Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Lately, I’ve been watching videos and reading books about how eating “natural foods” supports a healthy body from the inside out. It’s made me pay much closer attention to what I buy, and especially to how foods are grown and processed. Learning how natural and minimally processed foods interact with the human gut has been an eye-opener.

Even someone just starting to explore this topic will quickly grasp the critical role of gut health—and likely begin to rethink their own. Knowledge is power, and already, in my case, it’s shaping my choices. I’ve changed what I shop for and how I eat. It’s still early days, but I can feel some encouraging shifts, and I like them.

This journey is teaching me why a living gut is so much more than just a stopover where food gets digested. The gut actually is a bustling, living community, teeming with a diverse array of microbes. Now, I understand this and know how, in countless ways, these tiny residents are “talking” to the rest of my body, influencing everything from how efficiently I absorb nutrients to how balanced—or frazzled—my moods can be.

All this has changed the way I shop and what I bring home to eat. My trusty Yuka app helps by scanning and rating products, steering me toward simpler, more natural foods and away from the ultra-processed. It’s become second nature to check Yuka scores before anything goes into my cart.

And honestly, the more I learn and the more I swap in these “different foods,” the better I feel. A big part of it is weaning myself off the highly processed products surrounding us—quick, tempting, cleverly marketed, but often stripped of what truly nourishes us. The sad truth is that many processed foods replace critical gut nutrients with fillers, additives, and hidden sugars. That’s great for sales, but not for our health.

Our bodies were never meant to handle so many artificial, sneaky ingredients. In reality, we need to feed the bacteria that live inside us. That means avoiding foods so stripped down by processing that they’re useless to our digestive system. These products are popular precisely because they’re engineered to light up our brains and keep us coming back for more—they’re everywhere.

I won’t claim to have transformed overnight. But I can say I’m noticing—and welcoming—some subtle but meaningful changes. My digestion feels calmer, my energy a bit steadier, and my mood a little brighter.

Most of all, there’s an unexpected, gentle undercurrent. Maybe it’s simply more happiness, rising from this new sense of actively caring for myself, of being less passive about my own well-being. It’s an inner nourishment, rooted in making choices that are more aware, thoughtful, and real.

Dear Friends: This is my current take on succeeding, “one day at a time.”—Diana

Monday, June 09, 2025

Lately, I sense a changing relationship between my mind and body. They seem less like opposing forces and more like partners in change. This is because several weeks ago, I began using the Yuka app constantly to guide my grocery shopping, and now it’s dictating most of my food choices.

I use Yuca to scan labels on all products that interest me. The app scores product quality; it dislikes those with unhealthy and/or unnecessary additives, and too much salt, sugar, or fat. Yuca has encouraged me to study labels more and to seek minimal food processing. Nowadays, only products with “excellent” or “good” scores land in my shopping cart.

The process has been surprising. I didn’t start with any firm resolutions or iron-willed plans to eliminate certain foods, but this new way of selecting foods has softened my long-standing cravings for meat and sweets. Those always were high-need foods, my comfort zones—taste and habit needs. But now? Not so much. I’m not intentionally cutting out sweets and meats—they simply no longer have such high appeal.

I am fascinated by this change: how it’s occurred—not with declarations and resolutions, but with small, steady nudges, by shifting my awareness and offering a new framework. In this process, I’m enjoying foods not before bothered with–for fear of high calories and/or taste boredom. These days, I enjoy grains, root vegetables, and canned and frozen foods with quality equal to their fresh versions. The only non-vegan foods still in my routine are whipping cream for my coffee, Greek Yogurt for my smoothies, and fresh eggs from my chickens.

In exploring the possible reasons behind my perceived changes, I’ve learned that modern science recognizes how preferred foods make taste buds adjust and cause the gut to rebalance. Occurring, too, is a more subtle process. New foods will cause the brain to relearn, expect, and efficiently process them as rewards.

I’m no scientist, but I sense my body and mind having new conversations and responding to each other. This reminds me that changing doesn’t necessarily require forcing. Sometimes it just takes responding to noticing what works and allowing the rest to disappear.

Today’s header image reflects a quieter life. A wooden kitchen table, open notebook, small bowl of berries, and half-peeled orange feel fresh and peaceful in the soft morning light–reflecting an already-begun shift.

Dear Friends: In partnership, our bodies lead our minds, or is it the other way around? –Diana

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Recent newspaper articles introduced me to the mobile app Yuka, which lets users scan barcodes on food and cosmetic products to assess their health impacts. Yuka rates each item on a scale from 0 to 100 and classifies it as excellent, good, fair, or poor.

Like many, I want to choose the healthiest foods, but modern product labels can be confusing, often listing complex ingredients and hidden additives. With Yuka in hand while I shop, I’m more confident in reading labels and understanding nutritional elements. It has already changed the way I buy and eat.

Grocery shopping used to be simpler. Today, pre-packaged and pre-prepared foods are more common and often tempting. Still, they frequently contain stabilizers–preservatives to extend shelf life, or salt and sugar to encourage repeat consumption. Many of these additives are unsuitable for us, and without help, it’s hard to make informed decisions.

That’s where Yuka comes in. By scanning a product’s barcode, I can quickly see a summary of its health impact based on nutritional value, presence of additives, and whether it’s organic. This clarity helps me unpuzzle those long, unreadable ingredient lists.

When I started using the app, I scanned many products I’ve been buying for years. Surprisingly, several favorites scored poorly due to high sugar content or unhealthy additives. Sometimes, Yuka suggests healthier alternatives that are easy to find. Little by little, my choices have shifted.

After about a month of using Yuka, I’m now more mindful at the grocery store and at home. I avoid ultra-processed foods and have even discovered new items Yuka rates as “excellent.” It turns out I enjoy them!

Yuka also works on personal care items like cosmetics and toiletries, scanning for harmful ingredients. I don’t use many skincare or makeup products, but it’s worth noting that Yuka’s 20 million users in the U.S. are influencing both the food and beauty industries. Manufacturers are being forced to pay closer attention to what informed consumers want.

The app has helped me focus more on what my body needs than what tastes good now. That shift is reflected in my shopping cart, pantry, and my workday lunches and snacks.

Of course, no app is perfect, and dietary needs vary by person. But for me, Yuka is a valuable and empowering tool. I’m not chasing perfection—just better choices. Having clear, accessible information helps me stay in control of my health and well-being.

Dear Friends: It’s about being mindful and choosing what’s best for your body. —Diana