• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

The grocery store is an amazing place when you view it as a positive place that can change you—not just somewhere to load up on Ho Hos and Twinkies. And instead of grabbing a bunch of white bread and fried foods and sugars, we took the time to look around. The grocery store has every food you could ever dream of buying. Yes, these days so much of it is prepackaged and frozen, but all grocery stores have fruits, vegetables, and options. Options are the key. What are you going to buy, what are you going to make? It’s a lot easier to buy a microwaveable frozen meal with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and apple cobbler. But if you actually take the time to look around the store, there are a million other options (in slightly less colorful and snazzy packages) to consider. We were young, childless, and had a lot more time on our hands, so I wanted to make the most of it. It was an epiphany, a brand-new life that took us over, and we bought veggies and fruits, all these bright, vibrant colors and tastes.

We spent hours exploring food and read the labels and the boxes—we were in team mode. We started thinking about percentage of daily intake and fat, sugars, and carbs. If one bag of chips had 10 percent of our daily intake of fat per serving, and another had 5 percent, the choice was simple now. And that’s what we looked for. We felt so good about ourselves. We even explored spices, and that’s when we found our secret ingredient—garlic. We put it on everything from chicken to meat to fish to vegetables. Garlic is a magic potion and makes everything taste so much better. It was the key to our diet. We threw out the butter and salt and replaced it with simple old garlic.

GARLIC CHICKEN RECIPE

1 package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced thin

Herbs to taste, fresh preferred (but let’s be realistic, dried are okay too)

1 clove garlic to taste (we use a lot!)

Olive oil

Marinate the chicken in a mixture of herbs and garlic for at least two hours. Add 1–2 tablespoons of olive oil to a nonstick pan and cook chicken on medium-low heat for five minutes on each side. Sprinkle chopped garlic on each side of the chicken breasts. Continue cooking till it’s done.

Side: Add broccolini, carrots, and cauliflower to a steamer and steam till soft, and make some quick-cooking brown rice in the microwave.

Every morning we woke up and had freshly made smoothies and low-cal oatmeal, and we actually ate more because we were working out and hiking. These were the last few moments of freedom before baby Hank came along, and we worked out and hiked every day. When we teamed up and got on our official diet plan—it was more of a life plan—the sex was awesome. Because of diet and exercise—it’s all linked together—our sex drives just skyrocketed. I just wish everyone would realize how much better sex is when your blood is flowing better. It’s like putting premium gasoline into your engine; you are just working at 100 percent capacity, your breathing is smoother, and everything works better—and of course I don’t find it a coincidence that this is when I got pregnant. We stopped using condoms because the sex was so good we just wanted to make it even better. I never was on birth control because it makes me sick. We were both already talking about a baby, but waaaay down the road. We knew not using a condom was a risk, but in the moment we just couldn’t help ourselves. We were also both looking better, so attracted to each other, and we were having sex everywhere, in the back of cars, in public, pretty much anywhere we could steal a private moment (or five). I liked being naked with Hank—we were hot! We were having so much more sex and it was great!—and then bam: pregnant! I like to think of Hank Jr. as a result of not just our love but also our health.

MY ULTIMATE HEALTH FIX RECIPE: FRUIT AND VEGGIES ON THE GO

1 handful broccoli

1 handful carrots

2 handfuls strawberries

2 handfuls blueberries

1 handful grapes

1 apple

1 orange

Add ingredients