About

This website and the tools on it are written by Helena Kloosterman. I am a 28 year old Dutch woman. I live in a small town in the Netherlands, with my husband and daughter.

I have been a vegetarian for half my life, but I used to eat pretty unhealthy. I am afraid to say that potato chips and diet coke were a staple of my diet, until my daughter was born. When she was about six months I realized that parenting was all about modeling, and that I really did not want her to grow up eating crap and being fat.

At first, my only goal was to lose weight (modeling meant: eating potato chips when the baby is asleep), but as I read more about nutrition and health, I started to eat much healthier. It helped that the baby did not turn out to be much of a sleeper.

After reading Eat to Live I decided to try veganism again. I had thought about going vegan several times over the past few years, but I thought it would mean eating lots of soy products, and I did not like that idea. And I thought I hated beans. From Dr. Fuhrman I learned that a vegan diet should be based on vegetables, not soy or grains, and I rediscovered beans: it turns out I just did not like the way they are traditionally prepared in my country. Dahl soup and mung bean pancakes are now my favorite lunches.

In searching for information about a healthy diet, I found out that that is a very controversial topic, especially on the internet. I never knew there were schools of thought that said that whole grains were bad for you, for example. It was quite confusing sometimes. I also found some completely new concepts such as the acid/alkaline balance of a diet. Sometimes, it all fit together beautifully.

Like every person who lost a hundred pounds, I became quite evangelical about it. With this website, I hope to help others who are looking for information about a healthy diet, and tools to help them keep on track.

Disclaimer

English is not my own language, so please forgive my inevitable errors. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. If you have an illness and want to make drastic changes to your diet, you should always consult your doctor. I appreciate all feedback and corrections.