I just met the most wonderful person. She loves to cook, and she has written a cookbook.
Melinda Winters, author of A Complete Guide to Cooking with Arthritis, is an amazing person. It was 26 years ago that she got sick. She remembers she thought all hope of living a normal life was gone, much less pursuing any of her dreams. She must admits to allowing her disease to define who I was for many years. “I had more pity parties than I care to admit.” confides Melinda. “I gained over 100 pounds.”
Today, she has written two books, won over 50 national recipe contests, cooked off on the food network, worked as an art director in the motion picture industry and was a celebrity interviewer. “I have a wonderful life!” Melinda says.
14 years ago Melinda remembers thinking, “My life was passing me by.” She gathered up her 3 year old and went outside to take a walk.
She then started replacing her breakfast and dinner with a fresh fruit smoothie, but still enjoyed a nice lunch.
At the end of two months, she’d lost over 30 pounds. “The more weight I lost, the better I felt. I joined a support group for arthritis. I began to have dreams and feelings of happiness that had been gone for so long. By the time a year passed, I was 5′9″ tall and 128 pounds of happiness.”
A whopping 100 pounds was gone. “I lost an entire person!”
