Editor’s Note: Let’s Hop Back On The Bandwagon!

Happy 2015!

Now that we’re two weeks into the new year, how are you doing with the changes you vowed to make this year?

While taking stock of my 2014, one big irony emerged: the year I started a health magazine to help others live a healthier life was my least healthy year. Shocking, to say the least! I might have had some big wins last year, but health was not one of them. Life and the heavy-duty work of starting a new venture got in the way.

My usual fitness and healthy-eating practices were sporadic at best. Even my annual health checkups, which I do religiously on my birthday week as a gift to myself, fell by the wayside in 2014. My radiant skin dulled, and I woke up each morning more tired than I was the night before.

Even worse, my unhealthy practices spilled over to my family. Our nutrition suffered. My usually healthy family suffered bouts of cold and stomach flu for three weeks in December. One person would get sick, spread it to the next, recover and then catch it again. We just couldn’t shake it off. Talk about a wake-up call!

Perhaps I should be embarrassed admitting my health failures, considering I have created a platform dedicated to helping others live a healthier life. But on the other hand, maybe my own reality just goes to prove that healthy living is a journey, not a destination. There is no “I have arrived.” Life will throw you some curve balls. What matters is not that you fell off the bandwagon, but whether or not you get back on. It is also worth knowing that we all face similar struggles, and as with anything else worth pursuing, healthy living is a deliberate, conscious decision that you make and work toward every day.

After hearing from several Radiant Health readers, I realize that I am not alone. One issue that comes up time and time again as an impediment to healthy living is that of location and cultural barriers. In particular, our traditional foods are often vilified and seen as an enemy of progress in the quest for healthy eating. Too much carbohydrate. Too heavy. Too oily. Too this. Too that.

In this issue, we take a closer look at African cuisine in order to dispel the myth of its supposed inadequacies and to celebrate its growing presence on the world stage. We also meet an extraordinary woman, Ogo Maduwesi, who is taking charge of her health and not letting living in Nigeria determine her fate. Her story will inspire you, as will the role that healthy eating plays in slowing the progression her vitiligo, a condition that causes a patchy loss of skin color.

Do you want to join the ranks of women like Ogo who have learned to harness the healing power of food? Perhaps like me, you need to recharge, reboot your health, lose some weight, feel more energetic and restore your once-radiant glow. Or maybe you’ve never actively pursued healthy living, but you recognize your need for it and just don’t know where to begin.

Radiant Health is presenting a free, 30-day Body Reboot Challenge to help you reclaim your body and your health. The challenge takes you through 30 days of wellness and fitness challenges that will jump-start your healthy living journey. It includes a 7-day meal plan and access to our private Facebook group page for accountability and support. The Body Reboot Challenge starts January 15th, but registration closes January 14th. If you are interested in joining, I urge you to do so now. Together, we will get back on the bandwagon!

Here’s to a healthy and radiant 2015!

Photo Credit: Abby Soetan