Daffodils are one of my favorite spring flowers. My mom always loved them too. When bunches of daffodils were for sale at the grocery store, she would buy them as a special treat for herself.

My own love affair with daffodils began at the end of an especially difficult winter. I was trudging out through the snow to warm up the car, and I just happened to spot a large clump of bright yellow daffodils that had poked their heads right up through the snow. I remember just standing there transfixed for a moment. They were the first real sign of springtime that year, and also a signal to me that I had made it through that long winter and there was hope and spring within my grasp.  If you think of healthy living as a journey, learning something new can help you along your path. When I first got started trying to improve my health it was with the intention to lower my cholesterol so that I wouldn’t need take medications. I remember clearly asking my doctor if diet and exercise might make a difference because I had been reading about it at that time. She begrudgingly suggested that I give it a try and to return in three months to see if it made any difference. The good news was that it made a significant difference, so I didn’t have to start taking any medications after all. That was about ten years ago, and I have been on a healthy living journey ever since. I find it very empowering to know that I can make such a difference in my own health.

Our Healthy Living Detroit Downriver Expo is just around the corner on Saturday, April 2 at the Park Diamond Banquet and Conference Center in Lincoln Park. I hope that you will be able to join us for this event. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the healthy living and healthy planet professionals that are talking the talk and walking the walk right here in the Downriver community.

Have you ever wondered if you might benefit from eating a gluten free diet? Erin Eagen’s article on page [??] does a great job of answering some of the questions that you might have about gluten, and she also has provided some wonderful resources for those who would like to learn more.

Natural Awakenings magazine is designed to help bring readers the information that they need in order to make more informed decisions about their health. I definitely learn something new from each and every issue, and I hope that you do too.

Feel good, live simply and laugh more~

Mary Anne