For many individuals around the world the way they see themselves on the outside dictates whether or not they are the person they are supposed to be. Not so for Deborah "Collage" Grison. Over the past year she has made a conscious decision to change her life from the inside out---and it is a journey she has allowed the world to take along with her.
The movement is called EAT LIFE, and in our conversation she stressed that this was not about dieting. It was about changing the way she saw herself and the food she took into her body. It began by chronicling her own journey through Facebook on a page. From there it caught on. "I said let me just keep going," Grison told me. "I would plate my meals and share them with the world. It began with green stuff on a plate but evolved into pretty food and something that was awesome to the eye."
As the book that would come later alludes to the idea initially was to just do 30 days, but the response from those who were following the experience online wanted more. She then decided to keep going to 100 days, however, even that deadline came and went. "It became more of a habit," she says and just kept going. "I almost couldn't stop, because there were people who were looking, listening and watching. We have become a family. We are all invested in each other, and it is helping us all become better."
During our conversation about the EAT LIFE movement on Conversations LIVE Grison shared that this was not just about eating differently but living differently, and with good reason. In December 2011 she found herself in situation where she wasn't able to walk. She told me she was physically challenged in a way that she didn't know what was going on. As 2012 came in she came to this decision: "I was going to take this into my own hands and use food to help me heal."
Her intent was clear at the very beginning. "I didn't set out to lose weight. My goal was to heal and be able to walk and be healthy." She way she looked, however, was affected automatically. "By my changing everything I did lose weight." The weight-loss was a pleasant side-effect of of putting her health first.
As previously mentioned Facebook became the place where the experience was shared online, but it didn't end there. Grison says that Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest were also successful tools in showing how others could improve themselves and spread the message of EAT LIFE. "It's a movement not a moment," she says.
When reflecting on what led her down the path where she is now, reminded me of a simple truth. "You can never predict what will come your way and how you will face it," she said. "The reality is that we all have different challenges." The important thing is how we react to them and what they are able to teach us. Thinking of the physical condition she experienced, she remembered telling herself this: "Whatever this is, I am going to live."
The next step on the movement is the book I EAT PRETTY: 30 Days & Ways to Eat Life. "This book gives you about 50 options to prepare meals," Grison explains. "It's not a diet book. It's not a weight-loss book. It's a guide. What I can guarantee is that when you begin to make changes in your life your body will change. It will begin to heal itself."
As we wrapped up the discussion Grison shared this nugget: "Food is not the enemy. Food is a beautiful, awesome resource if we use it wisely. We have to make wise decisions. If we do the right things for our bodies it will respond miraculously."
You can join the movement today at www.eatlifeonline.com or through its social sites www.twitter.com/eatlifeonline and www.facebook.com/groups/eatlife.
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