M E M E M E

and must make a choice to continue exercising or not wear clothes at all. Which do you prefer?

3. LITTLE WINS EQUAL BIG LOSSES

Take actions that suit your lifestyle. Implement moves that benefit you, specific moves only you can do. Running a marathon may not be for you but walking once around your block can start an avalanche of change. The idea is setting positive, attainable goals, not just shying away from being chubby.

4. FIND AN ACCOUNTABILITY AND MONITORING PARTNER

Find someone willing to note your progress and development while you help them. You’ll be inspired to keep doing what you started. Having somebody to listen to and share your achievements is a better way to move forward than achieving goals alone. Also, having an extra hand and heart to support you and cheer for you when things fall a bit short is inspiring to stay on track. Someone who believes in you is one of the best motivations to keep you going for more.

5. COMMIT TO A SENSIBLE YET VIGOROUS TIMELINE

What are you achieving this year? Match your objectives to your calendar and let go of the desire to see instantaneous results. Fifty pounds in a year is about 4 pounds a month or 1 pound a week. That is doable.

Staying motivated means hard work, which is contrary to what most people want. Make small changes in lifestyle that have dramatic and long-lasting effects on your future.

What’s your first step? When will you take it? What’s your next step? When will you take it? Start now and, hopefully, you’ll keep going because you want to, not because you have to. It is never too late to be fit and healthy.

Lao Tzu has a famous quote: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Let’s own that quote for ourselves: The journey of my ideal health begins with… one trip around my city block—today. saying “no” to one chocolate bar—now.

making a change in my portion sizes—now.

making a change in my carb intake—now.

ABOUT THE WRITER → Chloe Hung is an international actuarial consultant and the author of “Strength in Numbers: An In-Depth Look at Actuarial Science for Math Enthusiasts.”

Karen Trawick doesn’t have anything against “conventional” medicine— open-heart surgery saved her husband’s life. But she needed a different form of medicine to save her own life.

After she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer at age 54 in February 2016, Karen decided against chemotherapy and radiation and instead researched holistic treatments. She switched to an organic, plantbased diet, and took supplements and IV treatments to boost her immune system. Within two months, she was taken off all medications for her various ailments. Within nine to 11 months, she lost 50 pounds and her cancer was in remission.

A plant-based diet is considered “stricter” than veganism, because vegans eat carbs, sugars, and oils, Karen says. After her diagnosis, she felt she had to go all in with plant-based foods.

“Was it too extreme? Cancer’s pretty extreme. That’s about as extreme as you can get,” Karen says. “I did think I needed to go extreme. It was my life.”

Karen didn’t stop at her diet. She wanted to help other people who were going through similar health challenges. While she was fighting cancer, the longtime chef gained certification as an integrative nutrition health coach. Last year, she and some partners opened a kitchen and meal planning service.

They recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of Get Back 2 Basics, 205 W. Washington St., Suite B, Minneola. Customers can dine in or carry out from 11am-7pm Tuesday-Saturday (352.348.1893). The business is so popular, she expects to open another location in March at the new Montrose Street Market in downtown Clermont.

To Karen’s knowledge, Get Back 2 Basics is the only 100-percent plantbased, organic restaurant in South Lake County. She creates all of the menu items from vegetables and fruits with no animal, dairy, soy, sugar, or processed products, and limited use of oils. She uses fresh organic produce from Bountiful Farms in Okahumpka and other local sources. Organic means the food has been certified by the government as free of chemicals and pesticides.

Customer favorites include raw salads, quesadillas (spinach and mushroom), the Tex-Mex bowl (black beans, mushrooms, peppers, brown rice), the Buddha bowl (quinoa, chickpeas, greens), and the Beast Burger, a beets, veggies, and pea protein patty that customers say tastes just like a beef burger. And the portabella burger is a juicy burger-size mushroom cap with toppings that include a big tuft of sprouts.

The chili is chunky and tastes very good, even to a meat lover, maybe because “people swear there’s meat in my chili,” Karen says. “It’s amazing. You can’t tell the difference.”

She also makes non-dairy versions of “cheese” and even “bacon” bits from dehydrated pinto beans. Her queso, which has a roasted garlic flavor, was perfected over eight months and can be used on burgers or as a dip for organic chips.

“It just tastes good, so if it tastes good and it’s giving you more benefits, why wouldn’t you try it and eat it?” she says of her dishes.

Karen also customizes orders based on dietary needs. Many customers are patients with cancer or other illnesses—such as fibromyalgia, celiac disease, and kidney, liver, and autoimmune issues—who have been referred to Karen’s kitchen by their doctors.

But the biggest clientele is people who simply want to eat healthier. The veganism trend is exploding because people are starting to question where their food comes from, she says.

“My rule is, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it,” Karen says. “If it has more than five ingredients, don’t eat it. If it’s made in a plant, like a manufacturing plant, don’t eat it. If it comes from a plant, eat it.”

Karen’s husband, David, is about 90 percent on board with plant-based