In 2000, I started my own business as a personal chef. Within a few years, it became clear that people really needed my help on a grand scale! I was astonished by the number of adults I met who could not cook at all! How did they survive?!

The idea for a cook book came from my experiences with clients and also from my investigation into what makes a fulfilling lifestyle of health and happiness. Many people who consider themselves to be spiritual, negate the physical realm and neglect their physical bodies. Your body is sacred space - and without it you don't get to experience this existence, so it is important to care for it well!

Of course, what you eat is central to your health, but your physical activity, your daily habits, your thoughts and emotional patterns and your spiritual beliefs all weave together to create your total wellbeing, your daily experience of being alive.

Rather than create a new fad diet, I pulled my favorite recipes in all categories so that no matter where you start - if you're eating meat, vegetarian, vegan, raw foods - you'll find easy, delicious ways to make your diet just a little bit healthier. And, yes, there’s a whole chapter of sweet, healthy desserts!

What’s interesting though is that it takes more than a recipe to make a great cook. The same attitudes that create a healthy lifestyle also create a healthy cook! Cooking from your heart is all about enjoying the process, appreciating the sensual joys of creating a great meal, tuning in and being present with the act of preparing the food, knowing your ingredients and also fully embodying your role in caring for the people you’re cooking for.

Tuning in with even greater attention means knowing where your ingredients come from and how the growing, packaging and marketing impact our environment, which is really just our extended physical body. You begin to see the complete circle and the interconnectedness of all life on the planet. What you put into your body becomes what you express in the world around you and vice versa, what is put into the environment becomes what you eat, drink and breathe, think, feel.

This is a book that was meant to be. I had accumulated a treasure trove of recipes and stories from my years as a personal chef, cooking for clients, doing recipe demos and teaching classes. When a friend finally pinned me down and said, "When would (now) be a good time to write your book?!" it clicked.

I consciously decided it was time to put it all together and when I went home, I jotted down a few ideas before going off to bed. However, as soon as I put my head down on the pillow to go to sleep, I got a great idea, so I flipped on the light and wrote it down and went back to bed. Not so fast! Another idea! So, I got up and wrote that one down... and it went like that all night. The moment I started to drift off to sleep, another thought, story, recipe popped up and I had to write it down before I forgot it.

By morning, I was actually energized by all the great ideas and I knew this was a book that was meant to be. It would serve to enlighten so many people about how to improve their health, how to stop making mistakes they didn't realize they were making, how to bring their lives in alignment with the happiness they were meant to feel every day. I felt guided during the writing process; any time I needed more information, I found it easily. I consider the whole project to be a blessing and a gift!