All hail Bon Appetit magazine! You’re darn right I subscribe, have done for years. Any chef or home cook with a passion for the game has this bible as bedside reading. It’s the Vogue of food, it’s the defendant of flavor, the crusader for the culinary arts. But guess what….sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, the editing team makes mistakes. As a copywriter, I grimace when I see a misprint, such as a lime included in the ingredient list but omitted from the instructions. But it serves to remind me that even BA magazine has its days and if you make a mistake, nothing will crash, nothing will fall off the earth….you dust yourself off and you learn.

I’ve been watching my 8-year-old teach herself to climb a rope…ninja style. Oh hell no I could NEVER do that! But she wants me to watch every time. It’s taken her weeks, but she taught herself to do it, and she wanted me to watch her progression. Why? Because kids have an innate sense that learning is a milestone to be celebrated. And yet, as adults we don’t get those accolades, or, perhaps don’t give them to ourselves nearly as often as we should.

For example, my people – YOU, have an interest in health, we try and try to buy the right foods, we read ingredient labels, we ask questions in restaurants, we avoid high fructose corn syrup (did I mention this stuff is the 21st-century heroin?). But I don’t recall ever hearing a person at the grocery store say ‘you know what, you’re awesome for feeding your family, great job’! But you should, you should hear that, feel it and know it to be true.

Living Sensitive is a marathon, it’s no sprint. It’s a daily grind of food preparation, lunchbox considerations and saying “no cake for me thanks”! To make an indelible mark on your health, it takes a whole lot of discipline. Mistakes will happen, that pasta with cream sauce is going to happen. You pay the digestive price and grant yourself permission to slip up. It’s getting back on that ninja rope the next day that makes you a champion, and every other day after that.

This blog post is pertinent for me, I made it through the first 8 months of building a new business. You question and you grow. During the learning phase, you are CONSTANTLY making mistakes…… oh WordPress you saucy minx…I get you now! It’s the same thing when you take that step to address how and what you eat. There is an initial steep learning curve of sticking your toe in the water and eventually finding your Sensitive feet. It takes courage, it takes discipline and it takes a whole lot of your time. It’s not convenient or cheap! But it can be fun, it can be tasty, it can be satisfying, it doesn’t need to break the bank and YOU CAN DO IT.

Together we will learn, we will grow and we will slip up. If you see me include brewers yeast that isn’t GF in a celiac post, let me know! There will be mistakes, but I’m here to tell you….this ninja is going to grow and learn from it. And so will you.

As my dad always says, just keep throwing punches…. cause one day, one of them will hit and you’ll hit it out the park. These are words that I live by and as you get on the path of living Sensitive, I hope you do too.

JUST. KEEP. GROWING.