what didn't--during their three-month makeovers. Their experiences will clue you in to some great ideas that are bound to help you improve your own health.

How Kerri Bell Learned to Eat Better

Like most of us, Kerri Bell knew she and her family needed to eat better. But this wife and mother faced a huge obstacle to a healthy diet: Her husband's parents own a fast-food restaurant, Big Al's Drive-In, in Chico, Calif. Bell's husband, Matt, manages the restaurant, and the couple ate there free several times a week with their 8-year-old son.

Bell ate fast food from other restaurants, too. She usually stopped at a drive-thru for breakfast on her way to her job at her mother's mattress business, and she'd stop again later in the day if she was craving french fries. She often made dinner at home, but it was less-than-healthy dishes, like London broil with mashed potatoes. "I'd love to be able to go into a grocery store and know what to buy to make well-balanced dinners," Bell told us.

To learn about nutrition, she met with Heidi Hook, N.D., a naturopath in Auburn, Calif. During her first visit, it became clear that years of fast food had taken their toll on Bell's body, and she wasn't as healthy as she thought she was. Bell revealed that she woke up most mornings with stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and usually needed several doses of a stomach-acid medication just to get through the day. She rated her energy level a 2 out of 10, suffered severe menstrual cramps, and had cystic acne on her back.

Hook believed that if Bell cleaned up her diet, she'd feel better. The first step: Give up all dairy and white flour. These trigger allergy like symptoms in many people, and Hook suspected that they caused Bell's digestive problems. At Hook's suggestion, Bell began to take supplements to help her body detox. Her severe acne and morning nausea indicated that her liver (one of the main organs of detoxification) probably wasn't getting the nutrients it needed to work effectively. Hook also suggested that Bell give up soda and start eating at least one vegetable a day (and french fries didn't count). Finally, Bell was to try adding flaxseed oil and other healthy plant oils daily to her food. This would help ease her craving for fried food. "The craving is a sign that her body is screaming for fats," Hook explained. She just had to consume the right kind.

IN THE WEEKS that followed, Bell replaced white-flour breads with spelt and sprouted-wheat breads and switched from milk to soymilk. To her surprise she liked these alternatives, as did her husband and son. She began drinking more water and hardly missed soda. Her energy levels skyrocketed from a 2 to an 8, she no longer needed her stomach-acid pills, and her digestive troubles disappeared.

But Bell still wasn't eating many vegetables. So Hook took her on a field trip to her local natural food store. They filled a cart with healthy foods, including lots of produce, and went back to Bell's kitchen for a cooking lesson.

Hook showed her how to make hummus, a tasty dip of chickpeas and sesame seed paste, and a breakfast cereal made of oatmeal, seeds, nuts, and dried fruits (purchased from the store's bulk bins), which Bell could cook and eat with soymilk each morning. Hook also cut up a variety of vegetables, including bell peppers, broccoli, kale, and zucchini, sauteed them with garlic and tamari (a wheat-free soy sauce), and served them over brown rice. "That was the most vegetables I ever ate at one time," Bell said. And she actually enjoyed it.

Inspired, Bell began to spend more time at the natural food store. Having a refrigerator stocked with fruits and vegetables made it easier to make healthy choices. In fact, she often washed the produce, cut it up, and put it in containers in the refrigerator soon after she got home from the store. This simplified meal preparation and it allowed her son to help himself to snacks. He loved eating raw veggies. "It's such a surprise to me that my child likes vegetables, like squash, that I didn't like as a kid," Bell said.

After three months, Bell had stopped craving fried foods and impressed her husband with healthy dinners like baked chicken breasts with rice and vegetables. The entire family began to think of the food at Big Al's as something to be indulged in only occasionally. When Bell ate there, once or twice a month, she asked them to hold the cheese on her burger and give her a salad instead of fries.